Improving Work-Life Balance: Insights from Tech Entrepreneur Michael Tobin OBE
In this podcast episode, Michael Tobin OBE, a C250 CEO turned tech entrepreneur, shares valuable insights and practical advice on achieving a better work-life balance or integration. The episode covers topics such as work-life integration, collaboration in the workplace, stress management, commercial awareness, and the importance of gender balance in business leadership.
Work-Life Integration
Instead of trying to balance work and life, individuals should approach it as integration. The podcast highlights a study which revealed that 74% of people lied to their partners about working from home. The speaker emphasizes the importance of work-life integration and how it can avoid conflicts between work and family.
Collaborative Approach to Work and Life
To balance work and life, the speaker recommends a collaborative approach where individuals delegate both responsibility and power to their colleagues. This approach helps to create a more collegiate view of work and life and empowers individuals to become leaders rather than just delegators. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of having a vision rather than a prescriptive strategy for achieving success in a disruptive world.
Stress Management and Facing Problems Head-On
Stress management is closely related to work-life balance, and one can cause the other. It is essential to manage stress to avoid wasting one’s life on being unhappy. Scheduling tasks in a diary helps to reduce worry and stress levels. Facing problems head-on is still the best approach, as fear is often over-exaggerated, and facing it head-on can lead to personal growth and learning.
Commercial Awareness and Creating Value
Commercial awareness involves understanding the market and connecting needs with solutions to create value. Mike highlights the importance of spotting needs and finding solutions, and how technology in itself is not valuable until it is linked with an application that solves a problem.
Disruptive Technology and the Importance of Diversity
With the advent of disruptive technology, the focus has shifted to finding new ways of doing things that eliminate the need for old processes altogether. To keep up with the pace of change, it’s important to have a diverse team around you that can provide different perspectives and challenge your biases. Diversity is not just a moral imperative, but a commercial necessity as well.
Gender Balance in Business Leadership
The discussion highlights the need for more gender balance in business leadership and the importance of considering the impact of gender imbalance on business and society as a whole. The speakers suggest that most things in life are a pendulum, and if things are too out of kilter, it’s unlikely they will swing back to the middle without a reverse swing first.
In conclusion, the podcast episode offers helpful insights and actionable tips for anyone looking to achieve a better work-life balance. By focusing on work-life integration, collaboration, stress management, commercial awareness, and diversity, individuals can create a more fulfilling and balanced professional and personal life.
Here are the show notes:
Achieving a Better Work-Life Balance: Insights from Michael Tobin OBE
00:00:00 – 00:00:57
Achieving a better work-life balance or integration is a significant issue for many individuals, particularly with the constant barrage of emails, messages, phone calls, and social media, as well as job or business demands. In this podcast episode, the host speaks with Michael Tobin OBE, a C250 CEO turned tech entrepreneur, who shares valuable insights on the topic. Despite some concerns about the sound quality, the episode has been remastered to ensure listeners don’t miss out on the valuable information shared. Tobin provides practical advice and strategies for improving work-life balance, such as setting boundaries, prioritizing self-care, and learning to say no. He also emphasizes the importance of considering individual circumstances and finding a balance that works for each person. Overall, the episode offers helpful insights and actionable tips for anyone looking to achieve a better work-life balance.
The Importance of Work-Life Integration
00:00:57 – 00:06:27
The podcast episode discusses the common challenges faced by successful and aspiring successful individuals in balancing their work and personal life. The speaker cites examples of great leaders like Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton, who were successful in their professional life, but their personal life was a mess. The speaker suggests that instead of trying to balance work and life, individuals should approach it as integration. The speaker shares an example of a working mother who is torn between her work commitment and family commitment. The speaker emphasizes the importance of work-life integration and how it can avoid conflicts between work and family. The podcast highlights a study conducted by a clinical psychologist, Oliver James, which revealed that 74% of people lied to their partners about working from home. The podcast concludes by warning about the slippery slope of lying to one’s partner and endearing oneself to colleagues at work.
Balancing Work and Life: Delegating Responsibility and Power
00:06:27 – 00:12:39
In this podcast episode, the speaker discusses the challenges of working from home and achieving career goals. To balance work and life, the speaker recommends a collaborative approach where individuals delegate both responsibility and power to their colleagues. Rather than telling people what to do, individuals should engage with their colleagues and ask for their opinions on the best way forward. This approach helps to create a more collegiate view of work and life and empowers individuals to become leaders rather than just delegators. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of having a vision rather than a prescriptive strategy for achieving success in a disruptive world. Overall, the podcast provides valuable insights into how individuals can balance work and life while achieving their career goals.
