Description
This book discusses the major challenges facing dual-career couples-a substantial proportion of modern society-and suggests ways for both individuals to achieve career success by re-evaluating traditional styles of working and focusing on productivity, flexibility, and negotiating win-win solutions. Women are becoming increasingly influential in the workforce; the era of men being the primary or only income-earner in a partnership is all but gone. Today, people tend to meet their spouse or domestic partner at school or at work. High achievers tend to pair with other high achievers, often in similar fields. This leads to couples in which both individuals are strongly motivated to have successful careers. What happens when they become parents or when one-or both-individuals need to consider relocating for their job? Many mid-career, college-educated people, especially women as well as undergraduate and graduate students, are concerned about developing a plan to mesh their career with a partner and are seeking guidance. This book offers a gender-neutral guide for 21st-century couples that will benefit men as much as women. The author provides career-management guidance for people in dual-career relationships in which both parties are ambitiously attempting to pursue equally important, high-powered careers, presenting examples of alternative solutions and arguing that many “women’s issues”-including parenting and limited geographic mobility-are more appropriately managed in a gender-neutral way as dual-career couple issues. Readers will understand how to make better decisions regarding difficult situations, such as whether to accept an opportunity that adversely impacts their personal lives, choosing to take a leave of absence or to quit, investing a large amount of one person’s salary for domestic assistance and childcare, taking paternity leave, and leveraging flexible work arrangements-for example, telecommuting. Identifies and explains the simple principles that enable readers to understand the power in relationships-with their mate and with their employer-and grasp the true sources of their motivation Supplies insights based on surveys of more than 10,000 professionals and more than three decades of business-world experience Addresses “dual-career” issues in the context of being a form of invisible diversity-a reality that impacts both men and women but tends to disproportionately negatively impact women, who are also struggling with unconscious gender bias Reveals how dissatisfaction with work-life balance is often caused by lack of career opportunities
