"Business-Minded" and other more meaningful alternatives to the word "workaholic"

There's been much buzz out there about a recent blog post by Jason Calacanis. Specifically on his original comment: "Fire people who are not workaholics.... come on folks, this is startup life, it's not a game. go work at the post office or stabucks if you want balance in your life. For realz."

Techcrunch seized this post and offered some friendly criticism, suggesting Calacanis Fires People Who Have A Life. 37 signals took the interesting counter-perspective of firing the so-called workaholics.

This caused Calacanis to attempt to clarify his position: "My work *is* my life..."

What this all may boil down to is that the term 'workaholic' is not a compliment. Don't use it as a positive attribute, ever.

The common thread to all the banter really revolves around the desire to work with talented interesting people who have their own quirky way of living their lives while simultaneously being so interested in their work that it tends to be in their thoughts throughout the day. Better terms for this might be:

• Entrepreneurial
  
• Business-minded
  
• Problem solvers
  
• Strategic thinkers
• Innovators
• Results-oriented

Seek these types of people over workaholics, and you will hopefully assemble an effective team. The real challenge for business leaders at that point will be to walk the walk and be sure to avoid old-school workplace paradigms that will drive these free spirits away.