We have a lot of pre-conceived notions about hard work and hard workers.

• Only juniors work hard. Managing Directors, big bosses, etc, don't.

• Rich businessmen and entrepreneurs, who move around in imported cars and go abroad for vacations, don't work hard. They pay other people to work hard for them. They spend their time partying, posing for page-3 photos and doing wheeling-dealing.

• Dumb people work hard.

• People in simple and boring jobs don't work hard. They are lazy, or else wouldn't they be in bigger and better jobs by now? (This fits in with the stereotype of the hot-shot high flyer jet-setting around the world and working 16 hours a day, and a bank clerk being a lazy clock-watcher.)

I have learned many things about hard work in the last 25 years, some of which make me feel very humble. Instead of getting into my own thoughts and views, let's first look at a few people I've seen at some length.