I had to laugh at the reference to 80 hour work weeks because, in my final month or two of pregnancy with DS, I worked several weeks with 100+ hours, and none less than 80. The mindset associated with such intense and unidimensional living is exhilarating-- being immersed in and leading highly relevant and avant-garde projects, knowing that nobody (or few!) in the world has (have) done what you are doing, that feeling is phenomenal. With a husband in a similarly paced field at the time, and given that DS wasn't yet born, it was ideal. We'd reconnect at home and treasure our time together, knowing that the breakneck pace was one that would be short-lived.
As with anything, work environment selection has its seasons in life. I had DS when I was relatively young and, while I would strongly prefer to opt for a predominantly family-centric lifestyle during DS' childhood and adolescence, I would return to the fast-paced work I was in previously in a heartbeat once DS is away at university. When you truly love your "work", it becomes a vehicle to self-actualization.
What such firms, recruiters, and firm alumni must do is convey an accurate representation of the demands and limitations of such work to prospective hires so that the people who would self-select into profoundly demanding careers are able to make well-informed decisions on where to work and when. There is, IMO, far too much misinformation about the capacity of workers to "have it all". The idea that one can have everything one desires at all times is preposterous. At every point in time, at least one desire or need will be subjugated to another which is temporally more urgent. These firms won't be appealing to most people for that reason, but that's fine. Not everyone must live the same life or value the same experiences equally.
