Balance
Jack Welch: There is No Work-Life Balance, Only Work-Life Choices
by paulag01

Former General Electric Co. CEO Jack Welch left women shaking their heads at the Society for Human Resource Management's annual conference when he said:

"There's no such thing as work-life balance," Mr. Welch told the Society for Human Resource Management's annual conference in New Orleans on June 28. "There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences."

The resulting Wall Street Journal Article "Welch: 'No Such Thing as Work-Life Balance'" was one of the most popular articles on the WSJ site this week and is whipping this conversation back into a frenzy.

Now I've written about finding balance in your life and business and the fact that balance is a myth but aligning your choices with your values is a better approach. Yet it is a bit jaw-dropping to read the WSJ article and the general bluntness of Mr. Welch basically saying that if you're not around in the clutch constantly that you're a second rate talent headed for a second-tier career. While that is my paraphrasing, his exact words were:

"We'd love to have more women moving up faster," Mr. Welch said. "But they've got to make the tough choices and know the consequences of each one."

Taking time off for family "can offer a nice life," Mr. Welch said, "but the chances of going to the top on that path" are smaller. "That doesn't mean you can't have a nice career," he added.

While I don't have kids, I know that when I worked in corporate, comments like this made me insane with rage (well they still do). The audacity that human beings have to choose between a well-lived life and a successful career seems a little barbaric here in 2009. If we're so bright, developed all these technological advances that allow us to work from about anywhere, and are supposed to be innovating in a Dan-Pink-Whole-New-Mind-Way, someone tell me again why women need to cling in fear and worry about face-time every time they need to make a choice about how to spend their time?

Of course it isn't the least bit ironic that Welch's comments coincide with the buzz around his wife, Suzy Welch's new bestselling book "10 10 10". I recently read the book and wrote about it the book as a great decision making tool if you want to be certain your decisions are serving what you really want from your life and career.

The Welch Way has an article written by both Jack and Suzy (originally appeared in Business Week) that addresses their take on work-life balance:

But feeling swamped is really just a default mechanism: It’s what occurs when you don’t face what “achieving work-life balance” really comes down to, which is making choices and living with their consequences. In fact, we would even vote to retire the term “work-life balance” and replace it with “work-life choices.”

I have to agree personally that the distinction between balance and choices is a good one. Different choices work for different folks. The Welch's say as much further into the article:

Balance, we’re saying, is a personal choice based on what feels right to you given what you want from life personally and professionally. With that choice comes consequences. When you choose to work 80 hours a week and you have a family, you’re also choosing to give up some level of intimacy with your spouse and children. When you choose to work 35 hours a week in order to see more of them, you’re also choosing to take yourself off the fast track to senior management. There’s no right or wrong here. There are just individual choices and their trade-offs.

That being said it is still confounding to think that there isn't some way to shift the damn paradigm already when it comes to how companies operate and what choices are available to talented people who want a great career AND a life. This comment in the WSJ is spot on in terms of the issue that employers need to make a shift as well.

Alice G. Lindenauer, head of workforce development, planning and strategy for SEI Investments Co., says Mr. Welch's "old-fashioned" views prompted head-shaking among conference attendees, most of whom were women. She thinks employers, rather than employees, need to be more flexible to accommodate an increasingly diverse workforce with varying priorities.

In 2007 when I attended the PA Governor's Conference for Women, Pepsico's Indra Nooyi spoke to the crowd. She talked about her tough choices along the way but also stressed the importance of her employees being able to bring their whole self to the office as well as have flexibility to handle their personal lives in a way that works for them. This was a woman who clearly wanted to be a good mother and an excellent Chairman and CEO and set up support systems in her life to allow her to do both. She might not be the mother who can attend every single event for her children, but she insists on being there for them daily even if it needs to be long-distance sometimes.

Women have a lot to say about Mr. Welch's comments and rightly so. They push all our emotional hot buttons one way or another because our precious time here on the planet is, well, personal. Check out these excellent posts on the matter:

As Andrew Leonard's post points out clearly, this is not just a womans' issue. It is a human issue:

Of course we all make choices with consequences as we go about crafting our careers and balancing them with other priorities in our lives. But to interpret Welch's words as a harsh message for women is to miss his real point. Denying that there is a possibility for a "work-life balance" is a bummer for the entire human race.

Indeed -- a workplace that doesn't respect people and the human-ness that goes along with it is not very good for anyone, now is it?!

What is your take on Welch's comments and work-life choices?

Paula Gregorowicz, owner of The Paula G. Company, offers life and business coaching for women to help you gain the clarity, confidence, and courage you need to succeed on your own terms. Get the free eCourse "5 Steps to Turn Fear Into Freedom" at her website

Get the latest word on personal finances from an LGBT perspective and Paula's practical coach approach to the topic at Queercents http://www.queercents.com.

 

Submitted by paulag01 (view blog) on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 12:10pm

Comments

 

LPC

http://amidlifeofprivilege.blogspot.com

 

He's right. Corporate life is a battle. You can't balance your participation in a battle. You pays your money and you takes your place . If you want a front row in the line, good luck balancing.

Submitted by LPC on Wed, 07/15/2009 - 16:06
 

Like it or not, he's right.

The way the game is currently played, he's right. While we have made some incremental gains, there is still so much about the corporate working world that is not compatible with a healthy family life.  And as Andrew Leonard said, it's not just a problem for women, but it is certainly why we see so many women starting their own businesses.

