VOICES
Margot Franssen
line, too. Nothing mattered
more to our economic future
than the well-being and happiness of our employees, and the
more creative and compassionate we became at solving their
problems, the better our financial results were. You simply
cannot ask people to place their
emotional lives directly behind
their professional lives and
hope for loyalty.
It is interesting to note that
socially responsible businesses,
seeded by basic human values
and nurtured by an unchanging
code of ethics, are often started
by demoralized employees. Usually when they discover, while
working in traditional management systems, they are wearing
personal and emotional lives
two sizes too small.
To me, it’s obvious: Whether
you are an employer or an employee, if you want to feed your
soul, as well as your child, you
can’t get there from “here.”
Stop hitting your head on the
top bunk. If you try to come at
it from traditional angles, your
success is going to knock the
spiritual stuffing right out of
you. Women and men alike are
finding they want to succeed, but
THE THIRD METRIC
HUFFINGTON 06.02.13
not at all costs; they must invent
their own workplace to match
the landscape of their lives, one
that provides food for the table
and gives social and emotional
meaning to their personal life.
When women and men
must choose between
being a good parent and being
a good employee, it sucks the
passion right out of them.”
Once you understand it’s not you
that’s crazy, it’s the system, you
begin to invent work that can
become a joyous expression for
your soul, no matter what industry you’re in.
Women and men can redefine
what it means to be successful,
but first they need to be honest
with themselves. The question
isn’t, “What should we value?”
Instead, ask, “What do we value?”
And the answer to that is, of
course, dignity. It’s what
everyone wants.
Margot Franssen is an advocate for
the advancement of women and girls.