Kaleidoscope Careers:

Benchmarking Ideas forFostering Family-Friendly

WorkplacesSHERRY E. SULLIVAN LISA A. MAINIERO

Helen, a successful lawyer, is exhaustedevery day when she leaves the office.While at home, she is expected to catchup on her paperwork, shuttle the kids tomusic lessons and soccer practice, makedinner, and do a few loads of laundrybefore she is finally able to crawl into bedat midnight.

Robert and his wife have two high-octanecareers. Frequent trips to Hong Kong orBrazil require they stay connected usingtheir laptops and Blackberrys on week-days and weekends. Wanting to start afamily, theyve decided that one of themwill take a break from work and stayhome while the children are young. Theystill havent decided which one of themwill actually take a career time-out.

Sarah, a recent college graduate, liveswith her ailing mother. In college, shedreamed of doing meaningful, sociallyresponsible work. But instead, her newjob is boring, the pay iswell undermarket,and sorting out all the paperwork asso-ciated with her mothers medical care isstressful and time-consuming.

Martin is a divorced father with a salesjob that requires a great deal of travel.Although he frequently exchanges e-mails with his two daughters, he stillworries that hell lose touch with whatsgoing on in their lives. His busy lifehasnt allowed him the time to get backinto the dating scene, and with his for-tieth birthday on the horizon, he wonderswhether its time for a change.

W e live in a technologically mobilesociety. Chained to our laptops, withpersonal data assistants, cell phones andwireless connections in constant attendance,we are forced by the new rhythms of work toreshape our lives so that we now work 24/7.Caught within the workplaces long graspare workers like Helen, Robert, Sarah, andMartin who find it difficult, if not impos-sible, to negotiate a successful combination ofwork, family, and personally fulfilling activ-ities. Some companies have paid attention tothe work-family balance issue and haveadopted family-friendly programs that pro-vide tacit or nominal worker support. Mostfirms, however, have not felt an urgencyto take full advantage of technology and

Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 36, No. 1, pp. 4562, 2007 ISSN 0090-2616/$ see frontmatter 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.orgdyn.2006.12.003www.organizational-dynamics.com

Acknowledgements: The authors wish to thank Hugh Davis and his staff for their support of theonline survey administration. Special thanks to David Mangini, Madeline Crocitto, and Monica

Forret for their insightful comments and feedback on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

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provide integrated, meaningful, family-friendly benefits. But increased worker mobi-lity, reduced organizational commitment,and changing definitions of career successhave created a shockwave in the very fabricof the workplace. Quietly, a worker revolt ofsurprising proportions is taking place that iscountermanding the high pressure demandsof todays technologically mobile work-places. Corporations without fully integratedfamily-friendly benefits are losing talent asworkers walk out the door to craft morereasonable, personally fulfilling careers.These workers are developing careers basedon their own life values and choices; they aredefining success on their own terms.

Workers are now changing their jobsevery 4.5 years, and many of those jobchanges are prompted by a desire to allowa better balance between work and familylife. This is especially true for the new breedof workers, GenXers and members of theMillennial Generation (GenMers), who bringa different set of expectations to the work-place than previous generations of employ-ees. A survey by Catalyst, Inc. reported that76 percent of GenXers desire a compressedworkweek, and 59 percent want to telecom-mute or have flexible working arrangements.GenXers rated personal and family goalshigher than career goals. Similar views areheld by GenMers, who readily engage involunteer activities and desire meaningfulcareers that contribute to the betterment ofsociety.

Organizational practices, however, havenot kept pace with changing worker needsand attitudes. Career scholar and consultantYehuda Baruch, who has conducted exten-sive surveys of company strategies in theU.S., U.K. and Israel, found that most firmsstill use traditional career management pro-grams despite the fact that these older mod-els no longer fit recent workplace changes.For example, only 13 percent of the U.S. firmshad any sort of programs related to issuessuch as dual-career couples or women andminorities in the workplace. Similarly, a rela-tively small percentage of Israeli (14 percent)and U.S. (24 percent) firms offered skills and

self-development workshops. Thus, despitehighly publicized, nontraditional careerenhancement programs American ExpressCo.s formalized flexible work options andfree back-up childcare; Lehman BrothersEncore Program, which encourageswomen and men who want to re-enter thefinancial services workforce to apply for full-time or flexible schedule positions; or Ernst &Youngs Career Watch committee,designed to review the progress of womenand demonstrate that women with familiescan reach the top such initiatives are theexception.

Companies today need a new, 21st cen-tury model of career development to articu-late which programs and benefits willeffectively attract, motivate, and retain talent,especially GenX and M workers. In the newmillennium, the boundaries between worklife and private life have become increasinglyblurred. In this article we offer such a newcareer concept, the Kaleidoscope CareerModel, that focuses on the evolving needsof employees in the new work landscapewhile attending to the nexus of work andfamily issues.

THE KALEIDOSCOPE CAREERMODEL

Not everyone wants to climb to the top of thecorporate ladder anymore. A 2004 Burson-Marsteller survey of Fortune 1000 seniorexecutives found that 60 percent had nodesire to hold a top position in any company.Instead, many individuals are choosing var-ied career paths that change over the courseof their lives. People take breaks from theworkforce because of family demands or theneed to engage in personal development.Increasingly, individuals are taking controlof their own career management, definingsuccess subjectively, on their own terms,beyond measures of salary and promotionrates.

In our research, we found todays work-ers had created Kaleidoscope Careers,careers that were not defined by a corpora-

46 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS

tion but by the individual worker, based onhis/her own values and life choices. Like akaleidoscope, the careers of these individualsare dynamic and in motion; as peoples liveschange, they alter their careers to adjust tothose changes rather than follow companycareer norms. We developed The Kaleido-scope Career Model, (KCM), as the result of afive-year investigation into the complexissues surrounding todays workers choicesregarding career, family, and nonworkaspects of life. Our investigation had fiveparts: (1) a web-based survey of 109 womenabout their careers and aspirations; (2) amore comprehensive online survey of 1,647men and women on career enactment andwork/life transitions; (3) an online focusgroup in which we had conversations with27 individuals, mostly men, about theircareers and career changes; (4) a secondonline survey of 1,525 men and womenwhich focused on flexible work arrange-ments, and (5) in-depth interviews with 52individuals about their career choices andtransitions (Please see the bibliography formore details on our studies).

