What Are You Balancing?
Navigating the demands of work, school and family can be as tricky as a tightrope walk.
by Pam Losefsky
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“I owe any advances in my career completely to my
mother,” she laughs, “but she says her contract is
up in May, so then I’ll have to figure something
else out.” With a job already lined up in 3M’s
Strategic Business Development Group, Rajashekar
says that for the foreseeable future, juggling
career and family will be the norm.
With a top-quality daycare center directly across the street from her future employer, she expects that managing the child care will be easier than it might be in a less convenient situation.
Blending Priorities, Setting Expectations
For Michelle Frymire, MBA ’91, and Rich Frymire, MBA ’92, work-life balance is an intricate dance of closely coordinated travel, constant communication, strict adherence to priorities and weekly schedules. The dual-career couple has four children ranging in age from 14 to 2. “We have always acknowledged that career is important,” says Michelle, senior vice president and CFO of Starwood Vacation Ownership in Orlando. “But throughout our careers, we’ve always looked for what’s best for our family, not at what our next best career opportunity is.”
As CFO for Orlando startup NBA Juiceworks, Rich’s career is equally demanding, but he is adamant about spending time with his family—coaching his boys’ sports teams and being the one to take time off to help with family transitions during moves dictated by Michelle’s career. “Along with spending a lot of quality time with my sons, being the coach gives me the added flexibility to adjust the schedule as needed,” he admits. “I was able to move many of last season’s baseball games to make sure I could attend all of my children’s activities.”
The Frymires know their level of professional success gives them more liberty than those who are earlier in their careers or more tied to 9-to-5 jobs, and also gives them the financial wherewithal to afford nannies and other help. But Michelle says she has always made sure to articulate her needs when taking new positions with more and more responsibility.
“When I took my current job, I was very specific with the head of my division—my priority is my family—and I made sure they hired me with that knowledge,” Michelle says. “When they know you can get the job done, people tend to be willing to be flexible.”
And as a boss, Michelle has sought to build the kind of work environment she expects her superiors to provide for her. “Rich and I both believe that if you can create a flexible workplace that accommodates the other parts of people’s lives, you gain a lot of loyalty.” Michelle saw this when she was able to attract and retain talent as vice president of finance with Delta Airlines during a time when droves of people were leaving the airline industry. By allowing flexible work schedules, part-time work following maternity leave and telecommuting, she not only made concessions for personal commitments, she ended up with more productive employees in the long run.
“When times were tough at Delta, the fact that my team could have a great balance between their work and family commitments meant it was easier for me to attract the best and keep them on my team even though the company was struggling financially,” she says.
As a role model, Michelle walks the talk in this area as well. “I have always been very involved on boards and other volunteer organizations and at my kids’ school,” she says. “By allowing myself this time, I knew my employees would see that I meant what I said and that I truly valued work-life balance. I also knew that my boss gave me this flexibility because he could count on me to deliver when he needed me the most.”
Most of all, the Frymires say that a shared parenting approach is the only way they could achieve work-life balance. “To do what we do requires real partnership,” Michelle says. “We both go to the store, do laundry, watch the baby, help with homework—we have always supported each other.” Furthermore, the busy parents agree, “You’re not going to get everything done; you have to prioritize. You focus on the things that are really important in the long run.”
Navigating Life Stages
Aruni Gunasagarem and her husband Erin DeFossé, both MBA ’98, have taken a sequencing approach to balancing their work and family obligations. At 27 years old, the couple launched Isochron Data out of the Moot Corp business plan competition and found themselves so busy with establishing the business that they didn’t even have time to attend their own graduation ceremony from McCombs.
“Back then, we lived and breathed work,” remembers Aruni. “We just didn’t do anything else.”
Aruni says she spent visits to her family engrossed in her e-mail. At one point, she looked up and realized the company was in a position to hire help. That’s when she returned to the gym on a regular basis and got involved in professional and community organizations, among other activities.
It wasn’t until after she stepped down from her position as Isochron’s CSO that Aruni and Erin started their family. “I really felt that I couldn’t have kids and be in the high-paced environment of a venture-backed company,” she says. So while Erin stayed on, Aruni took an opportunity to teach entrepreneurship at the McCombs School and do some small business consulting.
By the time the couple was thinking about having a second child, Erin also took a step back from the startup world; they sold Isochron, and he took a position with the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI). As director of ATI Wireless and IT, Erin keeps in touch with new technologies and entrepreneurs and enjoys a more manageable workday and travel schedule. “Erin most likely couldn’t be the involved father that he has been if he were still involved in a venture-backed startup,” Aruni says.
And yet, the couple already has their eye on the next phase: they’ve launched another startup, only this time it’s boot-strapped, run from home, and the pace is much less demanding. Inspired by their own experiences, Babble Soft makes software that helps new parents manage and keep track of their babies’ needs. “This type of business has a much lower capital investment, which means there’s much less stress,” says Aruni, who puts in about 30 hours a week on Babble Soft. “And if one of my children is sick, I just don’t work that day.”
“After having kids, you definitely make different choices; but if you have the characteristics to go get an MBA, you’re probably not going to be satisfied with staying at home with the kids,” she says.
It turns out that the MBA is often the vehicle through which both men and women have a wide variety of choices; they can scale up or down their work demands as family needs change. Rich Frymire adds, “It’s the nature of an MBA to solve problems—we are quantitative, we get past the initial emotions of a given challenge. The skills we use for our work—the ability to communicate clearly, to organize things, to prioritize—have proven incredibly useful at home.”
