Due in large part to the release of Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg’s new book “Lean In,” for the first time in a long time there is a robust discussion about how to recruit and keep more women in leadership positions being had on a large scale. Underscoring these discussions is the issue of how children and work-life balance impede the advancement of women in the workplace.
Journalist Mike Winerip’s experiences have lead him to believe that this isn’t a gender issue at all. He was on the fast track to becoming a top editor at The New York Times when he made the unconventional decision to lean out and anchor the home while his wife worked as the breadwinner. He continued to work as a journalist but did so from home and turned down advancements in his career to accommodate running a busy house, a sacrifice made more often than women than by men.
Mike’s experiences have lead him to believe that the blessing of children is also a major career limitation, regardless of your gender, and rightfully so. He doesn’t believe that family-friendly workplace changes will reduce the burden on parents or catapult women to high-powered positions because the nature of high-powered work is just not friendly.
Mike Winerip writes and anchors the Booming blog for The New York Times.
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