Work-life balance

Author: Zheng Junnan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: Harvard Business Review is the signature magazine of Harvard Business School, founded in 1922. As one of the authoritative journals in the field of management theory and practice, Harvard Business Review has always been committed to discovering and disseminating cutting-edge ideas, perspectives, and methods in the field of business administration, helping managers continuously update their concepts, broaden their horizons, adapt to changes, and keep pace with the times. Harvard Business Review is widely regarded by readers as one of the most authoritative, thought-provoking, valuable, and unique journals in the international management field.
Professional managers are the strategic decision-making and execution centers of enterprises. Their thoughts and actions largely determine the fate of the company. The media focuses on discussing their capabilities, styles, and the challenges they face. Traditional business school education also emphasizes cultivating managers' analytical skills, leadership abilities, planning skills, and execution skills. But how many people consider that, as managers of enterprises, they too experience helplessness, sadness, fear, despair, hopelessness, regret, and anger, as well as an inescapable sense of emptiness and guilt. Few courses are designed to train them in managing their own lives, as if the world has overlooked the fact that managers are human beings.
It is important to know that humans are highly emotional creatures, naturally experiencing joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. These emotional fluctuations also affect managers, influencing their commitment to work and the quality of their work. Moreover, how can a manager who cannot manage their own emotions understand and manage others'? As leaders, the emotions of managers can also spread to their entire team, affecting team morale and execution efficiency.
Many professional managers may achieve success in their careers, but their dedication or sacrifices may have impacted their personal lives. For them, this trade-off between career and life may be unavoidable, as traditional beliefs hold that career and life are a zero-sum game—one must choose one over the other and cannot have both.
When a manager feels proud of their professional achievements, on the other hand, they may feel guilty toward their wives, husbands, or children, regret losing their hobbies, and experience immense pressure, emotional instability, or even exhaustion. From a career perspective, they are successful; but from a life perspective, they are incomplete. Some regrets may be irreparable in this lifetime. Once they retire, their careers stagnate, or they leave their positions, that sense of emptiness without a life will resurface.
While their efforts have brought them career success, the price they pay may prevent them from advancing further in their careers. For the company, the opportunity cost of losing such managers is even greater.
Can managers truly never achieve a balance between work and life? The answer is no. Work-Life Balance, a collection of classic articles from Harvard Business Review, offers a forward-thinking perspective, scientific research methods, and profound insights. More than 20 years ago, it foresaw the necessity of implementing a "human-centric" philosophy in management, particularly at the managerial level, marking a "Renaissance" for managers.
When technological advancements, organizational structures, processes, strategies, mergers, reorganizations, and other management concepts fail to address the inner struggles of managers, perhaps the only solution lies in recognizing the value of managers as human beings and reevaluating their worth.
With changes in demographics, the globalization of business, rapid technological advancements, and increasing competition for management talent, the gender ratio and backgrounds of managers are also evolving. The entry of more women and minorities into management roles is placing new demands on male-dominated corporate cultures. Men's perceptions of their roles and values in both career and life are also undergoing significant shifts. Companies that adapt to these changes will gain a competitive edge.
At the same time, for Chinese enterprises, what happens in Western management may soon be what they need to explore. China's entry into the WTO not only means more foreign investment coming in but also more Chinese companies going global. The internationalization of Chinese enterprises must consider cultural differences and adapt to Western multiculturalism and human-centric management.
The translation and publication of this book can serve as a window through which to observe human-centric management.