I just read an interview of Jack Welch in Newsweek and an excerpt of his new book, “Winning”.
As a leadership coach, I have read a great number of books on leadership and so my attitude was what new ideas or thoughts could Welch have?
One of the interesting pieces was his discussion of work-life balance. Acknowledging that he is a model for “do as I say, not as I did”, I was not surprised that to get to this realization he needed to be in the last half of his life and very much in love with his new wife. For many of us career driven individuals, it takes years and wisdom and sometimes a significant emotional event to realize what is important. I see this over and over again with my clients and am pleasantly surprised that Welch got there as well. But his advice was less than satisfying and I quote, “Of course he [your boss] wants you to be happy, but only inasmuch as it helps the company win. In fact, if he is doing his job right, he is making your job so exciting that your personal life becomes a less compelling draw.” This struck me as an example of how he operated in his life and contradictory to his new insight.
What I have seen is that leaders who have a good work-life balance are happier and are better leaders. They seem to bring more caring to their organizations and people and inspire their employees. I wish I had realized this sooner.
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