GE’s former chairman, Jack Welch spoke at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference recently saying (as reported in the Wall Street Journal):

“There’s no such thing as work-life balance. There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences.” Mr. Welch said those who take time off for family could be passed over for promotions if “you’re not there in the clutch.” …”We’d love to have more women moving up faster,” Mr. Welch said. “But they’ve got to make the tough choices and know the consequences of each one.”  Taking time off for family “can offer a nice life,” Mr. Welch said, “but the chances of going to the top on that path” are smaller.” “That doesn’t mean you can’t have a nice career,” he added.

Not surprisingly, his remarks caused quite a stir ─ as of this writing, 137 comments on the WSJ article, 49,900 hits when one googles  “Welch: ‘No Such Thing as Work-Life Balance’” and undoubtedly quite a few serious conversations between and among aspiring career women and their partners.  I must admit that I struggle with this because while it is true that those who aspire to the CEO position must make “tough choices”, it really bothers me that Welch seems to view this as a problem only women face.  Anyone who covets the corner office must come to grips with the fact that the air gets harder and harder to breathe the higher one goes up the corporate ladder.

Welsh is a complicated personality ─ his 2001 autobiography, Straight From The Gut is illustrative.  When I read it, it struck me that he seems to struggle with women ─ he idolizes them (see his over-the-top tributes to his mother), takes them for granted (see his description of his marriage to Carolyn, his first wife) and underestimates them (see the Afterward he wrote after his second wife, Jane Beasley, made his very lucrative retirement package public in connection with contentious divorce settlement negotiations).  And more recently, fell head over heels in love with Suzy Wetlaufer while she was interviewing him for an article she was writing for Harvard Business Review.  She has since become his third wife.

What should you do if you work for someone like this?

• Accept that he won’t be able to ignore the fact that you are female.  It will always be an issue, the elephant in the room.   Anticipate situations when things might get uncomfortable for you and  avoid them.
• Recognize that his ego is bigger than North Dakota.  He will not be able to give you credit for the work you do without some level of Pygmalion glow. He will not allow you to move on to larger roles in other parts of the company unless you have completely solved his succession problem – you must source and completely indoctrinate your successor.
• Exit “Stage Left”  as quickly as possible.  This kind of a boss is not coachable.  He is so stuck in old ways of thinking that it’ll take a team of employment lawyers several years to pry him out.

While sexual harassment is illegal, it is difficult to prove and taxing to your career and your soul.  Ditto for sexual discrimination.  You certainly can (and sometimes have no choice but to do so) take someone like him on but sadly, these remarks come from a recognized leading business thinker.  Perhaps we haven’t come so far after all.

TAGS: the thin pink line, walking the thin pink line, work life balance