工作与生活不该界限分明

    公司一位员工曾经解释说：“孩子们发现，公司并不仅仅代表爸爸和妈妈每天去工作的那栋大楼。而是我们全家人生活的一部分。孩子们看到我们参与的社区活动，也看到了我们的辛勤工作，以及这些对公司和他们的意义所在。”

    联合文具集团并不会监控员工在工作日花在基金会中的时间。但员工们并不认为背包项目分散了精力，影响了“正常”工作；相反，上面那位位员工认为参与背包项目让她更有动力，希望更努力地投入工作。“它在员工与公司之间形成了更牢固的纽带，而且让我意识到，公司关心我，也关心我的利益。”

将生活融入工作

    创造一种氛围，使员工不仅将他们的大脑和双手带到公司，还会带来他们的心。古切纳尔、约翰森和其他领导者都认识到了这样做的威力。幼儿看护服务公司Bright Horizons Family Solutions的CEO戴维•莉西希望员工“在工作中同样做自己，而不是把真正的自己留在公司的停车场上，走进办公室就摇身一变，成为另外一个人。”

    按莉西的话来说，Bright Horizons“可以优先进行社会急需的重要工作，对其服务对象产生深刻的影响。”正如莉西所说：“我们并不会给员工注射酷爱饮料（Kool-Aid，卡夫公司饮料品牌——译注），告诉他们：‘不准做你自己。’我们希望员工能够明白，没错，工作是正事，但同时也明白，最重要的是，孩子与家人始终要排在第一位。”

    在他看来，Bright Horizons的员工流动率低于行业平均水平的一半，充分证明公司的做法是正确的。但他也承认，随着新人不断加入公司，这项工作需要持续下去。

    对于雄心勃勃的公司和领导者而言，成功的衡量标准并不仅仅是公司的季度财务报告，还包括公司对社会的总体影响。而要想产生这样的影响，需要员工全身心投入工作，而不是在公司停车场换上另外一副面孔。

    本文作者拉塞尔•埃森施塔特是TruePoint Center for Higher Ambition Leadership公司的董事，TruePoint Partners公司的主席，并与迈克尔•拜尔、纳撒尼尔•富特、 托比亚斯・弗雷德贝里和弗莱明・诺尔格伦合著了《雄心万丈：伟大的商界领袖如何创造经济与社会价值》（Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create Economic and Social Value）一书。

    译者：阿龙/汪皓

    As one United Stationers employee explained, "Our kids discovered that it's not just this building that mom and dad go to work at. It's a part of all of us. My children see the community involvement, they see the hard work, but they [also] see what it all means to the company and to them."

    United Stationers doesn't monitor how much time employees spend on foundation work during the workday. But rather than finding the backpack program a distraction from her "real" work, the employee said it makes her want to work even harder: "It gives people a stronger bond and sense that this company cares about me, it cares about my interests."

Bringing life into work

    Gochnauer, Johansson, and other leaders recognize the power of a creating an environment in which people are encouraged to bring not just their brains and hands to work but their hearts as well. David Lissy, CEO of childcare services company Bright Horizons Family Solutions, wants employees to "feel okay to bring who they are to work. It's not like you're parking who you are in the parking lot and pretending to be somebody else at work."

    Bright Horizons has, in Lissy's words, "the privilege to do important work that society desperately needs and the ability to make a profound impact" on those it serves. As Lissy describes it, "We're not injecting people with the Kool-Aid and saying, 'You have to stop being who you are.' We're hopefully attracting people who understand that this is a business, but who also, first and foremost, understand that doing right by children and families will always come first."

    The fact the Bright Horizon's turnover rate is less than half of its industry's average is, in his view, proof that the company is doing something right. But, he acknowledges, it is work that needs to continue constantly as new people come into the organization.

    For all of these ambitious companies and leaders, success is measured not only by their organization's quarterly financial results but also by the broader impact they have on society. And that kind of impact can only come from people who are fully engaged with their work and not leaving who they really are out in the office parking lot.

    Russell Eisenstat is director of the TruePoint Center for Higher Ambition Leadership, president of TruePoint Partners, and co-author with Michael Beer, Nathaniel Foote, Tobias Fredberg, and Flemming Norrgren of Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create Economic and Social Value.