Overall, our research brought the com-plexities of careers, family, and lifestyleissues to the forefront. We found that whilemany people still remain in jobs that requirethem to put in the standard 40 to 60 plus hourworkweek at their offices, there was arefreshing change in the way in which workis being accomplished for many others.Rather than being nakedly ambitious andfocusing on climbing the corporate ladder,many individuals were creating careers ontheir own terms. They were searching for thebest set of options that created the maximumfit between their work, family and personallives. They had created Kaleidoscope Careers careers defined not by corporate standardsbut by their own values and life choices.

Workers today want careers that allowthem to create a sense of meaning in theirlives. In his article Experiencing Career Suc-cess, Peter Heslin details peoples growingdesire for subjective or internal career suc-cess. Heslin outlines how subjective careersuccess relates to attainment across a greater

timeframe, well beyond current job satisfac-tion, and includes a wide variety of outcomessuch as a sense of identity, contributing tomeaningful causes, and balance. Some firmshave already begun to address these trendsby creating innovative career developmentprograms that focus on workers needs formeaning and family balance. For instance,Merck & Company Inc. recognized itsemployees need to balance work and familyby offering the You and Your Successprogram. The program uses peer counselingto help workers clarify their goals and makechoices (e.g., switch to part-time work sche-dule, return to school) that best match theirlifestyles. Additionally, the company intro-duced the Managing@ Merck program inorder to provide first-time managers withtraining on topics including work/life bal-ance and inclusiveness.

Advances in technology, coupled withnew attitudes about the priorities of familyversus work as well as the desire for personaldevelopment and to contribute to society,have reshaped attitudes towards careers,causing some firms to redefine how workgets done. A growing number of organiza-tions are permitting employees to work part-time or job share, or have supplied the neces-sary technology so individuals can workfrom home. For example, over 9,000 of Hew-lett-Packard Co.s U.S. employees workentirely from home, and 70 percent of itsU.S. workforce use some form of flexibleoptions. Likewise, 80 percent of IBM Corp.sU.S. workforce uses flexible work arrange-ments. But it is not only large companies thatare offering their workers flexibility; most ofWorking Mothers Magazines 2006 Best SmallCompanies (e.g., Beacon Publishing Services,Data Dog Interactive Marketing) offeredsome form of flexible work scheduling.

Companies have found that such flexibleworking arrangements enable them to retainhigh quality workers because their employeesare better able to achieve balance betweenwork and family. Linear career models thatdemanded total allegiance to ones corpora-tion were based on the 1950s employee arche-type: a man who could focus 100 percent on

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his work while his wife, usually a homemaker,supported his career aspirations while nurtur-ing their children at home and managing theirsocial life. But todays dynamic and diverseworkforce requires a contemporary careermodel that allows for flexibility with familybalance for women and for men. The Kaleido-scope Career Model permits employees toshift and rearrange their roles and relation-ships in new ways. Consider the working of akaleidoscope; as one part moves, so do theother parts change. Like a kaleidoscope thatproduces changing patterns when the tube isrotated and its glass chips fall into newarrangements, workers shift the pattern oftheir careers by rotating different aspects oftheir lives. Employees may evaluate thechoices and options available through the lensof the kaleidoscope to determine the best fitamong their many relationships and workconstraints and opportunities. As one deci-sion is made, it affects the outcome of thekaleidoscope pattern. Like a kaleidoscope,we found that individuals careers weredynamic and in motion, such that they wereable to alter their career priorities to adjust tothe needs of their families rather than lettingcorporations dictate it for them.

Just as a kaleidoscope uses three mirrorsto create infinite patterns, our KaleidoscopeCareer Model has three mirrors or para-meters (authenticity, balance, and challenge)which combine in different ways throughoutthe lives of individuals, reflecting the uniquepatterns of their careers. Each of these para-meters, or decision-making questions, wasactive as signposts throughout the career.Certain parameters predominated at differ-ent points in the life span, forcing decisionsabout opting out or staying in the workforce.The strength of a parameter to shape a careertransition depended on what was going onin that persons life at the time. If money wasneeded, then career issues took priority. Iffamily balance was needed, then adjust-ments were made to better serve familyneeds. If both of these parameters were lessactive, then the individual could take stock,smell the roses, and ask the question, AmI living a meaningful life? and become

more centered, reflective, and spiritual inthe process.

THE ABCS OF THEKALEIDOSCOPE CAREERMODEL

We found that over the course of an indivi-duals life, the need for authenticity, balanceand challenge, the ABCs of the Kaleido-scope Career Model, shifted and rearrangedthemselves in response to life and careerchoices. But what exactly does each of theseparameters represent? Consider the follow-ing descriptions.

The need for authentici ty

Authenticity is the parameter thatdescribes being genuine and true to oneself,knowing ones strengths and limitations, andacting on the best information at the time.The need for authenticity is the quest to dis-cover ones true voice. We found that for themen and women we spoke with, this needwas often drowned out in the discussionabout bad bosses, lack of advancement,bringing children to basketball games, andthe continual demands of childcare andeldercare. But this was the voice of indivi-duals as they reflected upon their choices andasked: Did I make the right decision? Doesthis decision make sense for ME as well as forothers around me? Does the decision reflectwho I truly am?

For some of those we studied, authenticitytook the form of artistic or leisure pursuitsthat were followed in spite of other demandson their time and energy. For others it tookthe form of being true to oneself at work,being secure in ones knowledge or leader-ship style. For still others it was reflected in along awaited dream at the end of child rear-ing and salary earning that culminated in aperfect retirement. We met one woman wholeft work as a regional manager for sales at awell-known retail chain to form her owncatering business. We discovered one manwho gave up his accounting job to write a

48 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS

novel. Another developed a secondary, post-retirement career selling items on eBay.Although finding authenticity is difficult todescribe, we heard this theme over and overagain, from women late in their career andfrom men, during the latter part of midca-reer. Authenticity has to do with congruencebetween ones own personal values andones behaviors. When competing demandsare eliminated from the personal regressionequation, this theme was the end result.

The need for balance

The need for balance, defined as bringingfactors into a state of equilibrium, was the holygrail for most of the women we spoke with.Although women want successful and chal-lenging work lives, the need for balance mightovercome their wishes for a more directed,upward-driven set of career accomplish-ments. Seeking a job closer to home to bettersuit the needs of children or elderly relativeswas often viewed as a means of achieving abetter equilibrium. Putting ones children firstas a reason to leave the workforce was anothermeans of achieving balance.

