ThanX

Baby Gen-X No. 1 arrived around 5 a.m., Aug. 25, 1975, after a long night of hide-and-seek.

Once he was found and safely tucked away in the nursery, dad drove straight from delivery room to work and put in a full day.

Baby Gen-X No. 2 landed at 10 a.m., April 26, 1977. Again - dad made a beeline to the newsroom, even wrote a page-1 story. Management lauded a job well done.

But, of course, it wasn't. The priorities were all wrong.

That was this newsroom. That dad was me. And those were the caveman years of management, when managers could scarcely grunt, much less sound out "paternity leave" - when flexibility was considered a character flaw.

Management attitudes have obviously, thankfully, changed. And it's no coincidence that the same era that delivered paternity leaves and flex time is an era of unparalleled productivity. Happy workers are better workers.

And to read Shelley Coolidge's cover story, we can expect more changes as Gen-Xers - including mine - make their way through the workplace.

It's not so much that they want more volleyball time (who wouldn't?), as that they want more balance. They, perhaps, recognize that the job isn't everything.

Maturity, mortgages, college tuitions, and the demands of a high-powered project may splash some cold water on the mixture, but the point is the trend.

It moves away from the archaic notion of "what's good for General Motors" is good for all of us, to stretch a quote from former GM chairman Charles Wilson.

It speaks to the idea that what's good for us - our children, our recreation, our charity work, our quiet time, our talents - becomes good for General Motors.