Why Great Leaders Prioritize Work-Life Balance for Themselves and Others

“Work-life balance” is one of those phrases that sounds good until you think about what it really means. Companies talk about it, employees ask for it, and consultants build entire presentations around it.

The reality is that no one can give you a work-life balance. It’s something you have to create for yourself. You have to take it, block off your times you won’t work, times that you must work.

Throughout my career, I noticed that the best managers rarely complained about being overworked. I don’t mean they had less to do. In fact, the higher they climbed in the organization, the more demands were placed on their time. They went to more meetings, served on more committees, entertained more customers, traveled more, and represented the company at events that had nothing to do with their job descriptions.

The difference wasn’t their workload, it was how they managed their commitments. They had more to do, but they knew when they had to say no.

Some people say yes to everything because they don’t want to disappoint anyone. Before long, they’re overwhelmed, deadlines start to slip, and they have to work nights and weekends trying to catch up. Eventually, they blame the company for their lack of work-life balance when it’s really their own time management, priorities, and willingness to say no.

The company isn’t the problem.

If you continually commit to more than you can reasonably accomplish, you’re setting yourself up to fail. On the other hand, if you make thoughtful commitments, deliver what you promised, and consistently produce results, nobody cares whether you coach Little League on Tuesday nights or spend Saturday fishing with your grandchildren.

What Teaching at Corrosion College Taught Me About Work-Life Balance

Years ago, we developed what became known as Corrosion College. We manufactured corrosion-resistant conduit, and instead of simply telling customers we had the best product, we decided to teach them why corrosion occurs in the first place.

We partnered with Purdue University and Kilgore College to offer an accredited two-day course. Engineers, facility owners, military personnel, contractors, and maintenance professionals traveled from around the country to attend.

Our engineers taught. Our marketing people taught. Our salespeople taught. I taught.

The first few sessions were exciting because everything was new. After six months, we had settled into a routine, and I’ll admit it became harder to stay enthusiastic. When you’ve delivered the same material dozens of times, you begin to think you’ve said it all before.

Then I realized something.

It might have been the fiftieth presentation for me, but it was the first presentation for every person sitting in that room.

Broadway actors perform the same play hundreds of times. They don’t walk on stage thinking about how many times they’ve delivered the lines. They perform for the audience that bought tickets that evening.

Leadership isn’t much different.

If you’re emotionally invested in what you’re doing, each opportunity matters because the people you’re serving haven’t heard your message before. They deserve your best effort, whether it’s your first presentation or your hundredth.

That lesson came home one evening at a social gathering when someone jokingly referred to our program as “Corrosion College” with a colorful adjective inserted in the middle.

(I didn’t find it amusing.)

The course was helping customers solve real problems. It was strengthening relationships. It was growing the business. It was paying salaries and creating opportunities for everyone connected to the company.

Whether someone inside the family found it boring was completely beside the point. They weren’t the audience.

The people who mattered were the ones who invested two days of their lives to learn from us, and they deserved our respect and our enthusiasm.

That’s true of leadership in general.

People who love what they do don’t necessarily work fewer hours. Often they work more. The difference is that they’re energized by meaningful work instead of drained by it.

If you wake up every morning dreading your responsibilities, no amount of vacation time or flexible scheduling is going to solve the problem. But when you’re intellectually and emotionally engaged in your work, you discover that enthusiasm has a way of replacing exhaustion.

That doesn’t mean you should neglect your family or your health. It means you should be intentional about the commitments you make and fully engaged in the ones you keep.

The best leaders don’t achieve work-life balance by doing less.

They achieve it by saying yes to the right things, saying no to the rest, and bringing genuine enthusiasm to the commitments they choose to make.

I’ve been a manufacturing executive, as well as a sales and marketing professional, for a few decades. Now, I help companies turn around their own business, including pivoting within their industry. If you would like more information, please visit my website and connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Photo credit: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress, Public Domain)