Spirited Leaders

Work-Life Leadership?

Bouncing around the web are heated reactions to former General Electric CEO Jack Welch's recent declaration that "there's no such thing as work-life balance.  There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences."

That's what leadership is about, right -- making choices, with awareness and perspective, and then taking responsibility for the outcomes?

Seems like we often try to erect a wall between work and the rest of life, including spirituality.  At least that's how Wikipedia describes it:

"Work-life balance is a broad concept including proper prioritizing between career and ambition on one hand, compared with pleasure, leisure, family and spiritual development on the other."

Another former CEO and speaker, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, often warns in her keynotes about trying to compartmentalize leadership into choices made in our personal lives and in our professional lives.  That approach, she says, will undermine credibility. We need to consistently be who we are. "A leader is a leader."

One of Nelson's achievements as CEO was transforming Carlson's (Radisson Hotels, TGI Friday's) corporate culture to include more minorities and women in leadership.  In contrast, Welch said "we'd love to have more women moving up faster, but they've got to make the tough choices and know the consequences of each one."

Agreed -- there's no such thing as work-life balance.  But I'll take Nelson's brand of work-life leadership.

Read: Marilyn Carlson Nelson's How We Lead Matters: Reflections on a Life of Leadership

"There's no such thing as work-life balance," 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."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=43709#ixzz0M6QbYgOW

"There's no such thing as work-life balance," 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."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=43709#ixzz0M6QbYgOW

"There's no such thing as work-life balance," 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."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=43709#ixzz0M6QbYgOW

"There's no such thing as work-life balance," 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."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=43709#ixzz0M6QbYgOW

Monks at Work

What's the secret to operating a successful multi-million dollar business with a four hour work day?

Entrepreneur and consultant Augie Turak suggests looking to the 1500-year old monastic tradition followed by the Trappists of Mepkin Abbey for answers.

His recent 4-part article "Business Secrets of the Trappists" on Forbes.com reminds us how much time and energy is claimed by a fear-based environment:

"All too often our organizations fail to reach their potential because people spend too much time looking over their shoulders."

And another false path energy-waster:

"Even the greatest ideas eventually come down to personal accountability ... and one of the biggest mistakes we can make is assuming that our own transformation depends on the other guy, whether that other guy is in the next cubicle or the corner office."

The solution is not an quick fix:

"A monk's formation is not limited to training sessions and inspirational speeches. Formation is a continuous process of peer-to-peer coaching and acculturation ..."

But for those of us wanting meaning and purpose, we might try a bit more Ora et Labora (Pray and Work).

The entire article is worth a read: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4