Balance is a nexus issue for people as thedemands of their work outstrip the timeavailable to spend with family or for them-selves. We heard all kinds of stories about theneed for balance: racing from an importantclient meeting to attend a parent-teacher con-ference that was across town; dashing hometo attend a childs music recital while dis-covering there is a crisis at the office thatkeeps the phone calls coming and requiresrushing back to the office with child in tow;using lunch breaks to bring an elderly familymember to a doctors appointment, but get-ting delayed for the important worldwide 2p.m. conference call; and traveling betweenairports miles away from home but catchingtime to read a book to a child over the phoneto lull her to sleep.

Unfortunately, imbalance and disequili-brium are part and parcel of the humancondition. There just arent enough hoursin the day to do it all. For some, as illustratedby the exodus of women opting out of cor-

porations, leaving the workforce is the solu-tion. Recent surveys of Harvard MBAs foundthat only 38 percent of the women whograduated in 1981, 1985 and 1991 workedfull-time. Moreover, 60 percent of the femaleundergraduates at Yale University plannedto cut back their work schedules or stop workentirely when they have children. For others,shifting into a less demanding job is some-times the only hope of regaining sanity fromthe corporate rat race. We found that forwomen, the need for greater balance fewerwork demands, more family time was oftenused as the reason for a career transition inmidcareer, when the demands of child rear-ing, eldercare, and work accomplishmentspeaked. For most men, the need for balanceoften grew stronger later in life, once careergoals had been achieved.

The need for challenge

This parameter reflects a workers need tolearn, grow, and find stimulating, excitingwork. The challenge of innovating a newproduct, defining a new entrepreneurialenterprise, partaking in a stretch workassignment, championing a cause, or bring-ing changes to their companies was a keymotivation that many of our survey partici-pants and interviewees mentioned as a driv-ing force in their careers.

Individuals focused on challenge oftenhold themselves to a higher standard. Manywork nonstop. One single mother, who typi-cally works until 8 or 9 p.m. at the office andthen heads home with her laptop, PDA, andcell phone in tow so that she can work untilmidnight, told us: I just cant stop [workingso hard]. I cant help myself. I couldnt stopworking if I tried.

Challenge is the voltage of work achieve-ment. When people are challenged in theirwork, they dont mind putting in the extrahours that are required to get the job doneright. Challenge springs from the underlyingsource of creativity and drive that existswithin each individual, and spurs the accom-plishment of great things. Challenge can be apowerful motivator. For some people it is a

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validation of who they are or a way to learnand grow. For others it is a way to develop abase of expertise. We found that most of themen and women in our study focused onchallenge early in career, before the demandsof family became overwhelming.

Some smart companies have begun torecognize that individuals want authenticity,balance and challenge and that productiveoutcomes can result from encouragingemployees to act upon the synergies whichemerge from the interaction of these threeneeds. For instance, consider how Dan Robin-sons personal struggles led to the develop-ment of a product that placed Intuit Inc. in aprime position to enter the health care soft-ware market. Robinsons son was born with arare genetic disorder that caused him to misswork in order to care for his son. Robinsonspent much time arranging services throughgovernment agencies for the disabled andmaking sense of the mounting medical costsand the related paperwork. Frustrated byhis experiences, Robinson longed to developa software program to help others insimilar situations manage medical expenses.Although initially skeptical, Intuit gave himthe resources and permitted him to devotehalf of his workweek to developing a financialcase for his idea. Once his idea earnedapproval, Robinson worked full-time withover 12 other employees to create the softwareand the related marketing plan needed tolaunch Medical Expense Manager. Robin-son probably never would have conceived ofthe idea for this new software had Intuit notsupported the intersection of his work andfamily life his need to care for his son whilehelping others who faced similar frustrationsin managing health care paperwork.

CREATING SUCCESSFULWORK-LIFE PROGRAMS THATSUPPORT KALEIDOSCOPECAREERS

The KCM offers corporations a smorgasbordof possibilities in the areas of recognizingemployee needs for authenticity, balance,

and challenge over the course of the life span.The KCM recognizes that sometimes life canget in the way of work, but by integratingthese three parameters into a meaningfulcareer plan that recognizes this reality, cor-porations can find ways to make work ful-filling while retaining and motivating qualitytalent for the years to come.

Implementing the KCM involves morethan offering employees an annual familypicnic or workplace seminars. Many firmswrongly believe providing family-friendlypolicies, such as childcare vouchers oremployee discounts, are sufficient to maketheir firms attractive to potential recruitsand retain current high performing employ-ees. But what firms traditionally think isfamily-friendly simply isnt enough any-more. Such policies, while welcome, do notaddress the fundamental issues: how to createa workplace where authenticity, balance andchallenge the ABCs of The KaleidoscopeCareer model are recognized and enhanced(see The Kaleidoscope Career CompanyAudit) (Table 1).

Based on our research, we found twoimportant caveats to implementing success-ful work/life programs. First, organizationalleaders must be truly committed to work/lifeprograms and not use them solely for thepurpose of publicity. If organizations havework/life policies but foster a hostile culturethat makes use of these programs unaccep-table, the policies become worthless and willfail to produce the positive outcomeintended. Men who believe, for example, thatthey will be ridiculed for taking advantage ofan extended paternity leave policy, or thatsuch breaks will truncate their careeradvancement options, will not make use offamily-friendly policies. Workers must feelthat the corporate culture validates theirchoices about having a life beyond work.The idea that employees who have full andrich lives outside of the office bring all theseexperiences back to the office and producebetter work because of them, must beembraced by top management and wovenin the organizations strategic mission andculture.

50 ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS

Second, establishing work/life programsis just the beginning. Our research found thatwomen make career decisions based on acomplex and inter-related set of factors,and balance is just one of the needs thatdrives women. Women want balance, butit must be coupled with meaningful, challen-ging work and opportunities for advance-ment. Treating issues of work/life balance

in isolation from organization strategy andculture cannot continue. Work/life programsmust be part of an integrated system.Gender-based inequities in wages, job place-ments, and training opportunities must beeliminated. For example, many of the womenin our study talked about forgoing careeropportunities in order to care for ailingfamily members, to be near aging parents,

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TABLE 1 THE KALEIDOSCOPE CAREER COMPANY AUDIT

and to nurture small children. Commonpractices that work against women, such asusing long hours or travel as surrogate mea-sures for commitment and ambition, must bereplaced, and actual performance should beused instead to evaluate employees. Like-wise, many of the men in our study facedsimilar dilemmas or regretted not spendingmore time with family. Corporations mustadopt kaleidoscope-oriented job policies,such as time banks of paid parental leave,reduced hour careers, job-sharing opportu-nities, and options for career interruptions toretain both men and women caught in aparental work bind. Comparable programsshould be developed to help workers man-age eldercare issues (e.g., paid leave, subsi-dized daycare for the elderly), includingexpanding the definition of eldercare toinclude not only ones parents but otherelderly relatives.

