HOW CAN PERSONAL MASTERY
AND LEARNING FLOURISH AT
WORK AND AT HOME?
In 1990 a Fortune magazine cover story, titled "Why Grade A Executives
Get an F as Parents," observed that children of successful
executives are more likely to suffer a range of emotional and health
problems than children of "less successful" parents.1 For example, one
Ann Arbor Michigan study found that 36 percent of the children of
executives undergo treatment for psychiatric or drug abuse each year,
vs. 15 percent of children of non-executives in the same companies.
The author went on to cite the executives' long hours and personal
characteristics (perfectionism, impatience, and efficiency) as the chief
culprits and counseled that high-powered managers need to learn how
to boost their children's "self esteem." What was most interesting
about the article, however, was what it didn't say. Nothing was
mentioned about how the executives' organizations contributed to
their problems as parents or what they might do to improve