ABSTRACT
In informal discussion at a recent leadership development workshop, the work-life balance issue came up among a bunch of managers. They all felt that it was a struggle to have a reasonable life outside work and still demonstrate credibly the commitment and passion for their business that was expected of them. It’s a common disease in organisations and a dilemma for the people who work in them. Equally, ‘nobody dies wishing that they spent more time at the office’ is a thought that many people have, even if it sometimes feels too heretical to speak out loud in a workaholic culture. Death pushes us to sort out and re-evaluate what is really important: that is one of its gifts, even if for some it comes too late to do much with the new insights that can emerge from a brush with death, our own or someone else’s.
