Nadine Pearce

Is it possible that we've created jobs so all-consuming that no one with a life outside of work wants to perform them?

I ask this because I've noticed the collision of several trends and the values crisis they provoke, especially for women. Trend #1: After years of downsizing, the workload has never been greater, and Americans are working more hours than ever before. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we worked 42.5 hours per week in 2006, up from 37.5 in 2003. Trend #2: There are more mothers in the workforce than ever before--72% of all moms in the U.S. work either full- or part-time, according to Working Mother magazine. Whether they work because the want to or have to, most women are not, in fact, opting out of work, despite high costs of childcare and limited support for working families in this country. Trend #3: According to Gallup and other researchers, workers--not just in America, but across the globe--are not very engaged at work and therefore are less likely to put forth the discretionary effort that companies need to maintain competitive advantage.

To illustrate how these trends collide, let me offer a story. On several occasions I've had high potential leaders in our corporation--usually female but not exclusively--step into my office, close the door, and say to me, "I'll deny that I said this, but I'm scared to death I'll get promoted and never see my family again." These are people who've been highly successful in school and work, with the drive and talent to get to top leadership levels. Suddenly, all the forward momentum of the fast track comes to a screeching halt and their ambition turns to ambivalence. Do I want to go the next step? Will I lose what I value most by doing what the company defines as highest value work?

My coaching is two-fold in these situations. For individuals struggling with this ambition ambivalence, I suggest they take a long view of their career and pay close attention to what they value in their heart-of-hearts. If taking the next leap up the ladder will force them to give up what matters most to them right now, they need to weigh those values carefully. Despite years of being told that more is better and of being rewarded for reaching the next rung, they need to decide if moving up will provide intrinsic fulfillment. In fact, the rewards of greater prestige, responsibility and income may simply not be what we really need to be self-actualized right now. We have to give ourselves permission, indeed, we need to celebrate getting off the fast track if that honors our deepest values.

Encouraging high-potential talent to "celebrate getting off the fast track" sounds like absolute heresy when my other responsibility is to make sure we have a strong pipeline of leaders. Again, I believe the core issue in grooming great leaders is also a question of what we value. Do we want people in senior positions who work themselves so hard that little else in life matters? What about time to dream, to experience different perspectives, to tend a garden of relationships, or be there for a loved one? And what does it serve a company to disengage top talent by making these roles so all-consuming? My recommendation here is that we re-think workload for top jobs. We have to ensure that our leaders work only on that which creates value for our shareholders and consumers/customers. Too often senior leaders derail because many of their efforts aren't generating value either for key stakeholders or for their own personal fulfillment. When you lose yourself, it's difficult to lead others to win.

The last point is that organizations need to embrace the idea that careers will not always flow upward. In their book, Mass Career Customization, Anne Weisberg and Cathleen Benko advocate a more realistic alignment of work and workforce needs. Their notion of the career lattice reframes the career ladder to allow for lateral and even downward moves as needed given a worker's life stage. The old notion of "up or out" assumes an endless talent pool, which current global demographic trends do not support. We need to update our career model to reflect people’s needs and values or risk further alienating the best talent.

Drive and ambition still count, for sure, and there is no substitute for hard work. That said, the best way I know to get the best out of talented people is to value the best in them, at each stage of their lives. What do you think?