Hard Workers Unite
Busy New Yorkers respond.

Al Sharpton
How many hours do you work a week?
About eighteen hours a day, seven days a week. I preach on Sundays.

So you love New York’s work ethic?
Absolutely. Anywhere else, you get off the plane, you have to train yourself to slow down. Everybody thinks you’re on steroids.

What’s the laziest thing about you?
I’m a member of a cigar club. But even there I try to do a little business.

Any value to Maier’s creed?
The only value I can think of is if you’re rehearsing for your time in your grave.

Bonnie Fuller
Editorial director of American Media

How many hours do you work a week?
A lot. It’s hard when you oversee 22-plus magazines.

Do you worry about your staffers feeling as nihilistically dissatisfied as Maier?
They don’t belong with me if they experience that feeling.

Any value to laziness?
Not unless you want to fail, which I don’t.

Donald Trump
How many hours do you work a week?
I don’t consider it work.

What’s the laziest thing about you?
Procrastination.

Any value to Maier’s creed?
I think it’s appropriate a Frenchwoman has written it.

Jeffrey Leeds
Co-founder of Leeds Weld & Co., a private-equity firm.

How many hours do you work a week?
I don’t punch a clock.

What’s the laziest thing about you?
Is reading a novel lazy? There’s a difference between leisure and being lazy.

Any value to Maier’s creed?
The point she’s missing is that even if you’re miserable six hours a day, that’s too much.

How do you prevent existential angst at your workplace?
Guacamole and beers every Friday. I’m kidding.

Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Jada Yuan
• Table of Contents: May 23, 2005 issue of New York | Subscribe!