Fun Runs to Corporate Boardrooms

There are some things in life that you hear and its startles you to your senses (or wakes you from your desk-daze). A paradox - A statement that seems contradictory, even to the extent of sounding absurd.

For example, the ineptly named FUN RUNS. It is a charity event, so I try to participate as much as possible, but really, how fun can running be? Those two words are so contradictory that they probably shouldn’t even be used in the same paragraph, let alone right next to each other in the same sentence!

FUN RUN: Sounds like a deceptive ploy to grab as much ttention as possible, once they’ve got your attention, they can easily convince you to participate by appealing to your generous and charitably nature.

Another interesting paradox that’s come to my attention recently was through a book by clinical psychologist Susan Pinker – The Sexual Paradox. Click here for the book. In the book, she explored why girls do some much better academically than boys, but boys generally go on to have more highly-paid, powerful jobs later in life.

I’ve got to admit that I have hypothesized about this myself. It seems strange, particularly in this day and age of equal opportunity. I concluded that grown-up boys are more hardworking (feeling the traditional burden of having to support a family), while most girls see their careers as one or more of the following: a social activity to fill the hours between meals/gym/friends/family; a constant source of gossip; the activity that provides income to support secret shopping sprees; the reassurance of financial independence (should the need for this arise).

In a way, Susan Pinker agrees with me, but her statements are supported by technical arguments and even statistical evidence. She claims that many women are exercising a conscious choice by opting for a healthy work-life balance, particularly after having children. By being prepared to make financial sacrifices, they end up far happier at work than men do.

Only one in five women are single-mindedly career-focused (like men), and they do just as well or better than male colleagues, but at the expense of their job satisfaction levels, which drop to male levels.

For me a balanced life sounds good – work, relationships, FUN RUNS, they all have a place in my life. But its also nice to know that there is nothing between me and a corporate boardroom, except my own choices.

Just my random thoughts