Brigid Schulte's latest for the Harvard Business Review blog.❝ Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk tweets that no one changed the world working 40 hours a week. He rarely sleeps or sees his kids and had a famously public meltdown. Apple’s Tim Cook is on email before the sun rises. And billionaire Mark Cuban worked until 2 am launching his first business and didn’t take a vacation for seven years.
These intense work styles are often celebrated as the only way to get to the top and be a super-productive leader. Indeed, surveys show that managers and executives describe the “ideal worker” as someone with no personal life or caregiving responsibilities. And a majority of leaders themselves — the ones who set the tone for organizations and model behavior for everyone else — think work-life balance is “at best an elusive ideal and at worst a complete myth.” In an interview, three CEOs rated as top performers by HBR said the job was 24/7 and admitted they weren’t great role models.
But does it have to be that way? [HBR.org]
 | BRIGID SCHULTE is the Director of the Better Life Lab and The Good Life Initiative at New America, and author of the NY Times bestseller, Overwhelmed. Watch her TED Talk on "How to Work, Love and Play When No One Has Time" below, and learn more about booking Brigid for your next event today. |
