‘Mr Gekko, I’m there for you 110%,’ said the resolute Bud Fox. How many times has a colleague, supplier or partner said that to you? I heard Lewis Hamilton utter something similar at a recent Grand Prix weekend. They’re all lying.

A Buddhist monk devotes himself 100% to worship. He gave up all personal freedoms to live in an environment akin to a brutal prison. That’s not 110%, 120%, or 200% effort. It’s simply his ALL. Everything else is less than that, regardless of how sorry we might be feeling for ourselves with our current exertions.

Mr Hamilton is extremely talented and hugely dedicated but he’s dating girls who need a lot more entertaining than a comedy rental from Blockbusters, and he’s rubbing shoulders with the likes of P Diddy. (I’d like to know what Ron Dennis really thinks about that.) Don’t get me wrong, ‘our Lewis’ has the greatest job in the world and his skill set deserves all the trappings of success (Reebok value his limited input at £10 million) but 100+% effort is a massively overused, and under qualified, statement.

Perhaps you should ask your team to grade their effort instead? It could go along the lines of:

A = I’ll give my all until the job is done but I still need some R&R time;
B = you’ll get my excellent work for the hours you pay me but very little more (no ideas garnered over the weekend, no late night research etc);
C = I’m not too fussed on the project but I’ll do my bit to contribute, just don’t ask me to drive it along;
D = be all over me and I might get something achieved;
E = honestly, you’d be better off without me.

Lewis would be an A+, how about you and your team?