Balancing Act ― How Managers Can Integrate Successful Careers and Fulfilling Personal Lives

Examines the shifting demographic, economic, and social forces--the changing gender roles, harsher economic realities, and dual career families--that pull managers and executives out of balance. Draws on ten years of research, consulting, and training on the topic to describe the cost of imbalance to individuals and organizations and tells how to restore equilibrium. Provides numerous checklists and self-assessment tools to help determine the degree and the nature of imbalance in our lives and in our organizations. Outlines a step-by-step process for personal change that can lead to an improved quality of life and provides individuals with a blueprint for initiating organizational changes that jointly optimize personal development and organizational effectiveness.

JOAN KOFODIMOS is a partner in the Renaissance Group in Greensboro, North Carolina, which conducts research and consulting in human and organization development. An adjunct member of the Center for Creative Leadership, she is coauthor (with R. E. Kaplan and W. H. Drath) of Beyond Ambition (Jossey-Bass, 1991).