World Bank Chief Ajay Banga talks work-life balance

Brut India

The Indian-American World Bank head was once asked about work-life balance. Here's what he had to say.

Transcript

00:00This stupid habit of having a Blackberry and an iPhone

00:03in your hand all the time, honestly,

00:06you're not spending time with the people you're with,

00:07and the instrument isn't your work-life balance.

00:09One big topic at the GSB is work-life balance,

00:15and you obviously have a very busy career,

00:17a very global career.

00:19Why do you guys have a topic at the GSB?

00:20You've got a problem with work-life balance here?

00:23We're just really worried about it in the future.

00:24I want your work-life balance.

00:30Oh, this is for the future?

00:31For the future, for the future.

00:33You're already planning for your work-life balance.

00:36We're trying to protect what we have right now.

00:37I got it, I got it.

00:38And so, how do you think about balancing

00:41those two things in your own life?

00:45Work-life balance is a very personal thing.

00:48You know, there are guys who work 12 hours, 18 hours a day

00:51and think that they've got balance.

00:53There are others who work six hours a day

00:54and they think they've got balance.

00:56So, I don't know how you define it for yourself,

00:59but for me, work-life balance requires,

01:03I guess, a couple of things to happen.

01:05One is you've got to enjoy what you're doing.

01:07You really have to.

01:08It's really, really critical.

01:11And if you don't enjoy what you're doing,

01:12it's time to do something different,

01:13and that's part of the reasons

01:15why I've changed what I did over the years.

01:17Because if you're gonna work as hard as we work,

01:19and I travel probably two-thirds of the time,

01:24and if you're not gonna enjoy

01:25what you're doing when you travel,

01:26why the hell are you doing it?

01:28And so, work-life balance starts

01:31with enjoying what you do really well.

01:35At the same time, you've got to have time for yourself

01:38and the people who matter to you.

01:39I mean, by that I mean, you know,

01:41not just helping Aditi move into a dorm room in Harvard,

01:44which, by the way, was up four bloody flights of stairs

01:47with no elevator, with a room partner

01:49who had a stupid shipping trunk

01:51that was bigger than my car

01:53that had to be carried up the stairs.

01:54And I used to call that the two Advil evenings, right?

01:57You kind of had them, and then you had two Advils

01:59so you could wake up in the morning

02:00without a broken back.

02:01But you've got to provide time for that.

02:04You've got to provide time for their play

02:08with their acting in it on the small part

02:10that's third tree from left,

02:11because it's important to them.

02:13And so, if you're not gonna be there when they need you,

02:17then you've got no balance.

02:19So, I was living in Hong Kong for a little while,

02:22running Citigroup in Asia,

02:23and I used to fly back from Hong Kong for one evening

02:28to be able to spend the time that was required

02:30if one of them or Ritu were doing something

02:33that was important to us as a family.

02:34So, I guess you've got to enjoy what you're doing,

02:36but you've also got to take out the time

02:38for the people who matter to you.

02:39And when you're with somebody,

02:41spend the time with the person.

02:43This stupid habit of having a Blackberry and an iPhone

02:46in your hand all the time,

02:47honestly, you're not spending time

02:49with the people you're with.

02:50You're spending time with the instrument.

02:52And the instrument isn't your work-life balance.

02:55It's actually in some ways an invasion

02:57on your work-life balance.

02:59It's useful, don't get me wrong.

03:00I use the darn thing all the time,

03:02but it's an invasion if you're not careful.

03:04So, finding the right space that says,

03:07when I'm with you, I'm focused on you,

03:09you matter to me, and I'm gonna spend time with you

03:11as compared to I'm doing that, but also doing this,

03:14looking at my email, doing phone calls,

03:16taking out paper, working on the weekends.

03:18You've got to figure out how to find that balance.

03:22That's what work-life balance is.

03:23The rest all kind of works out.

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