Opinion

Never put the quality of your life in the hands of your company

TEDx Sydney took place the weekend before last. It was thoroughly excellent.

The best known person to present from the world of media and marketing was Y&R Brands CEO Nigel Marsh, who had provocative things to say about work-life balance.  

His key quotes:

“If society is to make any progress on this issue we need an honest debate. All the discussions about flexi-time or dress down Fridays or paternity leave, only serve to mask the core issue which is that certain job and career choices are fundamentally incompatible with being meaningfully engaged on a day-to-day basis with a young family.

“It’s up to us as individuals to take control and responsibility for the type of lives that we want to lead. If you don’t design your life somebody else will design it for you and you may just not like their idea of balance. It’s particularly important that you never put the quality of your life in the hands of a commercial corporation. Commercial companies are inherently designed to get as much out of you as they can get away with. It’s in their nature… even the good, well intentioned companies.”

Other presentations included Accessnow.org’s Brett Solomon on citizen journalism:

And Michael Kirby’s denounciation of Seven’s outing of politician David Campbell:

Tim Burrowes

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