Managing Leadership^®

Many of us from the baby boomer generation wistfully comment about how hard it can be to juggle life’s competing demands on us. But the truth is, we are typically more concerned about juggling work’s competing demands – life is just a spectator at the show.

Or, rather, life is the show, and we keep missing the curtain. The interesting thing is that, while we genuinely rue our inability to have it all, we criticize the younger generations – often quite harshly – which try to take a more balanced approach to life and work.

But, as we’ve also noted (please see here and here), this sort of balance and variety isn’t just a euphemism for trying to skip out of work, and neither is it merely a worthwhile value in and of itself. It actually can be an unexpected help – sometimes even a vital one – to enjoying and being effective in all aspects of one’s life, including especially work.

A recent BusinessWeek item points out the unique difficulties managers (the article, unfortunately, insists on referring to everyone as “leaders”) are presenting recruiters by demanding accommodations to the needs of their families before accepting offers – even turning down attractive financial compensation if those demands aren’t met.

And good for them. They are learning to practice what we only preached. Sometimes, we even see it as an affront to us, both assaulting the way we have lived our lives (or, rather our work lives) and pretending (with what is sometimes to us distressingly successful persistence) to actually understand and express that advice (something we could never bring ourselves to do).

We’re going to see great benefits from this. Managers and organizations will become more creative and innovative because their lives and connections are more varied, drawing from more sources of need and inspiration. They will also become more productive and meaningful in the lives of their customers, employees, and communities.

When we were young, we spent a lot of time congratulating ourselves on how we would change the world. And it must be said, we’ve had some high-visibility successes (and failures). But the interesting and immensely enjoyable thing is that it will be our successors who will be able to begin the work in earnest.

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Today’s tip: Speaking of change, you should visit Steve Roesler‘s series on that topic, beginning here, at All Things Workplace. Be sure to read the comments associated with each post; you will greatly deepen your understanding of and effectiveness in dealing with organizational change.

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