We see in Floyd Williams’ comments not only a desire for his work to be exciting and meaningful, but also for him to have some influence (and freedom) in his job—and even for his workplace to be a supportive neighborhood (perhaps even more supportive than the role played by any of his three wives).
We also see in the 100 Best Companies a concern for the balance between work and life. The new knowledge workers are willing to work very hard, but many of them also want a balanced life. Unlike Floyd Williams, they want to keep their marriage intact and are unwilling to substitute work for personal life. A recent (1999) Fortune study of business school graduates, for instance, found that quality of life issues are paramount for many of the new knowledge workers. For instance:[xxvi]
“Sharon Goldstein enrolled in Kellogg [Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University] after three years at Andersen Consulting. She fully intended to return to consulting with her MBA. But last summer [1999] she worked at a small high-tech firm, RealNetworks in Seattle, and loved it. The work was an exhilarating rush, not the crushing grind of the consulting circuit. At RealNetworks people had a real life. They ate lunch, took breaks, controlled their own schedules. . . . [Sharon] figures she gave up $45,000 in extra salary, a hefty signing bonus, and a $60,000 loan payoff [by taking a job at RealNetworks]. ‘It’s a lifestyle and career-positioning decision,’ she says.”
Other young knowledge workers have similarly opted for lifestyle, as well as a friendly, responsive and exciting workplace . Sandra Cavanah and Kathleen Layendecker, for instance, have set flexible work schedules as their number one priority and as a result have negotiated a shared vice-presidential position at snowball.com in Palo Alto California.[xxvii] They are not alone:[xxviii]
“. . . today’s business climate, particularly in Silicon Valley, may be the best yet for people seeking flexible working arrangements. Young, rapidly growing companies are ravenous for employees, which make CEOs more accommodating. . . . [This new accommodating attitude] can . . . mean allowing experienced people to share a job, work part-time or work from home.”
Though classically trained as modern managers at Harvard and Yale, Goldstein, Cavanah and Layendecker are very much a part of the emerging hybrid of premodern and postmodern values regarding work. Like the French villager, Sharon, Sandra and Kathleen have chosen to “work in order to live” rather than the other way around. They want their work to be challenging and meaningful. And they definitely want to have significant control over their workplace, but they also want to address the quality-of-life issues in their lives. And in wanting to meet these postmodern needs (along with the other premodern and modern needs) they present a major challenge for the leaders of their organizations—not only in terms of accommodating their distinctive needs and work schedules, but also in terms of fully appreciating the values that underlie and motivate these women to work.
