I disagree.
I was lucky to be born to a strong, supportive biological family. I was even luckier to be able to opt into and select my work family. They challenge me, support me, grow with me and pull me back when I need it. I love them.
Yes, business changes and that can mean we may not be together forever in our current corporate instantiation. But the relationship remains. I’ll be proud to work with them elsewhere. If life takes them other places, they are always a friend, are always welcome in our home and always have a seat at our dinner table. We do business but have also extended past it.
I don’t see all business as soulless and evil. I don’t aim for life/work balance. I aim for life/work integration. If the Japanese can make pouring tea an art, then surely I can make my practice of business an art. I’m not less for this, I’m more. I make others better and they make me better — together we do more than we could alone. That’s meaningful and powerful. That makes me more like who I am, not less. That gives me energy.
When I took my son to our office the first time, we packaged a box for shipment together. I’m proud that he did it and that people could see him doing it. I’ll tell him about it when he grows up.
I’m not just a worker, just a husband or just a father. I’m all three and all three well. I don’t expect the company to lay down so I can be the other two, that’s on me. I avoid people with that expectation. They tend to take more than they give.
I do expect to be well paid, have good benefits and be able to opt into teams where I can handle the push/pull of life/work with a group of people who will do for me and who know I will do for them.