When Work and Family Collide, by Andy Stanley

I think Andy Stanley is one of those type-A personalities: driven, prone to workaholism, success-oriented, perfectionist.  Like most type-As, he's drawn to other type-As.  When Work and Family Collide is the first book of his I've read, and he definitely is writing here for his fellow type-As.  While my goal is, as always, to provide a review that gives a taste of the book as well as my take on it, for this one keep in mind that I'm definitely not a type-A, but I'll try to fairly evaluate the book from my non-type-A perspective.

The reality of many people's lives is that there is not time in the day to give all of ourselves at home and at work.  You probably know someone who puts in lots of hours on the job, succeeding in the workplace, but who lost his family in the meantime.  Stanley relates to that desire, to give all one can, even for the right reasons, like providing for the family and meeting worthy financial goals.  In When Work and Family Collide: Keeping Your Job from Cheating Your Family, he offers help to those of us who have cheated our families in hopes of greater success at work (or, in some cases, hobbies).

Stanley gives examples from his own life and the lives of people he has known who have successfully managed to prioritize and set boundaries in order to keep work and family in their proper perspectives.  The latter chapters are an extensive application of Daniel's stand in Babylon, when he refused to eat the king's diet.  Rather than go on hunger strike or something, he effectively lobbied for an exception and demonstrated the superiority of his position.  In the same way, when we are asked to work in such a way that compromises our family priorities, we can follow Daniel's example in the way described by Stanley.

Personally, over-prioritizing is not a problem for me.  Stanley's intended audience is the business owners, executives, and ladder climbers whose work is their life.  For a clock puncher or corporate cog like me, it's hard to relate to Stanley's examples.  Personally, I'd love to be able to say "I was rocketing up the corporate ladder, making all kinds of money, and just had to get my priorities straight."  I have to admit that I envy those who have managed to make a bunch of money and now are scaling back their lives.  It's easier to scale back your life when you have a fat, seven-figure 401K and a vacation home or two.  Maybe the fact that I've never struggled with working too long or too hard has something to do with the fact that I've never made a lot of money. . . .  In any case, Stanley's message is right on, and affirms what I know to be true: success in business is not incompatible with a successful home life.  Stanley's book can help you keep that success going on both fronts.

This book was previously released in 2003 as Choosing to Cheat: Who Wins When Family and Work Collide?

Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah for the free copy to review.
Read more about the book at the publisher's web site.