March 2010

“Call Work Life Balance Make More Money”

The White House hosted an historic Workplace Flexibility Forum today to highlight best practice, have (some) discussion around policy and most critically, add the imprimatur of the President and First Lady, who opened and closed the event, to these issues.  CEOs, high level government administrators and elected officials, mothers’ action groups, union leaders, academics and […]

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Making Work Work in the New Normal

How do you compete in a world where competition isn’t necessarily the driver?  What does it look like when sharing and reciprocity are the new currency?  I spent a morning absorbing the words of Futurist Bob Johansen at the Work Life Conference in Washington DC, run by the Families and Work Institute and the Conference […]

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Work Life Stories: Broadway Baby (Part 2)

We met Erik Orton earlier in the week, and left his story as he reached crunch time for choosing his next step in the search for integrity in his work life.  Time to introduce Erik’s family, five children, all home-schooled. For Part 1 of Work Life Stories: Broadway Baby, go here. “I needed day job […]

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Work Life Stories: Broadway, Baby (Part 1)

Erik Orton is a playwright, composer and producer by day, and a presentations whiz for a large investment bank by night.  Erik’s story is the journey of an integrated life and what that means to him.  From high school, he was interested in theatre and music, pursuing a Bachelors in Media Music (film scoring, studio […]

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Thinking About Mothers and Work and Media

“I often wonder if it matters what kind of mother you are as far as the media is concerned. When I was a WOHM (work out of home mother), just a vacuum of nothingness. When I was a SAHM (stay at home mother), what was written was belittling, whiny, or just plain vicious. Now I […]

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Tear Down That Wall?

In the furor over the NYT Mommy Blogger’s piece over the weekend (which I am not getting into as others have done it better), I noticed a comment (amongst the hundreds of comments across one of the at least 12 follow-ups I’ve read in the past couple of days).  I can’t quote it, because I […]

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Balance, What Balance?!

Why do I persist in using the term “work life balance” when it has so many complex connotations?  I have a very simple answer.  Because it’s the lingua franca of the academic research and literature, of corporate programs, of legislation and of every day people.  There are those I respect who argue convincingly for alternative […]

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Work Life Stories: Flex in High Finance? An Unusual On-Ramp Tale

The big bad world of Wall St high finance is not the most conducive to mothering and flexible work options.  Here’s a unique story of just what is possible when you dare to ask.  After her MBA, Sariah Toronto spent several years with Citibank and then moved on to another major financial institution for 18 […]

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