MEDIA: Journalist Leslie T. Chang (author Factory Girls) reveals what people in China are reading today: books about working. The fascinating part is the tone : an emphasis on getting ahead with disregard for others, no hold’s barred, getting rich at all cost. It sounds as though these books are a good reflection of the confusing moral no-man’s land Chinese workers find themselves in today. Raised by parents of the cultural revolution, Chinese working youth of today grew up in homes without televisions but have seen many people become billionaires nearly overnight. Unfortunately these books only seem to be available in Chinese but I will be fascinated to read some of them once they are translated, for an insider view into the mind of today’s competitive worker in China. These books could also shed light on ways for greater cultural understanding as diversity in work places increases, because every culture has its norms.  Read her full article in the New Yorker :http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/02/06/120206fa_fact_chang

BLOG: Beware of workaholism: working can be great, exciting, creative, empowering, not to mention that it pays the bills. Creating and having a sense of contribution are certainly important pieces of the happiness puzzle, but work can easily spill out over it’s boundaries.  Because “working hard” is applauded in society, workhalism can easily slip under the radar, even our own. The benefits of NOT being a workaholic are many: we bring more energy and focus to our work, we can have healthy meaningful personal relationships, we can experience greater health and exercise, and time for leisure and nature. We also get to rest adequately and recharge our batteries.  The machine of “you” needs to be very well-maintained in order to function optimally, and that means filling all of its tanks, not just the “work” tank. One of the less obvious benefits of NOT being a workaholic is that it gives us more confidence, security and sense of choice in our working lives. If things don’t go well at work, it is not the end of the world, because your job is not your whole world. If you need to make a work change, it is easier because you have more support and a greater sense of identity from which to draw power as you transition.

It all seems so obvious, but what actually motivates us to over-committ, to over-please, and to over-work, often has deep roots at its source.  The good news is that understanding those roots can quickly lead to balanced productivity and good work-life boundaries.  Sometimes everyone around us seems to be overworking and so we can convince ourselves it is normal. But a quick look beyond our circle will reveal people leading balanced lives, and enjoying lucrative successful careers across a range of sectors. I guarantee it because I’ve met many of them. We generally have our own internal barometer which tells when work is getting more attention than is best for our happiest living; we usually know deep down. All good things need to be kept in balance, and work is no exception. Avoiding this common phenomenon can be the key to success in work, and also to greater enjoyment in life. And isn’t that the whole point? See Amazon.com for many good books on this topic: http://www.amazon.com/Workaholics-Respectable-Dr-Barbara-Killinger/dp/1552091341

BLOG: Athletes retiring from professional sport face unique work challenges. One CBC progam compared retiring from professional athletics to getting out of jail: suddenly the person is thrust into the real world after a few decades out of the real world market. Most athletes invested all their time in sport, and no time was spent on developing skills or any kind of work experience outside sport. Athletes look around at their peers in their 30s who have degrees, skills, and resumes packed with experience. Coming off a being a celebrety athlete, it can be awkward knowing where to start in the community as a regular person. Add to this the lack of soft skills; much of pro sport rewards players for competitive aggressive behavior, which does not translate well into team-oriented office politics, where patience and calm communication skills are emphasized. To assist with this, and other problems unique to pro atheletes, the NFL players association provides training on financial management and planning for their future. Because in addition to all the difficulties posed by transition, many athletes lose their fortunes within years of retirement. Any good books out there on this topic? let me know…

BLOG: Update on teaching at the Cozumel Women’s Centre: I’m learning to not take my students’ absence or tardiness personally. Never have I seen such a variation in attendance, which originally left me totally perplexed because these women are so keen to learn. Never before I have heard such a flood of personal stories about why they couldn’t make it to class. The centre’s director, a human rights lawyer specializing in domestic violence cases, told me that all the stories are true. The women face tremendous challenges on a daily basis which are the very reason they’ve had trouble getting educated or working in the past. Most had children right out of highschool and have never worked outside the home. Now in their 30s, they are juggling family responsibilities with developing their own work skills. They have little money to pay for transport or emergencies, they live far away, and some face violence at home. Here they are training to get their first job, with their husband having recently left.  These women inspire me. I love their sweetness and positive attitude. I also appreciate their patience with me as I adapt to them.  So whereas my knee-jerk response is to take a tough zero-tolerance approach to tardiness, here I am learning a new approach. These women don’t need to learn life lessons about responsibility and work ethic; they have that already in spades. Instead, I am learning to be more flexible and to give them some extra options for catching up on missed work.  I am learning that I we don’t have to be on a straight line path in order for them to learn. I can meet them half-way, no matter where that is, because this group is doing their very best, and then some.

Women on corporate boards increase profits: Globe & Mail reports on status of women on corporate boards. Currently at roughly 13%, representation of women on boards on Canadian companies has shown little improvement in past decades. A key pipeline for executive leadership is middle-management representation, which has shown only 5% growth in female presence since 1987. Canadian gender equality numbers are in line with European numbers. The quest for greater female representation in senior leadership is about dollars and cents because it impacts the bottom line: “greater gender equality has been shown to contribute to better business performance, improved competitiveness and economic gains,” according to a McKinsey study showing that more balanced companies have a 56-per-cent higher operating profit than male-dominated companies, and an Ernst & Young analysis finding earnings at companies with at least one woman on the board are “significantly higher” than among those with none.  Read full article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-news/european/eu-eyes-forced-quotas-for-women-on-corporate-boards/article2358723/

Baby Boomer parents too involved in their kids careers: The Globe and Mail’s Barbara Moses, PhD, suggests that baby boomer parents over-identify with their children’s careers.  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/barbara-moses/step-back-and-let-your-children-forge-their-own-career-paths/article2363352/

   Tip for your own career clarity: let go of your parents dreams: This echoes the same concept put forward in Laurie Beth Jones’ book on career clarity “The Path”. Jones suggests that we often subconsciously take on our parents unmet career goals and dreams without realizing. She argues that one of the first steps to finding one’s own career clarity, is to ask our parents what their career dreams were, and to extricate these out of our own work choices. Her book ( note: with a strong Christian slant) offers some good tools to reach career clarity:  http://www.amazon.ca/Path-Creating-Your-Mission-Statement/dp/0786882417

One story of the daughter of baby boomers: modern feminist: Courtney Martin of Feministing.com touched on this same theme in her recent TED talk. She admits to being raised by baby boomer radical parents, who “became grown-ups” They wanted to “save the world, but instead they just got rich, or middle class.” She says she was raised with a ”very heavy sense unfinished legacy.” See her full talk here: http://www.ted.com/talks/courtney_martin_reinventing_feminism.html

Mothers working Part-time report the greatest well-being: In the December 2011 Journal of Family Psychology, Cheryl Buehler, professor of human development and family studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, finds that mothers who work part-time reported better health, less depression, and a greater ability to be sensitive to their children’s development needs, compared to mothers not working outside the home and mothers working full-time. Mothers working part-time report less family-management related conflict than mothers working full-time. She posits that mothers working part-time benefit from work-related mental health impacts, involvement in their communities, and sense of identity, without facing the draining effects on their parenting schedule posed by full-time work commitments.  Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/13/working-moms-particularly-part-timers-are-happier-and-healthier-than-at-home-moms/#ixzz1oexSM0mK