Archives for Career & Personal Benefits Of
How to Create High Return on Your Sabbatical
A sabbatical is an extraordinary adventure with the potential to be a return on investment like no other. Time, energy and money all converge to create a possible life-changing event. We know individuals who improve their leadership game, careers, lifestyles, approach to conflict, work/life balance and relationships after they return. But in the planning stages […]
TEDx Talk on Sabbaticals Sends Misguided, Dangerous Message
I love TED talks and TEDx too. Don’t you? Still, you should not believe everything you hear. Todd Babiak is co-founder of Story Engine, a start-up that uses story-based strategies to make organizations and leaders better: more focused, more cohesive, more influential, more human. I enjoyed his June 2011 TEDx talk, “Tell Me a Story” […]
Innovation Gets Better With Age: Why is This So Hard To Believe?
Does a 65-year-old have significantly more innovation potential than a 25-year-old? My Generation X daughter, who sometimes must teach me a new tech shortcut twice (okay, maybe four times) would answer boldly and quickly, “No way.” Older is slower. So how could her mother possibly be better at new thinking and fresh ideas than, say, […]
Why Your Career Path Should Have No End
Life expectancy is ballooning, but really, who’s paying attention? I wasn’t, and the results were a transition that could have been better navigated. Entering my third act of life, I ended up confused in a swamp land of outdated information, no great “how-to” bestseller as a guide and social benchmarks that just didn’t fit anymore. […]
Experts Identify Extreme Workers’ Ultimate Success Tool - “Get Away from the Job”
Fast Company Magazine’s 2012 two-part series on Generation Flux was their best – intoxicating and evil at the same time - in the last five years. Robert Safian, an author and the magazine’s editor, challenged every conventional thought left in your brain about how to be a successful and survival in the present state of […]
No Resolutions for New Year, Just the Gift of a Journey
Holiday gatherings reunited me with friends, family and colleagues. After hugs and “great to see you,” I used the common conversation starter, “So, what’s going on with you?” Answers included: “Working hard, going nowhere.” “Well, you know, my life is all about the kids.” “Not much of anything.” “Same ole’, same ole.” This is not […]
Bring Back the 40-Hour Work Week? Can We Noodle on That?
In the third debate, the President’s history lesson -“we don’t use bayonets and horses”- prompted big buzz, smiles and controversy. But, although billed as a last resort, bayonets still do play a part in military arms, just not a significant one. Another idea - a killer idea - also steeped in history moves toward a […]
Oh the Things You’ll Learn! Three Notable Sabbatical Books
We can learn a lot from the story line, “sabbatical idea to departure.” But, the story of what happens next provides the best information to help us to look closer at our own ideas about taking time out from work Who doesn’t want answers to these questions: Just how did those teenage daughters like being […]
Where the Spirit Leads, Feet Follow: Walk, Baby, Walk
While extreme sports fuel many, the rest of us are not, nor do we aspire, to be in the club. For a lot of different reasons, we don’t want to go “peak bagging.” We’re not fit enough, strong enough or brave enough. Still we’d like to “live bold” and “dare to do more.” The urge […]
The Purpose-Driven Sabbatical: New Approach to Achieve the Happy Factor
Without purpose, a sabbatical won’t make you happy. I’ve interviewed many individuals who thought all they needed to do was negotiate the time away, arrange for their work to get done, and instruct the tech department to dissolve temporary access to their email. Then, totally disconnected from work life, the grand experience of their sabbatical […]
New Sabbatical Program Falls Short of Top Notch
I give an “A” for effort to Ray Clark, Founder and CEO, of The Marketing Arm. He’s kicked off 2012 with a program that combines time and cash for his longtime employees. Not too bad so far, eh? Anyone who has been with the Dallas-based marketing and promotions agency for at least seven years is being rewarded with […]
18 Reasons Why Companies Want a Sabbatical Program for Their Employees
While organizations disappear, wait out or struggle in this economy, you can guess a number of senior executives wouldn’t even venture a conversation about establishing a sabbatical program for their employees. Apt responses in this group are: “Are you out of your mind?” “No way. We want them here and working, working working.” “Who’s doing that?” So […]
Working Harder and Harder to Achieve Less and Less. How Ya Doin’ With That?
Driving home from a recent business dinner, I struggled to figure out just how my three smiling dinner companions processed the current business environment with such remarks as “turning the corner,” “looking better than ever,” “full of promise,” and, (the corker), “my best year ever.” All three highly educated, high achieving business owners seemed out […]
Get Where You Live Right, You’ll Get Life Right. R-e-a-l-l-y?
A good friend is packing up to move six states to the east - closer to the ocean where it won’t snow. Without a job for over a year, she figures her spirit will get a boost in new surroundings where the sun shines more days than in Cincinnati. In no time she’ll be inspired to tackle a future […]
Obsessed with Goals? Might Explain Why There’s No Sabbatical in View for You
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, written by Marshall Goldsmith with Mark Reiter, outlines 20 habits to break to become even more successful. With an average of 4.5 stars from 288 Amazon readers, the book deserves your attention. The 20 habits include clinging to the past, making excuses and winning too much. Goldsmith is “corporate America’s […]
The After-Pregnant Pause: Is Calling Your Time Out a “Parent Sabbatical” Smart – or Not?
Who knew to call time out raising your kids a “parenting sabbatical”? Seems this touted option elicits opinionated responses from moms of the world. In her column yesterday for the New York Times, Overcoming a “Planned” Sabbatical, Lisa Belkin features Barbara Hannan Grufferman’s suggestions for re-entering the workforce after taking time out to have a family. Ms. […]
Companies That Pair Time Out and Innovation Run to the Bank
Is the idea of a sabbatical program at your company a “squishy” one? Is there no perception that time out from a career boosts performance, career longevity and innovation? Time to express your impatience with stodgy thinking and tell stories of how time off CAN result in extraordinary bottom line results. From squishy idea to […]
Attention Skills Gone to Pot: What Did You Expect From Your Connected, Crazy Life?
Thomas Metzinger, a philosopher, argues that the Internet isn’t changing the way we think, but it is attacking our finite commodity of “attention.” Feeling strongly about our “attention management,” the philosopher worries. “Attention is a finite commodity and absolutely essential to living a good life,” he laments. Given that, you and I won’t be living our […]
Name Your Sacrifices for Work Bliss
Stephen Sondheim, the “the master lyricist of our generation” 80 years old and would forgo love to write lyrics. How does a genius think? How does he approach work? As a prolific, high-achieving performer, does he ever want to stop working? Does he have a life? All the answers are in Sondheim’s new book (the first […]
The Power of Purpose and What’s Coming: A Workplace Revolution, Says Daniel Pink
Want to join a revolution that’s coming? No marches or petitions necessary. All you have to do is blow out your birthday candles and start thinking about how you can live a better life. In his latest book Drive, best-selling author Daniel Pink describes the upcoming force to be reckoned with as demographically driven. Every 13 […]