Making relationships a priority, saying “no” to things that aren’t important, maintaining ties to faith and community, and taking care of yourself are all key to finding balance in life, Rollings believes. Striking that sweet balance between the personal and professional is increasingly where MBAs are achieving true success.
With a top-quality daycare center directly across the street from her future employer, she expects that managing the child care will be easier than it might be in a less convenient situation.
Blending Priorities, Setting Expectations
For Michelle Frymire, MBA ’91, and Rich Frymire, MBA ’92, work-life balance is an intricate dance of closely coordinated travel, constant communication, strict adherence to priorities and weekly schedules. The dual-career couple has four children ranging in age from 14 to 2. “We have always acknowledged that career is important,” says Michelle, senior vice president and CFO of Starwood Vacation Ownership in Orlando. “But throughout our careers, we’ve always looked for what’s best for our family, not at what our next best career opportunity is.”
As CFO for Orlando startup NBA Juiceworks, Rich’s career is equally demanding, but he is adamant about spending time with his family—coaching his boys’ sports teams and being the one to take time off to help with family transitions during moves dictated by Michelle’s career. “Along with spending a lot of quality time with my sons, being the coach gives me the added flexibility to adjust the schedule as needed,” he admits. “I was able to move many of last season’s baseball games to make sure I could attend all of my children’s activities.”
The Frymires know their level of professional success gives them more liberty than those who are earlier in their careers or more tied to 9-to-5 jobs, and also gives them the financial wherewithal to afford nannies and other help. But Michelle says she has always made sure to articulate her needs when taking new positions with more and more responsibility.
“When I took my current job, I was very specific with the head of my division—my priority is my family—and I made sure they hired me with that knowledge,” Michelle says. “When they know you can get the job done, people tend to be willing to be flexible.”
And as a boss, Michelle has sought to build the kind of work environment she expects her superiors to provide for her. “Rich and I both believe that if you can create a flexible workplace that accommodates the other parts of people’s lives, you gain a lot of loyalty.” Michelle saw this when she was able to attract and retain talent as vice president of finance with Delta Airlines during a time when droves of people were leaving the airline industry. By allowing flexible work schedules, part-time work following maternity leave and telecommuting, she not only made concessions for personal commitments, she ended up with more productive employees in the long run.
“When times were tough at Delta, the fact that my team could have a great balance between their work and family commitments meant it was easier for me to attract the best and keep them on my team even though the company was struggling financially,” she says.
As a role model, Michelle walks the talk in this area as well. “I have always been very involved on boards and other volunteer organizations and at my kids’ school,” she says. “By allowing myself this time, I knew my employees would see that I meant what I said and that I truly valued work-life balance. I also knew that my boss gave me this flexibility because he could count on me to deliver when he needed me the most.”
Most of all, the Frymires say that a shared parenting approach is the only way they could achieve work-life balance. “To do what we do requires real partnership,” Michelle says. “We both go to the store, do laundry, watch the baby, help with homework—we have always supported each other.” Furthermore, the busy parents agree, “You’re not going to get everything done; you have to prioritize. You focus on the things that are really important in the long run.”
Navigating Life Stages
Aruni Gunasagarem and her husband Erin DeFossé, both MBA ’98, have taken a sequencing approach to balancing their work and family obligations. At 27 years old, the couple launched Isochron Data out of the Moot Corp business plan competition and found themselves so busy with establishing the business that they didn’t even have time to attend their own graduation ceremony from McCombs.
“Back then, we lived and breathed work,” remembers Aruni. “We just didn’t do anything else.”
Aruni says she spent visits to her family engrossed in her e-mail. At one point, she looked up and realized the company was in a position to hire help. That’s when she returned to the gym on a regular basis and got involved in professional and community organizations, among other activities.
It wasn’t until after she stepped down from her position as Isochron’s CSO that Aruni and Erin started their family. “I really felt that I couldn’t have kids and be in the high-paced environment of a venture-backed company,” she says. So while Erin stayed on, Aruni took an opportunity to teach entrepreneurship at the McCombs School and do some small business consulting.
By the time the couple was thinking about having a second child, Erin also took a step back from the startup world; they sold Isochron, and he took a position with the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI). As director of ATI Wireless and IT, Erin keeps in touch with new technologies and entrepreneurs and enjoys a more manageable workday and travel schedule. “Erin most likely couldn’t be the involved father that he has been if he were still involved in a venture-backed startup,” Aruni says.
And yet, the couple already has their eye on the next phase: they’ve launched another startup, only this time it’s boot-strapped, run from home, and the pace is much less demanding. Inspired by their own experiences, Babble Soft makes software that helps new parents manage and keep track of their babies’ needs. “This type of business has a much lower capital investment, which means there’s much less stress,” says Aruni, who puts in about 30 hours a week on Babble Soft. “And if one of my children is sick, I just don’t work that day.”
“After having kids, you definitely make different choices; but if you have the characteristics to go get an MBA, you’re probably not going to be satisfied with staying at home with the kids,” she says.
It turns out that the MBA is often the vehicle through which both men and women have a wide variety of choices; they can scale up or down their work demands as family needs change. Rich Frymire adds, “It’s the nature of an MBA to solve problems—we are quantitative, we get past the initial emotions of a given challenge. The skills we use for our work—the ability to communicate clearly, to organize things, to prioritize—have proven incredibly useful at home.”
Making relationships a priority, saying “no” to things that aren’t important, maintaining ties to faith and community, and taking care of yourself are all key to finding balance in life, Rollings believes. Striking that sweet balance between the personal and professional is increasingly where MBAs are achieving true success.
<< previous |
1 | 2
