Work-Life Balance is PC for "Slacker"

The thought just hit me. Merging a CBS News report I watched this morning about how Slackers cost American businesses over $500 Billion in lost efficiencies per year (I won’t quibble with the estimate—even if it is a hyperbole of statistical abuse, the amount is clearly significant) and the book I was reading (Juicing the Orange by Pat Fallon & Fred Senn, 2006) where these advertising executives were writing about connecting, in a global climate, a common business theme (they were writing about United Airlines' and their ad campaigns {as an aside - I can't stop playing that damned Gershwin song in my mind as I write this - so I guess something must be working}) and how Americans are business and productivity focused while Europeans are more work-life balanced.

And it struck me ....... maybe that is the problem with this incessant discussion about how people desire a work-life balance; in as much as column inch after column inch of professional literature has been dedicated to this topic along with hour upon pabulum (and mundane) hour of seminars, lead by the modern day charlatan the "executive coach" has pummeled this mantra of this generation or that generation requiring greater work-life balance or they will leave firms for better pastures. Work-life balance is for slackers.

This concept of stressing work-life balance is pure poppycock. It is just a concept that says people want an excuse to be slackers. What people really need isn't more balance but more extremes. The human capital issue isn't one of balancing but one of creating extreme opportunities. People simply require a passionate reason to bust their butt on or for something and then to go play just as hard. The X-Games have street luge and it is not for the faint of heart or thin of skin. In this context of leveraging our human capital, the extremeness of the sport is an example of a generation's demand from themselves to achieve success. Street luge is not for slackers. Work-life balance is for slackers.

It is not balance one seeks. It is opportunity. The opportunity to strut, to stretch, to leap, to fail, and to succeed. All at supersonic speed and with the bounding energy of leopard in pursuit of her dinner. This drive is transferred into their pleasures. Rave parties. Extreme sports. Exotic vacations. All-night gaming. These up and comers - they work hard and they play hard. Work-life balance is not in their vocabulary. Work-life balance is for slackers.

And if balance is not what they are seeking - working to bring more of it only leads to certain failure. Unless the definition of balance is merely the mathematical concept of average or the economic concept of equilibrium, balance is clearly the incorrect word and if words matter at all, the wrong word communicates the wrong concept. Words matter. Work-life balance is for slackers.

So what are we (leaders) to do? First - recognize that work-life balance simply means the Socialization of work. I do not want to work with Socialists. I want to work with stars…and superstars at that. I enjoy associating with people that push the envelope - theirs and mine. I do not learn from slackers and success requires a learning culture. So lets hang out the "No Slackers Here" sign. Work-life balance is for slackers.

Leaders should determine how to push their human capital to achieve greatness. That means leaders have to understand their HC and learn where they want to go and to grow. Then develop work and projects that catapults them further along their careers than they have any right to anticipate. Stop worrying about balance - balance is for tires. Think about extremes. Stop pandering to slackers. Great mind and great workers don’t want to hang with slackers. Slackers are dead-weight anchors and need to be released to the competition. Work-life balance is for slackers.

That means it is just fine to set impossible deadlines. It is critical that their acumen, creativity, stamina, and quest for excellence delivered are tested. Tested to the brink of failure. Then.......after they deliver their leader sends them packing into some X-Game style adventure or pleasure opportunity with the only charge to "recharge" and get ready for the next "shock wave of working adventure". Slackers need not apply.

Every summer the news and trade press discusses the vacation and work policies of Europe versus the United States. This comparison includes days off, holidays, breaks, benefits, and the like. And the media promulgates that something must be wrong with the American way. Yet each and every year, the leading indicators surrounding productivity, patents, innovation, income, and overall opportunity are not pointed towards the slacker socialists, but instead to those damned unbalanced capitalists. Slackers don't create; they waste resources, are inefficient, and interfere with success. Work-life balance is for slackers.

Here is to all of those overworked and under-balanced stratospheric HC investors out there. Do not look for balance - that leads to mediocrity. Search instead for opportunities to excel in both business and in life. For truly then, will you find blue skies over that personal rainbow. And leave the slackers behind.