Megyn chooses family and NBC.
Megyn Kelly, the second top-rated cable news network show is leaving Fox News to join NBC. Andrew Lack, the NBC News Chairperson met Megyn’s work-life balance needs by offering her a daytime news show, a Sunday evening news program, and the flexibility to cover major news events as they unfold. Megyn Kelly while at Fox News had been going to work at 3:30 pm just when the kids were heading home from school. She rarely spent time with her husband and children due to the heavy workload at Fox News. She made a decision to balance her life. A work-life balance decision for Megyn had to do with setting priorities in life. Her last night on air with Fox is Friday, January 6, 2017.
PRIORITIES IN LIFE
Megyn is a great example of learning how to define success that is different from our profit, profit, profit culture. Success in life is more than a paycheck. Success is also about meaningful relationships, healthy living, spirituality, and an overall sense of well-being. It’s about happiness and choosing how to exercise your right at being happy.
Russell Clayton , a professor and author of In Search of Work-Life Balance says whether you are a CEO, manager, or employee, work-life balance is a real subject that needs our attention. The decision to take less money reminded Russel of MongoDB’s CEO Max Schireson's decision a couple of years ago to leave the "best job [he] ever had." Schireson realized he was in the prime years of raising his children and didn't want to miss that traveling around the world on business.
Granted, most of us are not traveling the world for business or giving up a job that makes $20 million and taking one for $15 million. We are working and enjoying our careers and learning when enough is enough with work. It is important to be mindful of your priorities in life and seek to choose behaviors that fulfill those priorities.
Russell shares a story in his book Search of Work-Life Balance about a young father that makes a decision to forego $5,000 in extra stipend at his workplace in order for him to have the ability to be home each night to put his toddler to bed. This, in my mind, is a great example of putting family before money.
Richard Fagerlin a Top 100 thought leader on trust says he has worked with 1,000s of leaders and not once has he heard anyone say they regret their decision to put their family first at the potential sacrifice of money or career. However, he has had conversations with hundreds of them that have broken or strained relationships with family or those who have more time and money but nobody to spend either with who wish they had the chance to go back and make different decisions. Richard says it well when he says “our time is like a bucket and our work will fill it to the brim if we allow it. If you don't intentionally decide how your time will be spent it will easily get spent for you.”
CONGRATULATIONS WORK-LIFE BALANCE ENTHUSIASTS
Perhaps Megyn Kelly might become a spokesperson for our country’s work-life balance initiatives and culture. There are organizations like WorldatWork that promote work-life balance policies and regulations. Megyn sets a great example by choosing how to define success and exercising her beliefs. I can promise all of you one thing: When Megyn looks back on her life, she will not be saying “I wish I would have spent more time with my husband and children.” Based on her decisions and actions, she could have co-authored my book Lead with Balance: How to Master Work-Life Balance in an Imbalanced Culture.
Thank you Megyn for leading with balance!