You probably know what I think of work/life balance. It’s nonsense. It’s just not part a workable success formula.

Why am I so adamant about this? It’s simple: while you’re balancing your life, someone else will be taking your job! The business space has too much momentum to just step off when you feel like it!

But the idea of having more time with the family, to connect and share, is part of the essentials of a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.

So, what am I saying?

It is only when you have a home office that you can really see what is needed here. It’s not about “work . . . . then life”. It’s more about intertwining them so that there is a healthy inclusion of family into the work dynamic and visa versa.

The main ingredient is extremely flexible working hours. When you are working at home, this all intermingles. If done properly, it creates a wonderfully balanced life-style. You still work your 12-hour day but, it rolls out differently. There’s time to connect, time to chill and even time to eat properly and exercise.

When you think of the mindless (and negatively frustrating) time spent getting to and from work, it is clear that there needs to be another way. How valuable would it be if one was able to use the energy consumed in getting to and from the office, to connect with yourself and your family? In my view, a great deal!

Is it not surprising then that modern entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos have come up with a master plan that incorporates this thinking. He has been able to develop a business model that few companies have been able to do: an enormously valuable human capital asset. People, it seems, love working at Amazon.

Sign of a changing world?

Undoubtedly!

Indeed, companies who are unable or unwilling to move in this direction will fail to attract the talent needed to drive the business into the 2020’s.

Yip . . . it’s that close.

Do business leaders need to go through a thunderous transformation?

Yes – and much quicker than they think (especially in SA).

It is just as well that technologies like Skype/ZOOM (and a little further down the line, virtual reality), that this type of economy will find it much easier to emerge.