Who Will Join Me And “Lean-Out”?
You’d have to have been living under a rock for the past few months not to have come across the “Lean In” phenomenon. The brainchild of Sheryl Sandberg, polished COO of Facebook, “Leaning In” aims to enable women to overcome the gender-specific challenges of the corporate world and fight their way up the slippery career slope to the very top. I have to admit, I was a bit alarmed for the implications on our (relatively) relaxed family life, when I spotted my wife, Christine, reading the book.
Fortunately, my visions of myself and the kids being reclassified as “employees” and her starting to throw “women’s leadership parties” in our house, were unfounded (unless our Friday Afternoon Club – which is a weekly celebration of the end of the working week over a few drinks with friends, counts). She finished the book and said “if that’s what suits her then fair enough – doesn’t sound like much fun, though!”
It made me think about the male equivalent of “Leaning In” – if such a thing were to exist.
Since the Financial Crisis of 2009, I have seen many of my friends, colleagues and myself, at the wrong end of the redundancy package table. However, to my surprise, while there used to be a stigma of “underperformance / underachiever ” associated with this, it feels really different these days. I think many of my male friends used this dramatic and forced upon them event as an opportunity to reassess their lives.
Having spent 20 years working in increasingly senior roles in big companies (Accenture, Virgin, UBS…) I saw my share of people aggressively climbing the corporate ladder, and experienced first hand the stress, lack of family time etc that working in this type of environment entails.
There was a time when one of the key things I was looking forward to long term, was retirement. The prospect of spending more time with the family, playing golf and watching soccer seemed so much more appealing than the day-to-day rat race and hunting for the next promotion. But I realized that retirement, even if possible, was not really what I was looking for. While I didn’t want the high flying career at any cost, or to pursue the “balance of life” (aka career suicide) option, I wanted my work life to be a pleasure, and to be meaningful. I wanted to “Lean-Out”.
For me, this realization came 4 years ago, when we emigrated to Canada. It was at this time that I had my chance to re-assess my career to date, and make my decision on how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I had the chance to quit corporate life and take on the role of COO for the growing Little Kickers business. I decided that perhaps the time had come for me to make the change – mainly to help Chris out, you understand (!) So we held a ceremonial suit-burning ceremony in the back garden and I nervously jumped off the treadmill, much to the surprise of many of my friends, “when are you going to stop helping Chris out and get a proper job” was a common comment.
Three years on, the work is surprisingly challenging. There’s always a new project on the go, and much to my relief (and that of the manager of the bank where we have our mortgage!) the business is going from strength to strength. I work with great people, most of whom I would choose as friends, and have the satisfaction of knowing that there is a direct correlation between the work I put in and the results that are being achieved – I am in control of how I spend my time.
One of the most striking things to me when I first started working at little Kickers was how quickly a decision can be made and implemented, without having to wade through the layers of politics which are present in most larger organisations – things just get done much faster and with less bureaucracy, which is refreshing.
Whilst I work pretty long hours, my work is interspersed with time doing sport / hanging out with the kids and friends, and I get to choose how I structure my day.
I’ve introduced a few changes to the company – all the Canadian franchisees now have season tickets for Toronto FC and Chris understands when I (grudgingly, of course!) have to go to “work” at BMO Field (TFC’s home ground) at weekends. I have also explained to the Toronto team that watching major football matches on TV in the afternoons is actually an important part of our jobs. I’m organizing the first Little Kickers Master Franchise Conference in Brazil next summer (like the timing on that one?!) and I like to think that I’ve made life a bit easier for the dedicated team of franchisees who work so hard on setting up and running Little Kickers businesses, by making some pretty dramatic changes to our operational infrastructure.
So whilst I like the sentiment behind Sheryl’s book, and admire everything she has achieved, I can’t really see how it would make my life happier, or more fun. Should the relentless pursuit of career advancement (and associated material wealth) really be viewed as the pinnacle of achievement in today’s society? I think I prefer the “Leaning Out” approach and running your own business maybe has given me the opportunity to embrace this. It is not retirement, it is not a joke, it’s all about making business a pleasure. Perhaps it’s something that more people ought to give a try!