The consulting firm with the longest name, PricewaterhouseCoopers has reported out the results of its second international student survey. They talked to 2500 students from 36 of what they describe as the world's leading universities in 11 countries about their career goals.
Fifty-seven percent of the respondents stated that balancing work life and personal life is their primary career goal. That's up from 45% two years ago. They don't, however, believe that this desire competes with their long-term career development and personal growth goals.
WALLY's COMMENT·Well of course they don't believe this balancing act will limit their growth in personal or career goal achievement. That's because they haven't tried the balancing act yet.
This is nothing new. Young people, just beginning their work life, have ridiculously unrealistic expectations about what they can achieve. That's normal, natural, and good.
First of all, note that I'm not saying that it's not possible to have a great career and a decent home life. What I am saying is that it's hard to do, that it requires attention all the time, and that it inevitably involves tradeoffs.
Kids tend not to see that when they're starting out. What's hard to see in the beginning is that there's always someone else who will make the tradeoff that you may not be willing to. There's always someone with a bad marriage who works to the wee hours of the morning to avoid going home. There's always the person who lives just for work who's willing to put in obscene amounts of time and who's just as talented as you are.
It works the other way, too. There are folks who are more willing than you will be to forego putting in a few more hours on the latest project so they can attend their child's dance recital or soccer game.
This is not a new problem. Let me quote from one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. The book is Confessions of an Advertising Man and the author is David Ogilvy.
"If you prefer to spend all your spare time growing roses or playing with your children, I like you better, but do not complain that you are not being promoted fast enough. Managers promote the men who produce the most.%
The use of the gender term, men, instead of a more inclusive one may give you a clue to when this was written. It was 1963.
There's a broader lesson here, though. It involves why it's good for young people to have the perspective that they can do it all.
The reason, quite simply, is that theyâll achieve more that way than if they believe the opposite. The world tends to belong to the people who believe that they can control their destinies and who set about taking the actions that put that belief into practice. This same kind of "unrealisticä expectation appears in just about anyone starting up a new business. It appears in the beginning stages of almost any relationship.
As we go through life, though, what we begin to learn is that achievement, or good relationships, or successful enterprises, are built both on the majestic goals and visions that pull you forward, but also on the daily slogging through the hills and valleys of life.
Created: 11/15/99
Reviewed: 2/15/03
Note: Even though the survey referred to is several years old now, the article still looks relevant to me.
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