Anne-Marie Slaughter writes an open letter stating she never felt she could manage her job and have a healthy family life. Marissa Mayer becomes CEO of Yahoo! and announces she's pregnant and working through maternity leave. Sheryl Sandberg gains attention with a somewhat contradictory suggestion that women need to step up, not take no for an answer, and work harder.
Work-life balance has been a major topic of discussion recently, but the focus has been primarily on women.
However, there's been little talk about the general culture in the start-up/technology/Silicon Valley-ish spaces, where people swear you only need two hours of sleep a night, that you’re supposed to feel burnt out or you aren’t working hard enough.
It's become a competition, and an unhealthy one. But it's unhealthy for everyone, man or woman. Is it that everyone doesn't understand or accept the value of work-life balance?
Do we need to change this perception of how to be successful for everyone?