Tag Archives: organizations

Work and Life: Is One Worth More Than The Other?

by on December 6, 2004 in Career, Life, Work

Ever since working for a professional association dedicated to the improvement of work/life issues within organizations, I’ve been intrigued by this notion of "work/life balance." It seemed to counter the rampant workaholism which existed in many companies and even non-profits. It scared and angered me to see both men and women idolized for working 16 to 18 hour days, sleeping in their offices, constantly on the road on the covers of major business magazines. Our overdriven culture continues to highlight these professionals as models of success and respect in the business world. One such example documented by Fast Company just last year made me cringe:

A few inches over 6 feet and more than a few pounds over 200, [Dan] Talbott is a Texas dynamo who seems to live on hot dogs and 18-hour workdays. He bears the pasty complexion of a man who has spent most of his working life in airports and conference rooms, and indeed, he has — he’s racked up 3 million miles on American Airlines alone.

Later, the article goes on to discuss Talbott’s project team:

Working out of its Blue Ash headquarters, HP’s pursuit team lived on a brutal, nearly round-the-clock schedule, with no time off on weekends. Their family lives were tested; at least one team leader reports that his marriage is in trouble. The stress took an enormous physical and mental toll. At a 7 AM breakfast meeting with his HR-team leader, Talbott watched in alarm as the man got up from the table, took a step, and keeled over from exhaustion.

Have our priorities always been so messed up? Would you sacrifice your marriage or your health for your work? What if you felt the work was absolutely important to your success? It seems that it comes down to critical choices surrounding our core values. But, let’s make sure those core values are focused toward what’s really important to us and not just getting that next "deal" done.

Finding Your Voice

by on December 6, 2004 in Career, Creative, Media, Work

I seem to be very conscious of this notion of voice lately (see: What’s Your Voice from a few days ago).

I continue to be influenced by Stephen Covey’s work, but have yet to pick up his latest book, The 8th Habit. Based on this interview, I think maybe Santa could bring me a copy when he comes to visit later in the month (granted that he reads blogs and needs some additional ideas). Covey equates having a voice with a deeper connection to one’s work:

People have basically lost their voice. They’re alienated from their work. We’re in a knowledge age, yet our management principles are from the industrial age. They’re the authoritarian, command-and-control models. Just take the accounting system: It calls people an expense. Performance-appraisal systems are just repugnant to the dignity of people. You give them some nice words, slip in the knife and call that “areas for improvement” and then a few nice words at the end.

By the way, his 8th habit is: Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.

Another article that caught my eye was one from Alaska about a sculptor named Sylvester Ayek who is trying to return to his Inupiaq roots.

Ayek says, he’s leaving Anchorage in pursuit of balance, something he can find only in the Bush. That’s where he finds solace, center and sustenance, a solitude in whose heart he regains equilibrium as he tries to maintain his footing in two worlds — worlds that continually pitch and roll beneath his feet. “If I’m in the city, I’m just an artist,” Ayek says. “But out there, I can be a hunter, fisher, gatherer and an artist. I get some sense of good order when I’m in nature, in the middle of nowhere, by myself.”

What struck me about this was the reminder that we are so much more than the labels that we attach to ourselves or those that we allow to be attached from others. In our work, we can be more than what a job description says. Once we have an idea of what our voice is, then its time to add another element to it.

Guess It’s Time To Get In Shape

by on November 11, 2004 in Work

A new perk for employees could be a week-long European corporate bicycling trip. DuVine Adventures is wooing Fortune 500 companies to dump the staid old corporate retreat in favor of a luxurious biking trek through Europe.

The press release continues:

Traveling Europe by bicycle is the most exciting of all corporate incentives. Earning a deluxe bike trip based on performance is a visible symbol of achievement, prestige, and recognition. Corporate trips are also a great way to create powerful alliances between top employees, and help foster cooperation while breaking a sweat.

Sounds interesting, but I have a hard enough time peddling my bike a few miles around my home. Not that I would knock a trip through Europe. I just hope the companies give their employees at least 6 months of prep time in order to train for their “reward.”

Work and Life and Success: Room For All?

by on October 13, 2004 in Career

I’ve found two very different perspectives on the work/life experience in the media.

The first comes from Fortune Magazine and takes the view that organizations must see a flexible workplace as a benefit for their employees and a key business initiative that positively affects the bottom-line. While the article is sponsored by an association that promotes work/life initiatives, AWLP has worked hard over the past few years to make solid business cases for why taking care of your people makes good business sense.

Read the article (pdf): http://www.awlp.org/pub/fortune-section-04.pdf

The second is the lead story for the October issue of Fast Company which argues that work/life balance is bunk and that it’s bad for business and making all of us crazy. I think there might be a kernal of truth to the article in this way: balance is impossible. Consider your life like a pie and each wedge represents a different role. If you work so hard to stay in the center of the pie and balance it all, you’ll spend more time and effort in the act of balancing than you will in actually living. So on that point, I would agree that the attempt to balance will drive us mad. Yet, my major criticism of the piece is that it continues to advocate a zero-sum game where you have to constantly give up something to remain successful in your life. If your kids need you, then you have to sacrifice your work; if you’re working on an important project, then your family might just have to give you up for a while.

Read the article: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/87/balance-1.html

Maybe what’s really needed from all of us now is a reconceptualization of what success truly is. My own definition of success is when our roles are integrated in a meaningful and intentional way. I’m curious about what success looks like for others. Is it possible to live a successful personal and professional life all at once?

There Is More Between Heaven and Earth

by on October 12, 2004 in Work

It’s a little off of what I would normally post here, but I keep coming back to this story and find myself amazed by what happened. It’s the recent story about the 17 year old girl who drove over her car into a ravine in Washington state. Two things are absolutely miraculous: one, that she survived (we learned today that dehydration may have saved her from dying of a blood clot in her brain); two, and the point of my post, is how she was found.

A volunteer searcher who said she had had several vivid dreams of a wooded area found the wrecked car in the trees Sunday…Hatch’s parents organized a volunteer search Saturday, and that night Sha Nohr, the mother of Hatch’s friend, said she had dreams of a wooded area and heard the message, “Keep going, keep going.”

This absolutely amazes me, as well as inspires me because there is so much that we still do not understand about ourselves as humans and our capabilities. What would you call Sha Nohr’s experience? To me, it relates to a second conception of “intuition.” There is a more rational view of intuition which is the mind’s ability to take various bits of information and fill in the blanks on a subconscious level. But this goes beyond rational. Another view of intuition is that it is an act of receiving information from a deeper level of reality. Deepak Chopra might say that it is communicating with the quantum level, that space which exists between physical reality and the spiritual reality of God.

Now, for the wild leap…how does this alternative view of intuition fit into how leaders operate within organizations? Is it possible for companies to entertain the spiritual dimension of intuition and use it to energize their cultures? What are the thoughts out there?