Mangers must recognize employeesneeds for authenticity, balance, and chal-lenge, and the journey to fulfill these needsmust permeate the very fabric of the work-place in order to make it truly family-friendly. Its no longer enough to just followthe pack. Todays workforce is rapidly chan-ging, and pay and benefit systems must alsoevolve if organizations are to remain compe-titive. If workers cannot be their true selves atthe office and must deny their connections tofamily, friends and community, then the firmbecomes nothing more than a place to go toearn the rent. The firm also will lose anypotential gains from the positive influenceof the nonwork aspects of life on work per-formance. The old model of business as usualisnt good enough anymore; changes areneeded if firms want to motivate and retainhigh performing employees.

PUTTING THE KALEIDOSCOPECAREER MODEL INTOMOTION

Firms that accept the necessity of the KCMapproach can start to experiment with newways to structure themselves to enable

employees to experience authenticity, bal-ance, and challenge. But changes in structuremust occur within the context of a culturethat recognizes that great synergies can existbetween work, technology, and life roles (seeThe Five Steps For Putting the KaleidoscopeCareer Model Into Action) (Table 2).

One company that acknowledges thesesynergies between work and family is JetBlue Airlines. In the global, wired economy,it is not unusual for companies to set upreservation offices or telephone help desksin many different cities or even countries.But Jet Blue is unusual, in that its entire staffof 550 reservation agents work from thecomfort of their own homes, often whilewatching their kids play. Jet Blue found awin/win solution to a common work/lifedilemma of working parents: childcare.And, an added bonus: Jet Blue saves 20percent per flight booked by using agentsworking from home instead of a call center,the turnover rate for these employees is amere 10 percent, and the company has wonnumerous accolades including beingnamed in 2004 as the Best Domestic Airlineby Conde Nast Traveler Readers ChoiceAwards.

Traditional brick and mortar companiesbuilt on the hierarchical, manufacturing age,pyramid structure are no longer necessary.Technology has enabled firms to change oldstructures and create new ones. But suchchanges cant occur in isolation. Compensa-tion and benefit systems must be adjusted sothat salary and raises arent tied to level ororganizational tenure, but to performance.Likewise, old assumptions about focusingtraining on new employees and fast trackersneed to be replaced with the idea that indi-viduals regardless of age or organizationallevel desire training opportunities and thechance for challenging, on-the-job growthassignments. Leaders, subordinates andcoworkers must assume developmental roles sometimes providing information andfeedback, other times serving as mentors,coaches or guides. Learning is not confinedto the classroom or special conferences, butoccurs everyday.

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The KCM requires that corporate humanresource planning be turned inside out sothat focus is placed on the total gestalt ofpeoples lives. Because our research showsthat people have needs for authenticity, bal-ance, and challenge, it is necessary that cor-porations be redesigned to accommodate thisnatural human search for fulfillment. In thefollowing sections, we offer specific sugges-tions on how corporations can use the KCMfor rethinking their structures and strategiesto more effectively attract, motivate, andretain qualified personnel.

PRACTICES TO SUPPORT THEQUEST FOR AUTHENTICITY

Our research found that individuals aresearching for meaning in their work and intheir lives. They want to discover (or redis-cover) who they are. They want to come toknow and to express their true selves. Theyare tired of putting on a false mask andhiding their real wants and needs when theyenter the office door. What can organizationsdo to help fulfill this parameter of the KCM?We offer three major suggestions (Table 3).

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TABLE 3 IDEAS TO SUPPORT AUTHENTICITY Offer paid corporate sabbaticals for three to six months to pursue education, personal development,

or community service activities Provide corporate wellness programs, focusing on health and the whole person Offer workshops on spirituality and finding a higher purpose in life and work Provide centralized corporate gyms and recreation centers so employees can support their health while on-site Offer coaching services to assist employees with career and life planning Offer workshops that address hot button issues, such as learning how to become more assertive, or

negotiating well Consider maintaining an employee leisure interest time bank of free hours Encourage employee clubs for interests, such as golf, tennis, chess, crafts, dance activities Establish procedures for recognizing skills and knowledge gained during personal leaves, career

interruptions, and nonwork activities including community service, in job placement decisions Establish corporate social responsibility programs, such as opportunities to engage in Habitat for Humanity

or walk-a-thons for charity Provide workers and customers with information on the company website on what the firm is doing to

be socially responsible and how individuals can contribute to these efforts Make corporate social responsibility part of the firms mission statement, strategy, and culture with

top managers demonstrating ethical behavior

TABLE 2 FIVE STEPS FOR PUTTING THE KALEIDOSCOPE CAREERMODEL INTO ACTION

1. Create a vision based on the fundamental principle that workers want authenticity, challenge and balancein their lives.

2. Build commitment to the vision at all levels, especially with the help of change champions who notonly talk about integrating the ABCs of the KCM throughout all organizational systems, but also walk thetalk in their own lives.

3. Take action to turn the vision into reality, because vision without action, without successfulimplementation, kills employee hope.

4. Continuously support the vision and its implementation by committing adequate resources to training,development, incentives, equipment and the like. Ensure that not only is performance equitablyrewarded, but that benefits are equitable and employees who need the most assistance but may be theleast able to afford it receive more benefits.

5. Measure attitudes, behaviors and other outcomes and based on the data obtained, make changes bigand small to keep pace with, and even anticipate, organizational and environmental changes.

First, to aid the quest for authenticity,firms should focus on corporate socialresponsibility. In this day and age of theEnron fiasco, the Arthur Andersen implo-sion, stock market scandals and CEO deba-cles, there is a growing interest in corporateethics and social responsibility. GenX andGenM workers are especially interested insocial causes, and are more likely to beattracted to firms that have a strong senseof corporate social responsibility.

Ice cream giant Ben & Jerrys is wellknown for behaving as a good corporatecitizen. The company not only supports itslocal community through its employee-ledcommunity action teams, but also fundsgrassroots organizations for social changethrough the Ben & Jerrys Foundation. Thecompany Web site provides 50 Ways toPromote Peace as well as information onits initiative to Lick Global Warming. Ben& Jerrys goes out of its way to help others,such as by securing vanilla beans from dis-advantaged countries and providing adviceto small business owners, especially thoseled by minorities.

Likewise, Timberland, the boots andshoe maker, has developed several commu-nity programs targeted to improve youthleadership in Boston and has actively workedwith Habitat for Humanity. The company iswell known for nurturing the wholeemployee by the use of such policies assupporting volunteer work through paidtime off, providing monetary adoption aid,and paid time off for eldercare.

