Work Smart better than Work Hard

Those were the words of advise given by a prominent banker and one whom I would acknowledge as a leader. If only those whom I work with think more about that than trying to gauge achivements by the number of hours you show your face around the office. For me, if you need to endlessly work beyond the office hours shows two things;

1. The worker is inefficient or
2. There's something wrong with the organization

What about all the talk about work-life balance? From what I see, it is still office related activities. What life were they referring to? Some assume just because their lives revolve around the office, so should their subordinates.

Well, there might come a time when you would need skills and knowledge that will determine one's survival. How then will "office" help, since there might not be any left.