Burnout isn’t working for anyone in our business culture – especially not women, who so easily burn out from family + work duties. Emily raises our consciousness with this post to remind us that we have the choice. – InPower Editors
Two years ago I wrote about a former boss who casually mentioned after a work dinner that he had been away from home for 16 nights in a row.
16. nights. in. a. row.
In the highest echelons of business, this may seem normal. For many women though, it’s sacrilege.
I have to admit I’m always amused when corporations actively create cultures of burnout and then wonder why retention is a problem.
These are usually the same organizations that actively create cultures of competition and then wonder why employees can’t get along.
If this is what it takes to enter the C-Suite, we can all stop wasting ink and pixels complaining about how only 14% of women make it.
The fact is – you can sugar-coat the career journey by calling it a ladder, a lattice, or a jungle gym, but at the end of the day – it still isn’t working for us.
Now…this is the part where I have to tell you I have a major crush on Sheryl Sandberg.
Seriously, I do.
However, I know I speak for hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of women when I say that we don’t want to lean in to a broken system.
The problem isn’t us.
The problem with business is business itself.
Hence, my other girl crush – Arianna Huffington.
Maybe you’ve noticed, but Arianna is using her considerable platform to launch The Third Metric, which she describes as redefining success to include money, power, and well-being.
In Arianna’s words, the pace and demands of being “successful” today are becoming increasingly incompatible with something business has rarely stopped to consider before: Happiness.
Obviously, I agree.
In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that if we HAD stopped to consider well-being as a success metric before now, perhaps a quarter of women in the US wouldn’t be using antidepressants.
This is serious stuff people.
How can you ever tap into your full potential if you’ve become so disconnected and unfocused with your own life that you’re just going through the motions waiting to go home so you can get up and do it all over again?
Of course, this is where conscious leadership comes in.
Because when we act more deliberately we make better decisions – and when we make better decisions life begins to unfold as it should.
And where are these decisions made you ask?
Right now.
In the present.
With your whole self.
So a major bow to you, Arianna, and your genius third metric.
Thrive on.
P.S. If you would like to attend Arianna’s live conference in New York next month with speakers ranging from business leaders to spiritual teachers (a.k.a. my favorite crowd), use the promotional code “LD100” at registration and you’ll receive $100 off.
P.S.S. For the record, I’m not an affiliate for any person or product, meaning I only share things I believe in.
Originally on: EmilyBennington.com
Guide to Women in Leadership
Organizations with women in their executive suites regularly out-perform others. Yet rising female executives (and their mentors) are frustrated at how hard it is to break through the glass ceiling. In this extensive guide, Executive Coach Dana Theus shares her tried and true strategies to help women excel into higher levels of leadership and achieve their executive potential.