Dancing Deer Bakery is well known forits $8 million donations to charity, its use ofrecycled packaging materials, and its com-mitment to producing all natural, preserva-tive-free, products. All of the companys 65employees have stock options and get freelunches. And although the company wishesto expand, CEO and co-founder Patricia Kar-ter is committed keeping the firms head-quarters in its low-income Bostonneighborhood rather than move to a less-expensive location outside the inner city.Similar to Dancing Deer Bakery, PatagoniaInc., the outdoor equipment and clothing

retailer, is well known for its value-driven,company mission to produce the highestquality product while doing the least harm tothe planet. Each of Patagonias stores has anarea set aside for surfers and environmentalgroups to meet. Many of its employees haveturned down higher paying positions for thechance to work in the firms environmentallyresponsible, worker-friendly culture. Thefirms headquarters has an on-site day center,medical benefits are given to all full and part-time employees, workers can take sabbaticalsat full pay to work with environmentalgroups, and the firms founder and chair-man, Yvon Chouinard, encourages workersto get out of the office to test new equipmentand to hit the beach when the surf is up.

One of the best-known corporations thatmodels authenticity is Harpo Productions,led by CEO Oprah Winfrey. Harpo Produc-tions has not only raised awareness of worldproblems, but also is involved in buildingrural schools in ten different countries (e.g.,China, Mexico, Haiti, Ghana), supportingwomens shelters, building youth centersand homes, providing scholarships to stu-dents dedicated to using their education togive back to their communities, and givingawards so that charitable organizations canexpand their programs. The Angel Networkalone has raised over $27 million for charity,with all administrative costs covered person-ally by CEO Winfrey. The types of sociallyresponsible programs exemplified by Ben &Jerrys, Timberland, Dancing Deer Bakery,Patagonia and Harpo Productions attractyounger workers while providing olderworkers, searching for greater authenticityin their lives, a way to find meaning throughtheir work.

Second, firms should renew companyefforts to promote total wellness in mind,body and spirit. Some companies have rea-lized the importance of focusing onemployee health beyond the typical state-ment of the company healthcare co-pay.Companies have provided their employeeswith on-site gyms, sponsored stress manage-ment and relaxation classes including yogaand ti chi, provided mental health and family

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counseling, funded treatments for addic-tions, and provided on-site ministers andspiritual guides. Nationwide, the insuranceand financial service company, for example,used an approach that combined many dif-ferent wellness programs. They upgradedtheir employee work-life benefits programs,including establishing a full fitness center atits headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, andsponsoring clubs geared to employee inter-ests whether in astronomy, bird watching,or chess.

Other companies have gone beyond pro-grams, to infuse their employees with thesense that the company truly cares abouttheir wellbeing. For instance, TownsendEngineering, a company that designs andmanufactures meat-processing equipment,provides each employee with a free five-hourmedical exam. One of those physicalsallowed physicians to discover that anemployees longstanding liver disease hadreached the critical point, and a transplantwas needed. Upon hearing of this employ-ees plight, Townsends CEO put his threecompany pilots on standby for when a donorliver became available.

There are a wide variety of programs thatcompanies can initiate to enhance the totalindividual mind, body, and soul. Somecompanies, like Xerox Corp. and Plante &Moran LLP, offer sabbaticals, and others, likeJ. M. Smucker Company and ComputritionInc., gives their workers paid time off tovolunteer in the community. At Pricewater-houseCoopers, trainees are given leaves thatcan be used to care for dependents, toincrease maternity leave, for paternity leave,to do volunteer work or for travel. Healthinsurance premiums at TD Industries areindexed to income so entry-level employeescan more easily afford to cover their wholefamilies. Additionally, the company pays 100percent of an employees tuition, fees andbooks at any state-supported university andprovides 12 weeks of paid personal time offafter three years of tenure.

Third, firms should help individuals findmeaning in their work, so employees canmake a difference, have an impact on others,

and come to know themselves better. By giv-ing employees freedom and trust, employeescan fulfill their potential. The Container Store(TCS) is a firm that treats its employees withrespect and creates a culture of support. TCSpays above salary and benefits that are aboveindustry averages, while also offering work-ers yoga and stretching classes, monthly chairmassages, and personalized online exerciseand nutrition diaries. In addition to being aleader in extrinsic rewards, TCS also provideshigh intrinsic rewards. Ninety-four percent ofTCS employees surveyed said their work forthe company made a difference. Addition-ally, 98 percent think it is a friendly place towork, and 97 percent believe that people atTCS care about each other. There is a climate ofmutual respect that pervades the firm. Thecompanys books are open so that everyoneknows the firms financial status. Employeeshave the freedom to address customer con-cerns, even spending money to fix problemswithout first seeking permission from man-agement to do so. TCS encourages employeesto expand their minds, with first-year employ-ees receiving 235 hours of formal training, andall employees receiving 162 hours of trainingper year. Employees with ten years of tenureare encouraged to take a sabbatical. Peoplethink TCS is such a great place to work thatover 40 percent of the firms new hires comefrom referrals from current employees.

PRACTICES THAT ACHIEVEIMPROVED, MORE REALISTICBALANCE

Our research found that workers are tired ofhaving to hide their children, their elderlyrelatives, and their personal concerns. Whilethere are some companies that provideample leave for medical appointments, snowdays when children are home from school,and the last-minute necessity of picking upposter paper for a childs forgotten projectassignment, most dont. The fact is that peo-ple have lives outside the company. If theirwork for the day is accomplished and nourgent meetings or e-mails are pending,

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why is it necessary that employees sit in theiroffices? Individuals experiencing high levelsof work/family conflict bring stress to theoffice, whereas those who have flexibilitywill bring positive life experiences thatenhance their work.

How pervasive are flexible work sche-dules? The U.S. Department of Labor reportsthat about 29 million full-time salary workershave schedules that permit them to vary thestart and end time of work, a 50 percentincrease from just ten years ago. Approxi-mately 33 percent of these individuals workedflexible hours as part of a formal, employee-sponsored program. Surprisingly, men (30percent), perhaps because of higher positionsin their firms, were slightly more likely to haveflexible schedules than women (27 percent).Its puzzling, however, that the percentage offirms with flexible scheduling is not greater,especially because those typically rated as thebest companies to work for often emphasizethis option. Stellar company examplesinclude:

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which pro-vides a full range of child care optionsand invests in manager training on flexiblescheduling;

Eli Lilly and Co., which offers compre-hensive flexible scheduling, and job-guaran-teed leave for new moms;

Fannie Mae and General Mills Inc.,both of which offer programs to improvethe advancement of women as well aspromoting flexible scheduling options;

IBM, long known for its alumni rela-tions networks that keep former employeesin the know, has a return to work programfor employees who have previously left thefirm; and

PricewaterhouseCoopers, where once-unheard-of flexibility has penetrated themanagement ranks, and 10 percent of thepartners have adopted flexible schedules.

