The recent clamor created by Max Schireson from opening up about the imbalance of gender equality has made me realize that I need to spend a little more time looking at both men and women for the topic. Of course in Asia, when we talk about gender equality we really do need to focus on getting more women into leadership positions at the workplace. However, thanks to individuals and companies who’ve been driving gender diversity, the roles of men as fathers that need to balance work and life as much as mothers has come into the spotlight.
With this mind, I’d like to give a shout out to a working dads who balance work life situations publically and positively.
1. Richard Branson – CEO, Virgin Airways
Who hasn’t seen pictures of Branson travelling to exotic places doing awesome things for business and the world in general? But we often don’t see the dad side of him – to which he gives great importance. According to him,
“But rather than thinking of these two aspects [work and family] of your life as antagonistic, why not combine them? As I’ve often said, I don’t divide work and play: It’s all living.”
More and more I’ve seen successful male leaders not “worry” about defining the work life lines. The more they blur, the better they seem to succeed on both fronts. These are the same people who actually schedule family time into the calendar but also seem to be “working” 7 days a week. They seem to have found the balance through merging both elements.
2. Robert Lanoue – Partner, Deloitte
The global consulting firm has started “Deloitte Dads” because as Lanoue states,
“Helping both new mothers and fathers through this transition is a key strategy for [companies] to makes sure that they maintain talent”.
With 2 children – one 5 and the other 9, he tries to work one day a week from home to spend more time with the kids. Like most “work from home moms” he painstakingly schedules everything, prefers conference calls over face-to-face meetings (when possible) and leaves early from the physical office when he has to. The bottom line is he gets things done.
It’s views like this which can make leaders realize that work life balance is beneficial for both the company and employee regardless of gender or position. How many people do you know who’ve left a job because of burn out? I can list quite a few. The new “ideal workplace” will make sure this doesn’t become an issue for working dads or moms.
3. Scott Behson – Professor, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Scott Behson, amongst other things runs the blog Fathers, Work and Family. He’s a regular contributor to the HBR blog network on work life balance for men so he must be doing things right for himself as well. According to him Hollywood stars and the fatherly roles of men in sitcoms have pushed the working-dad movement to a tipping point. He says:
“I believe all dads deserve this opportunity, and that dads, moms, kids, families and our society all benefit when dads get to immerse themselves in the life of their children in such a uniquely intimate and transformative way.”
I think the bottom line here is, time management is important for everybody, including working dads. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mom or dad, have 5 kids or 1, are a CEO or business owner. You’ve to decide what you want and if it’s to sit in the park and play with your kid, you’ve got to make time to do it. Are there any individuals that you’d like to give a shout out to for doing a fabulous job at balancing their lives?
photo credit: everyplace via photopin cc