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

Organizations are coming to the reality that work-life balance is no longer solely an issue for working women. As we progress further into the 21st century, workers and ways of working are changing. We have four generations operating together in the workplace, and a tremendous variety of professional expectations, values, goals, and needs. People want to work, but more and more need work to work better in their lives. For some, it might be a question of flexibility to care for family, for others, a question of personal fulfillment and being present both at work and at home. Regardless, people are expressing the need for an improved sense of work-life balance. It has become central to maintaining a diverse and inclusive workplace. As companies grapple with increased talent and marketplace competition, work-life balance has become a pivotal issue for higher engagement, increased productivity, greater innovation, and employee retention. Backed by 20 years of talent engagement expertise, The Golden Apple bridges the gap between awareness and action, giving leaders practical solutions they can take for immediate impact: the 50-minute meeting, mindful minutes, and establishing clear boundaries that can instantly provide a valuable return with minimal effort. In short, the book shows how full engagement of a diverse, inclusive workforce is the competitive advantage of our time.

About the Author

Mason Donovan is Managing Partner at The Dagoba Group, a New England based diversity and inclusion consultancy that specializes in leadership development, unconscious bias, and inclusion dynamics. Prior to that, Mason was Managing Director of Client Solutions for Personified, a human capital consulting firm. He has spent more than a decade consulting clients in the areas of talent acquisition, performance management, and leading inclusive teams. Mason holds a long list of sales achievement awards for direct sales and sales management. He believes diversity and inclusion is a marketplace differentiator. He has consulted with over half of Fortune 1000 global companies on talent acquisition and management initiatives. Mason has also represented the US Government and the State of Florida on a commercial and diplomatic basis in EMEA.

Mason is the co-author of The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off and SET for Inclusion: An Underlying Methodology for Achieving Your Inclusion Dividend, and the author of DRIVEN: A Manager’s Field Guide to Sales Team Optimization. He frequently serves as a speaker and panelist on a wide range of topics, and is often interviewed for client engagement strategy. Mason earned a MA in International Business from Webster University in The Netherlands and a BA in International Relations from University of Mary Washington in Virginia.