Flexibility can exist beyond the bound-aries of standard corporate assumptions. Jobsharing, reduced work hours, and other flex-time arrangements become possible when

the work is designed more creatively. Thisis especially true when systems are in placeso that employees can make recommenda-tions for improved work schedules andsee their suggestions actually implemented.One such example of employee empower-ment was suggested by Sally, a female secur-ity guard who participated in our study. Sallyrequested flextime, the ability to determineher own hours, and the opportunity to securea laptop to work at home. Her request wasinitially met with a resounding: No! Yet, asSally explained her rationale, it became appar-ent that the security guards men and womenalike had already developed a workablesolution: a flexible time schedule in whichall hours were covered but were designeddifferently from the standard 8 hour corpo-rate shift model. In addition, the securityguards were responsible for some paperworkthat could be accomplished from home if theywere provided laptops. The answer to Sallyand the other guards time needs seems sim-ple in retrospect. It illustrates that employeesthemselves often hold the key to maintainingworkplace effectiveness while permittingwork/family balance.

In addition to flexible schedules, thereare many other ways firms can help theiremployees achieve greater balance. Somefirms have already taken this step by crea-tively redesigning work to eliminate unne-cessary tasks and unconstructive meetings aswell as streamlining activities that have littleor no effect on the bottom line. For instance,Jet Blues reservation agents and othertelecommuters dont need childcare centersbecause they work from home. Booz AllenHamilton has unbundled the standardseries of tasks, identifying chunks of consult-ing assignments that can be done by tele-commuting or short stints in the office.Covenant Healthcare of Milwaukee offersworkers a choice of shift lengths, rangingfrom four to twelve hours, as well as solidbenefits, ample maternity and time-off poli-cies, and a laptop so work can be done athome. And the firm realizes that some work-ing mothers prefer part-time work; 80 per-cent of Covenants nurses work part-time.

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The KCM calls for firms to developprograms that allow for natural stop-outs,opt-outs, and other interruptions over thecourse of a career. One case example fromour research concerned Mallory, a womanwho left her job at the Social Security Admin-istration to rear twins and care for an elderlyrelative. Ten years later, feeling the pressureof college tuition upon her, Mallory elected toreturn to her old job in the same area ofresponsibility. She was denied a manage-ment position, so instead took basic pay asan assistant claims officer. Two years later,human resources (HR) recommended thatMallory receive a promotion to manager ofthe unit. Five years later she earned theposition of administrative head. The HRdepartment monitored Mallorys progress,rewarding her based on performance, andnot on uninterrupted company tenure.

A number of firms, such as BeaconTechnologies (specializing in softwaredevelopment, e-commerce and web design),Gwaltney Fleming (office designers andbuilders), and Milestone Capital Manage-ment (investment advisors), have forma-lized, phased re-entry programs to helpworking women ease back into workplaceas they adjust to having a new baby at home.The consulting firm of eXude BenefitsGroup has taken the phased re-entry ideato the next level by using a six month phase-back program which includes reduced workhours at full pay. These types of programshave been found to benefit employer andemployee alike. For example, DeloittleTouche Tohmatsu found that its PersonalPursuits program had a positive impact onits bottom line. The program, which permitssenior-level professionals to take up to fiveyears off for reasons including childcare,eldercare and travel, provides individualswith support including training, careercounseling, mentoring, opportunities fornetworking as well as ad hoc work assign-ments. While Deloittle found that the pro-gram costs about $2500 per employee, thecost of replacing an employee would bemuch higher at least double that indivi-duals salary.

Such on and off ramps may also be use-ful to helping older workers phase intoretirement, or return to the firm part-timeor on a project-to-project basis. Retirementused to be described as the time when work-ers declined and were seen as contributingless and less to their organizations as theydisengaged to play golf and spoil theirgrandchildren, but that is no longer the case.Our research found that retirement does nothave to be a black hole for productivity.Some retirees long to stay connected tothe firm through part-time work while stillhaving more freedom to travel, pursueleisure activities, or engage in volunteeractivities. Others may take a time out for afew years, test the retirement waters, andthen return as a consultant, mentor, part-time employee or an outsourced worker.To help employees make decisions aboutthe retirement transition, some companiesoffer training that goes well beyond the tra-ditional financial planning seminars thathave long dominated retirement preparationprograms. Weyerhaeuser Co., for example,offers a one-day program for employeesunder the age 50 and a two and half-dayHealthy-Wealthy-Wise program forworkers age 50 and over. Some companies,including Methodist Healthcare ofMemphis, Tennessee, are offering onlineretirement assessment programs such asMy Next Phase. These programs includepersonality tests as well as exercises to helpindividuals develop retirement plans andconsider work after retirement options.Other companies, like Travelers Insurance,are well known for their programs that per-mit their retirees to return to the company aspart-time employees or to work in areasdifferent from their pre-retirement jobs.Although these ideas for promoting balancemay seem like the road to reduced produc-tivity, this is not the case. For example,research has found that while office face timeis lower in family-friendly firms, job perfor-mance is just as high, and organizationalcommitment is higher than in firms with lessfamily-friendly environments. Work/familyprograms can be a win/win; what is good for

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the employees can also be good for the bot-tom line (Table 4).

PRACTICES TO ACHIEVEGREATER CHALLENGE

Challenge is a potent motivator. When valu-able workers no longer have a sense of chal-lenge in their work, they turnover, with menusually moving to other firms and womentypically moving out of the workforce. Firmswishing to retain talented workers need toexamine the level of challenge and supportthey are providing.

