When you talk about the high performers, the stars in your company, what adjectives do you assign to them?

Of course, they're smart, analytical, great communicators, etc.  But when I ask people that question, the biggest things I hear are the following tags:

"Driven".  "Passionate". "Motivated". "Determined".

Which brings me to the point of this post.  A former boss of mine had a saying that he kept coming back to related to what it took to be a star:

"I've never seen anyone rise through an organization or create incredible results without putting in more hours than those around them."

The hours paradox is still alive and well.  For all the talk about work/life balance, the cold hard truth remains.  If you want to move the ball, you're going to have to put in more hours than the average Joe.

That's true in normal work, but especially true in a turnaound situation.  Turnarounds generally require even more hours, an almost psychotic, single-minded determination to do what is necessary from a work perspective to make change (and the business results that follow) happen.

Example: New Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.  Fortune paints him as follows:

"Marchionne, 58, is taking a far more personal approach to velocity. It has been evident since Fiat took a 20% interest in post-bankruptcy Chrysler in June 2009 and installed Marchionne as CEO of both companies. Since then he has torn up Chrysler's old-school org chart with its chains of command and replaced it with a flat organization with him at the top. He has handed two jobs to some executives to reduce the need for memos and meetings. And to make sure decisions are made quickly and nothing is overlooked, he supervises them all. Marchionne has his 25 top Chrysler executive -- everybody from engineering and manufacturing to legal and HR -- report directly to him.

Since Marchionne already had 21 direct reports at Fiat Group, and must divide his time between Auburn Hills, Mich., and Turin, most management experts would call his method madness. But instead of becoming a bottleneck, he has turned himself into an expediter because he is always reachable. "They have access to me 24/7," he says, and when they call or e-mail, he makes decisions in minutes -- or seconds. While traveling, he stays in contact with one of his six BlackBerrys. "BlackBerrys are divine instruments," he purrs."

6 Blackberrys.  That really tells you all you need to know.  As you might expect, in exchange for being available 24/7, Marchionne expects his direct reports to follow his lead and looks for the types who are willing to commit to the same lifestyle:

"After taking over Chrysler, Marchionne overhauled not only the management chart but the staff as well. He combed the company for younger managers willing to take on more responsibility, be available at all times, and put the company above their own interests. The last is important to Marchionne. "The hardest job is getting personalities to mesh. Some people become dysfunctional -- their egos become blown out. It is like having an evil spirit in the house.

Marchionne-style management is not for compromising types. He works all the time, subordinates say, and his wife has left Italy to live separately at their home in Switzerland (they have two boys). "The lifestyle I have today is the most abusive way to achieve a lasting impact," he concedes. His subordinates, most in their forties or early fifties, complain about their CEO's all-in schedule but not about the results. "He defines the road, and we have to drive down it," says Scott Garberding, 46, Chrysler's head of manufacturing. "I'm putting in more hours, but there are clear outputs to the hours and we're making progress."

He combed the company for younger managers willing to take on more responsibility, be available at all times, and put the company above their own interests. Welcome to the reality of the turnaround, where you're either all in... Or you're out....