LIFE IN BALANCE
,Pursuing a balanced perspective carries over into all areas of your life. Just as you strive to comprehend all sides of an issue and be mindful of the entire spectrum, you must make sure that your life is multifaceted, with time and energy allotted to all those things that you deem to be most important to you. The better leader you are, the more opportunities you will have to make a difference in many areas. This means that you will face choices. The same strategy of seeking a balance of perspectives to help you make better decisions at work should be a part of other areas of your life as well. This is precisely what many of my students at Kellogg do every year as they evaluate job offers.
One of my students, Douglas, had not yet completed his MBA when he received three offers from well-regarded consulting firms. To determine which would be the best fit, he sought input from others, including me. I didn't want to offer a specific opinion. Instead, drawing from my perspective and life experience, I asked him to take a step back and consider where he wanted to be in ten or fifteen years. Douglas pondered the possibilities, including whether he wanted to run a large company one day or to become an entrepreneur. I suggested that as he considered his future, he might see more clearly whether he should take one of the three consulting jobs, or perhaps pursue something besides consulting. Then, having gathered all the input available and having engaged in self-reflection, Douglas made the best decision for himself. He could do that only because he had invested the time to reflect on what he wanted, not just in the moment (the short term) but over the course of the next decade or so of his career (the long term). This enabled him to make an explicit decision with fuller awareness of all the consequences of his choices, rather than an implicit one that took into consideration only how a job choice would affect his life for the next year or two.
As a leader, you must not only balance your professional and personal life but also model this thought process for others. In fact, I believe it is the responsibility of every values-based leader to set the example of leading a balanced life, pursuing meaning and satisfaction in every area that matters the most to that individual. Otherwise, you will be at risk of saying one thing (“our company culture values balance”) and doing another (“work is always the top priority—and personal time is not important”). That is definitely not values-based leadership. When you, as the leader, ensure that you are leading a balanced life, you showcase the importance of diverse activities and experiences that keep you fresh, engaged, and motivated. Your view becomes broader because you realize that your job is only one part of your life. If you want your team to have the same perspective, this behavior must begin with you.
These days, most people talk about achieving “work-life balance,” which I find a little confusing and even amusing because the term implies that you are either working or living—but never at the same time. I prefer the term life balance. It speaks to the fact that we must balance all aspects of our lives.
When you pursue something to the exclusion of everything else, you run the risk of exhausting yourself, which is not healthy for you or your organization. From personal experience, I can tell you that a full and satisfying life must consist of more than just your job. You may work with people who just love being at work all the time and who claim that their career is their life. You might think that these people are the ones who rise through an organization the quickest because they put in so much time. But I have found that the opposite is usually true. Because they lack balance and perspective, these people burn out quickly. Their all-work-and-no-play attitude often does not pay off at work or in their personal lives.
When you identify too closely with your work, you can easily lose perspective and become unable to look at all the angles in a situation. And when that happens, you are in danger of making decisions that don't honor your values, what matters to you most. For that reason, life balance is essential to values-based leadership. It enables you to be a multifaceted person, someone who can connect with people on multiple levels because you have more interests to share with them than just work. Life balance gives you the mental and physical break from work you need if you are to gain clarity on challenging or difficult situations. When you are leading a balanced life, the experiences you enjoy—whether in a relationship, as a parent, as an athlete, or through an outside organization in which you are involved—offer you different perspectives that assist in your everyday decision making.
A balanced life has many parts. The elements that constitute a balanced life for you will depend on your values and what you consider to be most important. Through self-reflection, you'll know what they are. Some people are uncomfortable discussing their priorities in a group setting, such as I do in my classes at Kellogg. People don't want to admit in front of others that, in addition to their careers, spending time with their children or even going to the gym is important to them. There was a time, not so long ago, when you didn't even mention having a personal life for fear of not appearing committed to your job or being taken seriously as a professional. But you can achieve life balance and still be focused and goal oriented.