Relationships That Work

This very practical book is an attempt to answer a question that isn’t timeless yet, but grows more and more compelling every year: how to succeed at work and in relationships?

We’re called to maintain a balance between career and personal life, but achieving that balance is often extremely difficult. Hardworking and ambitious partners who dream of reaching certain heights at work and at the same time having a large, friendly, and strong family usually don’t consider the difficulties they’re going to face. It seems everything will be easy and simple — they’ll manage it all, because they love and respect each other and understand each other’s mutual desire to become a professional in their field. But reality is often harsh: accomplishing those two tasks separately (building a relationship and achieving success at work) is within reach of far from everyone — and combining them is twice as hard.

Many eventually can’t cope with the avalanche of problems: lack of free time, the need to constantly spin like a squirrel in a wheel, and “balancing on the edge,” endless fatigue, and everyday conflicts. As a result, families fall apart — and work brings no satisfaction.

So what should you do? Do you have to choose between family and work? Jennifer Petriglieri interviewed 113 working couples from 32 countries. Partners of different ages, professions, and nationalities agreed to share their experience and describe how they overcame the difficulties that arose in marriage, how they negotiated, and how they searched for and found a way out.

It’s unlikely that a single universal piece of advice can fit every family, because people (and circumstances) are different. But still, the challenges partners face and the psychological and social processes involved are roughly the same. The author studies exactly these processes and offers approaches that will be useful for many couples.

The book examines real stories of more than 40 couples, and some of them are sure to feel close to your situation. The experience of many families will help you find your own path. If you know in advance what problems working couples may face in different periods of their shared life, what transition stages they’ll have to go through, what to agree on, and how to support each other, partners will be able to get through difficulties and build harmonious relationships.