How much of their time should managers spend thinking? Tim Armstrong believes the correct answer is 10 per cent — and has instructed all his underlings at AOL to spend one-tenth of each working week deploying their grey matter.
Last week I emailed the company to see if I could find out more about this peculiar policy. A curt reply came back stating that 10 per cent Think Time was something “Tim believes in and urges us to do”, although it was not compulsory.
In the absence of any further facts, I have been wondering if Mr Armstrong’s initiative is one of the smartest or one of the most brainless to have emerged from corporate America in 2014.