A decade or so ago, Fast Company Magazine began talking about things like Free Agent Nation and The Brand Called "You." With the downturn, and the "jobless recovery," I think we'll start to see this kind of talk again. As I have found in my travels, voices of experience outside a company are often worth more to executives than the voices of reason still working inside a company. You'll work hard, yes, but there will be the added benefit of making your schedule work for you.

Security and health benefits are the compelling reasons to work for a large corporation. Well, we all know what's happened to our security; if we ever get to the point where it is reasonable for the individual to purchase health insurance, it should get harder for companies to recruit.

If and when that happens, that's when you'll see the game start to change.

- Lisse

@ Home in the World: International Adoption and Other Travels

Submitted by Lisse on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 06:59
 

If You Don't Like the Game/Battle Choose
Differently

Thanks to your comments. I  just smiled when I read your wording LPC "Corporate life is a battle. You can't balance your participation in a battle."  Oh so true...

 

Lisse - I agree the game does need to start to change.  The droves of small businesses being birthed, especially by women, will start to change that game as well as the things you cite.

Paula Gregorowicz
The Paula G Company

http://www.thepaulagcompany.com

Submitted by paulag01 on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 07:07
 

what is missing here for me

What is missing here is the realisation that the business, and society in general, is losing out by making it impossible for thousands of skilled, educated, passionate, innovative people to give their best to their work.

Its not about women wanting a special break.  Its about the tragic loss of potential when we are forced to make that impossible choice between life and work.  We lose both ways.  This is one huge cop out.

And what's more, it does not recognise the cost to men, as well.  I think we should stop speaking about mothers, and start speaking about parents.

Submitted by mashadutoit on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 08:48
 

work life choice to become an entrepreneur

There's a good argument for work-life choice, because in reality that is what we're dealing with. 

Each of us has a definition of balance, and ideally we make our decisions based on being centered on the balance continuum.

But people are often selecting from less-than-stellar choices.

"Work-life balance" is really about all people. You could be an adult son or daughther taking care of an aging parent, or someone caring for your spouse or sibling.

Many women though, they are voting with their feet - choosing to leave corporate life and start their own businesses, because they aren't getting good choices within their jobs.

And I hope that more women get out there and start their own businesses, because we need to use our power to make the world better! 

Amy Franko

Book Yourself Solid Sales and Marketing Mentor, serving women solo service professionals

http://amyfranko.com

 

Submitted by amyfranko on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 14:19
 

Where is an example to do things differently

For me the problem is that we have no idea what there is to choose. There are no attractive life work choices in the current corporate world, whatever they say.  
For me there is a lack of vision and examples of corporates who really are walking the talk and offer attractive life balance choices. 

At the moment we do what Einstein said not to do and that is  trying to solve a problem at the level it is created.
I think this all calls for a total new paradigm about what work is and means and a total different appreciation of what wealth is.  

Alan Webber, formly from Fast Company has written Rules of Thumb - Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self.

We are in for big changes on every front in our lives, work is just one aspect in my point of view and hence cannot be solved in isolation. 

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

Submitted by Wilma Ham on Thu, 07/16/2009 - 15:46
 

Need to Create Our Own Examples

Thanks Amy for further emphasizing the point that many women are choosing by starting their own biz.  An empowering choice for many, but not all are suited for or want that which is where the dilemma Wilma shares seems to leave us stuck.  Wilma - perfectly said that the problem cannot be solved at the same level it was created and corporations just chase their tails trying to bandaid a solution from the same mold that created the muck in the first place.  Once we get a more holistic view on all levels (the can't be solved in isolation piece) that will start to open the door I believe....and hope I see it in my lifetime.

 

Paula Gregorowicz
The Paula G Company

http://www.thepaulagcompany.com

Submitted by paulag01 on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 04:32
 

Drawing the line

Isn't the problem also that we associate success with wealth? There is so much pressure to buy houses, own clothes in greater and greater quantities that we end up working and working just to have them. This creates the kind of world where someone like Welch can make these comments and have parts of the business-world agree with him!

And like masadutoit above, where are the men in this dialogue? Kids need both their parents plus plenty of the dads I know would love the option to take paternity leave if they could. We've come a long way but there is so much further to travel...

writer on the way home

Submitted by NiamhG on Sat, 07/18/2009 - 10:05
 

I think he is right

I think he is absolutely right. 

As a new employee I was completely sucked in by my employer's promotion of "work-life balance", but the longer I have been around the more I know that such a thing is impossible. Correction, it is possible if you want to remain at the bottom of the ladder. Once you get into senior positions or management there is no way you can have a healthy, active family life and still preform the duties that are expected of you. Management works long hours and is expected to be on call any time of day on their Blackberry. The levels of stress I have seen among managers is insane.

I had always wanted to go into management and when I got back from my first maternity leave I was promoted into a management position. What a mistake! The hours, the stress and the irrational demands took a huge toll on me (I was pregnant again at the time) and on my family. I felt guilty all the time because after work I was too exhausted to spend any quality time with my husband or daughter.

At a certain point you do have to decide if your main focus is work or family. I don't think you can do both well. I know very few women in management positions with young kids. The women I do know that have reached senior management either don't have children or have adult children. It took me a long time to realize that while my employer talks about "work-life balance" it doesn't apply to those at the top.

I think this is an issue for all parents not just women. Fathers as well as mother have to decide what their focus is going to be. My husband has also chosen to put his family before his career and so, while he will have a "nice career", he isn't reaching for the top. I'm not anymore either.

Capital Mom

http://capitalmom.blogspot.com/

Submitted by Capital Mom on Sun, 07/19/2009 - 14:51