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What Work/Life Balance?

Nov 12, 2010

Pat at the Fairer Science blog says that Justine Cassell, incoming director of Carnegie Mellon University's Human Computer Interaction Institute, has given "one of the best responses ever" to the question of how she deals with "with work/life balance." In a Q&A-style profile for the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, Cassell says:

I don't believe in the concept of a 'work/life balance.' This phrasing seems to indicate that work and life are on opposite sides of the scale, competing with one another for my attention and my love. They seem to indicate that time spent on one takes away from time spent on the other. I, on the other hand, (try to) live a synergy model I have spent my whole life trying to integrate my work and my life, so that the whole is more than the sum of the parts.
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