Firms must provide advancement oppor-tunities that allow for executive development,especially for women who are leaving corpo-rate America in record numbers. The top-rated companies for working women monitorthe number of women in senior, profit andloss, and pipeline positions, holding seniormanagers accountable for the advancementand development of women. IBM, for exam-ple, conducts annual audits of the base pay ofwomen and minorities. When inequities arefound, a recommendation is made to themanager, who either implements the raiseor provides a written explanation of whythe raise should not be given. The managersmanager must also explain in writing why theraise was not implemented. If the department

lacks funding for the raise, headquarters pro-vides it. IBMs system is unique, in that whileother companies that use this process typi-cally look for two standard deviations of dif-ference in base pay rates, IBM looks for onlyone standard deviation. Similarly, BP PLCrates executives on behaviors and businessresults including diversity initiatives, withthese ratings directly impacting bonuses.BPs rigorous measurement of goals and beha-viors has paid off; from 2000 to 2005, thenumber of women in the 600 most seniorleadership positions rose from 9 percent to17 percent. Chubb Corporation and Safewayboth use accountability programs similar toBPs program. Chubb reports that representa-tion of women in senior vice president posi-tions rose from 16 percent in 2001 to 23 percentin 2005, while the representation of women inthe executive vice president level rose fromzero to 17 percent for the same period. Like-wise, Safeway found a 40 percent increase infemale store managers from 2000 to 2005; thepercent of women at the vice president levelincreased from 12 percent in 2000 to 25 percentin 2005. Other company examples which pro-mote challenge include:

Formal job rotations, similar to Well-points program, which identifies and trainshigh potential women for profit and lossresponsibilities;

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TABLE 4 IDEAS TO SUPPORT BALANCE Provide opt-out career interruptions for one or two years; Stop-out career interruptions for two to ten years Offer reduced hour careers, job sharing, active part-time job listings, and managerial training on the effective

use of flexible scheduling Create job banks that give potential boomerangs (i.e., former employees) first priority of consideration over

external candidates Establish job-reentry and training programs that permit re-acclimation to the workforce Provide tech for flex programs so employees can work from home Offer time banks of paid parenting and eldercare leave Restructured retirement plans, making use of phased retirement and work after retirement options such as

part-time work, consulting and mentoring Provide healthcare and other benefits for part-time workers of long standing Offer on-site daycare, after-school programs, and Saturday and summer camps for employees children Offer benefits that encourage long term retention, such as college tuition reimbursement benefits for

employees and their children Reward and promote individuals who effectively use flexible schedules or are balanced life role models

for others Redefine family beyond children and provide programs that support care-giving

Skill-based mentoring programs, suchas IBMs subnets of 10 to 20 women whomeet monthly to brainstorm about specificoperational and management problems; and

Flexible fast tracks, such as Federa-teds executive program, which supportswomens decisions to work part-time by per-mitting them to retain their managementpositions.

But challenge involves more than remov-ing structural sources of discrimination thatinsidiously or openly affect career planning.The KCM suggests that real challenges, in theform of meaty, interesting, stimulating workassignments, is vital. One key is making tech-nology work for the workers, rather thanhaving workers become slaves to technology.For instance, consider how one manager usedtechnology to change how business wasusually done at Ford Motor Company. Tradi-tionally, e-commerce teams based in Dear-born, Michigan, moved to a productionpilot site full-time, having weekly, in-personmeetings with architects and other agencies.This required a major relocation for the teamthat sometimes would go on for weeks, evenmonths. For its planned pilot retail store in SanDiego, the manager and her team decided tostay in Dearborn, replacing face-to-face meet-ings with videoconferencing and conferencecalls. The use of technology enabled the suc-cessful completion of the project while greatly

reducing travel expenses. Additionally, teammembers, who may have been preventedfrom participating in this challenging assign-ment because of personal demands, were stillfully engaged without needing to temporarilyrelocate or lose daily interactions with theirfamilies (Table 5).

KALEIDOSCOPE CAREERSAND THE NEW MILLENNIUM

The U.S. is facing a unique juncture acollision of economic, worldwide, and demo-graphic forces. Such trends are creatingmajor human resource challenges and oppor-tunities for the next decade. Beginning in2012, the annual growth rate of the U.S. laborforce will decline. There will not be enoughyounger workers to replace those retiring aspart of the Baby Boomer Bubble. Addition-ally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics predictsthat in the next decade, over 10 million jobswill open in highly skilled service occupa-tions, but there will be a significant gap inprofessional, skilled, and leadership talentacross multiple industry sectors. Because ofthese changing workforce demographics,coupled with increasing work hours and ageneral decrease in employee satisfaction, a2005 SHRM survey found that HR profes-sionals ranked recruitment and retentionamong their top challenges. The Kaleido-scope Career Model offers the means to meet

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TABLE 5 IDEAS TO SUPPORT CHALLENGE Redesign work so employees at all levels are empowered to do more meaningful tasks and make more decisions Outsource or mechanize menial work Create opportunities for early field or international experiences Develop skill-based mentoring and networking programs Create on-the-job learning assignments with time for reflecting upon knowledge and skills gained Use job rotation to increase early skill development across departments Create a culture that encourages lateral moves for learning and skill development Make top level managers accountable for turnover and advancements rates for women Monitor the number of women in executive, pipeline, and profit and loss positions as well as gender inequities

in pay and benefits Provide career succession plans that include time off for career interruptions without penalty Create reward systems based on outcomes and actual performance, not face time Offer training, technical support, and equipment to enable employees to creatively use technology to

enhance their authenticity, challenge and balance

these challenge by providing a frameworkfor enhancing an organizations efforts toattract, motivate, and retain the most quali-fied workers. The KCM shows that the key toretaining talent is to offer flexibility alongsideadvancement opportunities as well as activ-ities that permit employees to be theirauthentic selves.

The full benefits of implementing pro-grams based on the ABCs of the Kaleido-scope Career Model may be difficult tomeasure and quantify. However, organiza-tions which have adopted progressive HRprograms and policies such as those sug-gested by the KCM and outlined in thisarticle, have reaped real bottom line results.For instance, Johnson & Johnson reportedthat employees who used flexible workoptions and family leaves had a 50 percentdecrease in absenteeism. DuPont deNemours & Co. employees who used itswork/life programs were 45 percent morelikely to say they would go the extra milefor the company and were least likely toexperience burnout. Half of Googles newlaunches have resulted from the weekly freedays the firms gives its employees to pursuenew ideas. And although Sun MicrosystemsInc. expends $3 million per year in directcosts to provide half of its 34,000 employeeswith flexible, technologically-enabled work

options, it reports savings of approximately$53 million in reduced information technol-ogy (IT) costs and $71 million in reduced realestate costs. Moreover, Sun Microsystemsalso gains free publicity because potentialcustomers can readily see how Sun is effec-tively using its own networking technologywith its own employees.

