“Hug Your Kids” says Cincinnati Reds Baseball Manager Dusty Baker about Adenhart

The Cincinnati Reds showed Nick Adenhart’s photo on the video board and asked fans to stand and remove their hats for a moment of silence in his memory before the seventh-inning stretch during their game against the New York Mets. “It makes you want to hug your kids. It just goes to show you, tomorrow’s not promised to anybody, so enjoy today,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said.

Adenhart was the 22-year-old rookie was among three people who died early Thursday after their car was struck by a motorist who ran a red light. He made his season debut a few hours earlier in a loss to Oakland. It was just the fourth start and appearance of his major league career.

Work-Life Balance a Diversity Issue Says IBM

Ron Glover, Vice President of Diversity and Workforce Programs, at IBM says, “Work/Life difficulty is no longer a women’s issue – it’s a people issue.

Harvard Business on Work, Family and Email

According the the Harvard Business Blog:

U.S. workers’ leisure time shrank 20% last year, down from an average of 20 hours a week in 2007 to an average of 16 hours in 2008. During the same period, their average work week increased by 1 hour. Why the 3-hour discrepancy? Researchers at Harris Interactive speculate that stressed-out employees are spending more time at home checking their email and thinking about work – that’s not exactly work, but it certainly isn’t leisure, either.

SOURCE: Harris Interactive

Fast, Easy Weight Loss is Like a Hugging Habit

Establishing the habit of hugging each of your kids and loved ones every day is like fast, easy weight loss.  You already know the essentials. There are no secrets or stuff to learn. Just hug, or just eat less quantity of less fattening food and move more.

Simple but not easy, like so many other things in life. But don’t let that stop you from trying. And when you fall short, try again.

Your kids are worth it – and so are you.

John Travolta and Jett Travolta – Wish They Could Hug Again

Ouch! With the recent death of Jett Travolta, son of John Travolta and Kelly Preston, another family has a beloved child die suddenly. Just because Jett was the child of a celebrity doesn’t make his loss any bigger or smaller.

My heart goes out to the Travolta family.

What’s the lesson to all families? That’s right – hug your kids today! I’m positive John, Kelly and their daughter wish they could hug Jett one more time.

P.S. Does anyone know how I can connect to People Magazine to do a story on Hug Your Kids Today and the Travolta family? I’d love an introduction.

Work-Life Predictions – and Opportunities -for 2009

I just read a list of seven predictions for 2009 by Judy Martin, of the Work Life Examiner.  Here are three I want to pass on – and my thoughts:

1. Judy says:  Michelle Obama mentioned on a recent 60 Minutes inteview that work life balance will be a key goal not only for her personally, but hinted she’d be a player in that field of interest.

I say: Yea for all of America – and the world – if this smart and powerful woman plans to champion work-life balance issues.

2. Judy says:  Increasing worker stress will force Corporate America to initiate more progressive Employee Assistance programs to combat mental and physical stress – to boost productivity. The connection is being made slowly but surely.

I say: When we talk about how companies can increase their profits by paying atttention to work-life issues of working parents, we’re not ahead of the trend. In 2009, we’ll be right in the middle of it.

3. Judy says she expects: A flood of more values-based businesses. This past election was about change and movement away from the status quo of the “more is more” mentality. While we have to pay the bills, the journey to get to a prosperous place will become as valuable as the cash itself as we pay more attention to purposeful work based on core human values.

I say: Established business can also tap into this trend and re-brand themselves, to their own employee as well as their customers – as being more values based.  Upstart businesses don’t have have a corner on being values-based, unless you let them.

Here’s the full article: http://www.examiner.com/x-1112-Work-Life-Examiner~y2009m1d2-7-Work-Life-Culture-predictions-for-2009?cid=examiner-email 

What do you think?

Silver Lining of Economic Troubles?

In Ellen Goodman’s column today, she touches on a theme my Sales VP keeps mentioning – that perhaps all this economic mess is a strong reminder (some might say “kick in the seat,”) of what matters – family.  Goodman writes:  There’s a dovetailing of economic and environmental – and human – values.

I think we’re all also being reminded that we can’t control everything, but we can coontrol how we treat our family.  We can’t control if we sell something today, or keep our job, or the weather stays mild so our heating bills are reasonable. (It was 6 degrees F this AM where I live.)

Goodman also writes: Sociologists will tell you that the most powerful impetus to change is not a new discovery. It’s when you learn what you already knew.

Remembering to hug our kids and spouse/partner every morning or day, that’s something we can control.  Go hug!