I think the author is missing the point of the four hour work week mindset. It is not about building a unicorn; it is about freeing as much time for you to pursuit your interests while earning a healthy income.<p>That being said, I don't find the book overly ethical. It simply suggests outsourcing most of the work to developing countries, where people work for less.
I think you miss the point of the four hour work week. The spirit of the book is delegation of things you don't want to do. Tim writes in the book that before an 80/20 analysis you will have to try a lot of things and see what sticks. Considering the fact that Tim writes about proactively researching the market and creating new categories if possible and to test various marketing tools and product ideas it's not the four hour work week mindset that's the problem. It's the people who just read the title and not the book that are hurting its big ideas.
Thank you for writing this. I always found the Four Hour Work Week to be offensive to my values, but I couldn't effectively put my objection into words. This has captured exactly how I feel about it.<p>I hope more people begin to follow this mindset than the vapid, soulless Tim Ferris approach.
I couldn't agree more wholeheartedly like this.<p>At the moment I'm trying to find a digital ad agency, and it's all just "we'll hack your ads to supersize your growth!" Meanwhile I'm over here looking for someone who will spend the time to thoughtfully and methodically test ads, adjust based on the results and then continue to improve over time. Silly me.
This resonates with me being a product manager. In product work, honing your craft over time is what propels you and your career forward. There's no faster way to do that than working at a startup, or on a product with a burgeoning business around it.