cover image The Golden Apple: Redefining Work-Life Balance for a Diverse Workforce

The Golden Apple: Redefining Work-Life Balance for a Diverse Workforce

Mason Donovan. Bibliomotion, $29.95 (144p) ISBN 978-1-62956-114-1

After feeling overworked for many years, Donovan (Driven), a managing partner at the consulting firm Dagoba Group, decided on a change—and the results are captured in this enthusiastic but familiar guide to achieving work-life balance. The titular golden apple is Donovan’s alternative to the “golden handcuffs” metaphor: unlike handcuffs, apples are wholesome and tasty. Donovan encourages readers to dig deep into methods of keeping work and home from bleeding into each other, both to increase job satisfaction for its own sake and to ensure that productivity doesn’t suffer. He covers how leaders can model behavior for employees, such as by eliminating time-wasting activities. Donovan also discusses his decades of experience helping companies become more diverse and inclusive, while noting that work-life balance impacts everyone, “across generations, genders, and geographies.” There’s precious little else here that addresses diversity, and as a result the subtitle feels like a misleading afterthought. The writing is quick, crisp, and snappy, but Donovan’s take on work-life balance is not distinct enough from the many other books published on the subject for this effort to stand out. (Sept.)