Work-Life Balance

By Robin Abrahams

Work-life balance is at best an elusive ideal and at worst a complete myth, today’s senior executives will tell you.

But by making deliberate choices about which opportunities they will pursue and which they will decline, rather than simply reacting to emergencies, leaders can and do engage meaningfully with work, family and community…

Prospering in the senior ranks is a matter of carefully combining work and home so as not to lose themselves, their loved ones or their foothold on success. Those who do this effectively involve their families in work decisions and activities.

They vigilantly manage their own human capital, endeavouring to give both work and home their due — over a period of years, not weeks or days.

That’s how the 21st-century business leaders in our research said they reconcile their professional and personal lives.

Deliberate choices don’t guarantee complete control. Life sometimes takes over, whether it’s a parent’s dementia or a teenager’s car accident. But many of the executives we’ve studied — men and women alike — have sustained their momentum during such challenges while staying connected to their families.

When you are leading a major project, you determine early on what a win should look like. The same principle applies to leading a deliberate life: you have to define what success means to you — understanding, of course, that your definition will evolve over time.

From “Manage Your Work, Manage Your Life”.