In sum, the Kaleidoscope Career Modelinvolves reinventing the wheel of the corpora-tion so that all the colors of the arrangementsof the kaleidoscope of life and work can shiftinto new and innovative patterns. By accept-ing nontraditional career paths within thefirm, by broadening compensation and bene-fits policies to encompass alternative forms ofwork, by recognizing that everyone needsbalance in their lives, by abolishing obsoletenorms such as using long hours or travel as asurrogate measure for commitment and pro-motability, by establishing ethics programsthat address wholeness issues, spiritualityand leisure interests, and by encouraging avariety of measures for work/life balance,corporations will have an easier time recruit-ing, retaining, and shaping talent. The time isright for organizations to create such options.

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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

This article is based on an extensive, multi-method five-year research project. Moredetailed information about our research isavailable in our book, The Opt-Out Revolt:Why People are Leaving Companies to CreateKaleidoscope Careers (Mountain View, CA:Davies-Black, 2006). Study 1 was an onlinesurvey of women members of a nationalorganization of female professionals. Sur-veys were returned from 109 women via e-mail, for a response rate of almost 10 percent.Participants were asked to describe theircareers and detail the reasons behind theircareer transitions. The respondents ranged inage from 20 to 68; 80 percent were white, 71percent had a spouse or significant other, and42 percent had children living at home.

Study 2 was an online survey of 1,647individuals (837 men, 810 women), and wasconducted in partnership with an Internetmarket research firm, Greenfield Online,Inc. (GOI). The survey was self-containedand was not merged with any other surveysthat GOI was conducting at that time. GOIsresponse rates normally range from 2030percent; the response rate for this surveywas considered good as over 33 percentof individuals available chose to completeour survey. Respondents reflected the overallpopulation of the GOI website; 87 percentwere white, and 76 percent worked full-time.

Study 3 describes a series of online con-versations conducted with 5 women and 22men enrolled in an Executive MBA program.Participants ranged in age from 2555, hadachieved income levels from approximately$60,000$200,000, and worked in various loca-tions all across the U.S. This study employedan online interactive format for discussion onthe topic and was undertaken to learn moreabout men, as considerable data had beencollected regarding women in Study 1. Parti-

cipation was voluntary, and respondentswere assured of confidentiality. Online con-versations occurred in response to questionprompts offered each week and in response tocomments made by other participants. Study4 was the second online survey completed inpartnership with GOI. Surveys were com-pleted by 1525 individuals (675 men, 850women), who answered questions on whywomen and men leave the workforce, andthe reasons behind their career transitions.

Study 5 consisted of 52 interviews togather case histories of careers. The interviewswere completed by one of the co-authors andtook the form of a telephone interview, a face-to-face discussion, or an online conversationabout the individuals career. This sample wasnot representative; subjects came from allwalks of life and were chosen based on theauthors knowledge that this person had aninteresting career.

Much has been written about changingdemographic trends, the brain drain offemale executives, and generational differ-ences in workers attitudes and behaviors.Many of the statistics used in this article arefrom the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Website, www.bls.gov. Additional sourcesinclude the research organization Catalystspublication, The Next Generation: TodaysProfessionals, Tomorrows Leaders (New York:Catalyst, 2001) and S.D. Friedman and J.H.Greenhauss book Work and Family Alliesor Enemies? What Happens When Business Pro-fessionals Confront Life Choices (New York:Oxford University Press, 2000).

In Experiencing Career Success (Orga-nizational Dynamics, 2005, 34(4), 376390),Peter Heslin provides a detailed discussionof objective versus subjective career success.He documents how many people havemoved away from defining success solely

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in terms of money and have begun to focuson more intrinsic outcomes.

Yehuda Baruch has conducted extensivesurveys of career management practices.Some of his recent publications includeCareer Practices: Comparing India vs.

UK, by Y. Baruch and P. Budhwar, Interna-tional Business Review, 2006, 15(1), 84101,and Career Management Practices: AnEmpirical Survey and Theoretical Implica-tions by Y. Baruch and M. Peiperl, HumanResource Management, 2000, 39(4), 347366.

Sherry E. Sullivan earned her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Sheis currently a tenured associate professor at Bowling Green StateUniversity, Director of the Small Business Institute, and is formerly ofMemphis State University where she was an assistant and tenuredassociate professor. She has published in journals including: Journal ofManagement, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of VocationalBehavior, Group and Organization Management, and Academy ofManagement Executive. She was division chair, program chair, andnewsletter editor for the Academy of Managements Career Division,served on the Gender and Diversity in Organizations (GDO) Board, twiceserved on the Board of Southern Management Association, served assecretary and track chair for Entrepreneurship/Small Business/Consult-ing for the Southwest Academy, served as secretary, program chair, anddivision chair of the International Division of the United States Associationfor Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and served as Treasurer andHuman Resource Management/Careers/Organizational Developmenttrack chair for Midwest Academy. She is the recipient of the Academy ofManagements GDO Division Janet Chusmir Outstanding Service Awardand a Fellow of Southern Management Association. She is co-editor (withYehuda Baruch and Hazlon Schepmyer) of Winning Reviews: A Guide forEvaluating Scholarly Writing (Palgrave, 2006). Her contact address is:www.theoptoutrevolt.com (Tel.: +1 419 372 2366; fax: +1 419 372 6057;e-mail: ssulliv@bgnet.bgsu.edu).

Lisa A. Mainiero, Ph.D., received her doctorate in organizational behaviorfrom Yale University in 1983. Dr. Mainieros latest book, co-authoredwith Sherry E. Sullivan, The Opt-Out Revolt: Why People Are LeavingCompanies to Create Kaleidoscope Careers (Davies-Black Publishers, 2006)describes contemporary trends in the career landscape for women andfor men. She is a sought-after lecturer and consultant, with appearanceson Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNNs Newsnight withAaron Brown, Fox News Your World with Neil Cavuto, and numerous otherradio, television, and talk-show programs. Dr. Mainiero has publishedseveral articles on executive womens careers, issues of power andpolitics, office romance, and crisis management strategies in journalssuch as Administrative Science Quarterly, the Academy of ManagementReview, the Journal of Management, the Academy of Management Executive,and Organizational Dynamics. She currently is a Full Professor ofManagement at the School of Business at Fairfield University in Fairfield,Connecticut. She can be reached at www.theoptoutrevolt.com (e-mail:lmainiero@mail.fairfield.edu).

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Kaleidoscope Careers:AcknowledgementsThe Kaleidoscope Career ModelThe ABCs of the Kaleidoscope Career ModelThe need for authenticityThe need for balanceThe need for challenge

Creating successful work-life programs that support Kaleidoscope CareersPutting the Kaleidoscope Career Model into motionPractices to support the quest for authenticityPractices that achieve improved, more realistic balancePractices to achieve greater challengeKaleidoscope Careers and the new millennium