Achieving Work-Life Balance: Love It, Leave It or Change It
00:12:39 – 00:19:41
The concept of work-life balance can be worrying for both employees and businesses. However, with the technological advancements and job opportunities that are yet to be created, there is a possibility that working hours may reduce. To integrate the concept of work and life, it is important to find a role that one loves, which can make work feel like a part of life. Outsourcing can also be helpful in balancing work and life, especially when it comes to tasks one dislikes. A principle of love it, leave it, or change it can be applied to any issue in life, including work-life balance. Stress management is closely related to work-life balance, and one can cause the other. It is essential to manage stress to avoid wasting one’s life on being unhappy.
Overcoming Worry and Stress: Adopting a Positive Mindset
00:19:42 – 00:24:17
Worrying about the future is like paying interest on a debt you haven’t drawn down. In order to positively influence the future outcome, we need to adopt a positive mindset and take action towards it. If there’s nothing you can do, then don’t worry about it either because worrying is not a solution. The problem is that some people would rather ignore their problems until it’s too late, leading to increased stress levels. Doing nothing is a conscious decision that can be adopted in certain situations, such as in a negotiation, but doing nothing in the hope that the outcome will change is not an option. To overcome this, it’s important to schedule tasks in a diary as if it was a meeting to ensure that time is blocked off to complete them. This helps reduce worry and stress levels.
Dealing with Stress: Scheduling and Trusting
00:24:17 – 00:30:36
The brain’s creative part versus the task-oriented part can cause stress if not managed properly. Scheduling and putting tasks in a diary can help relieve stress as it allows the mind to free up and focus on other things. Trust is a crucial factor when delegating tasks, and it’s better to have someone with no skills but can be relied on than someone with skills but cannot follow through. Exercise, proper food intake, and meditation can help with mindset, but they only defer the problem. Facing the problem head-on is still the best approach. Fear is often over-exaggerated, and facing it head-on can lead to personal growth and learning. The fear of the future is typically unreasonable, and every challenging situation can be an opportunity to learn and become a better person.
Churchill’s Advice on Overcoming Challenges
00:30:36 – 00:31:07
In this podcast episode, the hosts discuss Churchill’s advice on overcoming challenges. They emphasize the importance of approaching every difficult situation with a mentality of persistence and determination. Churchill’s famous quote, ‘when you’re going through hell, the worst thing you want to do is stop’, serves as a reminder to keep pushing forward and not give up. By continuing to move forward, we can overcome even the toughest obstacles. The hosts express their admiration for Churchill and his incredible leadership abilities.
Understanding Commercial Awareness and the Importance of Linking Needs with Solutions
00:31:10 – 00:35:04
During the podcast episode, Mike discusses his perspective on commercial awareness and how it is important to create win-win situations between different parties rather than winning at the expense of others. He highlights the importance of spotting needs and finding solutions, and how technology in itself is not valuable until it is linked with an application that solves a problem. Mike gives an example of Ultra Haptics, a technology that uses ultrasound in midair to create the sensation of touch, and how it can be used in different applications such as a car manufacturer using it to create a hands-free driving experience. Overall, commercial awareness involves understanding the market and connecting needs with solutions to create value.
Technology and Disruptive Innovation: A New Way of Thinking
00:35:04 – 00:40:44
The history of technology has always been about making things more efficient, faster, and cheaper. However, with the advent of disruptive technology, the focus has shifted to finding new ways of doing things that eliminate the need for old processes altogether. This change in thinking is driven by the ever-increasing speed of technological change. The disruption caused by Uber to the taxi industry is just the beginning, with driverless cars set to cause even more disruption. To keep up with the pace of change, it’s important to have a diverse team around you that can provide different perspectives and challenge your biases. Diversity is not just a moral imperative, but a commercial necessity as well.
The Imbalance of Gender in Billionaires and Its Impact on Business Leadership
00:40:45 – 00:45:08
The transcript discusses the gender imbalance in the world’s billionaires, where there are very few females on the list. The speakers wonder if this trend will change in the next few years and if women are becoming more like men in business. They reflect on the scarcity of women leaders in the world and how having more women leaders could bring more compassion and balance to the table. However, the speakers also caution against making women tougher and more like men in business, as it could lead to imbalance. They suggest that most things in life are a pendulum, and if things are too out of kilter, it’s unlikely they will swing back to the middle without a reverse swing first. The guest speaker, Mike, discusses his books on leadership, forget strategy, get results, and Live Love, Work Prosper, which offer an alternative view on leadership and a fresh approach to integrating life and work. Overall, the discussion highlights the need for more gender balance in business leadership and the importance of considering the impact of gender imbalance on business and society as a whole.
