With the economy a total horror show, this might seem to be a good time for some women to take time off to raise a child or two. Just ride this thing out.
Jack Welch, who used to run General Electric and is arguably the nation’s last great Imperial CEO, thinks that’s a really bad idea if you happen to be an ambitious woman who has not ruled out the “C,” or Corner Suite, as a future goal.
Yes, Welch’s legacy was a bit tarred by his bitter divorce from his second wife, who devilishly but effectively leaked to the press Jack’s prodigious retirement perks, courtesy of GE shareholders (who of course were not aware of them in the least). But he is still held in high regard by many, and writes a column for
BusinessWeek with wife No. 3, Suzy Welch, who used to be the editor of the
Harvard Business Review.
Jack Welch
made his feelings about work-life balance known in a recent speech in New Orleans, the
Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, and you almost have to hand it to him just for putting his views out there: “Women climbing the corporate ladder must choose between taking time off to raise children and reaching the corner office,” he said. “There is no such thing as work-life balance.”
Not surprisingly, Welch’s remarks did not go unnoticed. As the
Journal reported, some scolded him for being “out of touch.” To be fair, Welch didn’t say there was anything wrong with the family-first approach. His argument was that those decisions have consequences, and getting passed over for promotions may be one such consequence.
On the other hand, if your marriage isn't working, and you're contemplating divorce, the
Journal wants you to know that it’s a bad time for breaking up, too. The sour economy is
forcing many couples to remain under one roof despite a souring relationship. Divorce lawyers cite couples who are delaying divorce, or worse: living together even after the divorce is final for convenience—two incomes are still better than one, especially when there are kids involved.
Divorce, of course, is always tough on kids. But the recession is turning out to be tough even on those whose parents are happily married. The
Journal ran a story Saturday about how the baby boomer brood will suffer from what it called “filing for Chapter Heaven”—that is,
telling the kids to kiss their inheritance goodbye. Kids counting on a bequeathal would do well to keep this article off their parents' radar—it's essentially a how-to for boomers to set up an annuity to live off, instead of setting aside a wad for their offspring. God bless the child that’s got his own.
But even if you got it all, the
Journal reminds you seconds later that you owe more than you think: The federal deficit
just passed the trillion dollar mark, and is on a pace to hit around 2 trillion this year. So that child is going to literally inherit it all, whether he likes it or not.
Jim Impoco is a writer based in New York and a former Sunday Business editor of the New York Times and deputy editor at Conde Nast Portfolio.
