** Event will be in Mandarin **
‘Hard-working’, ‘disciplined’ and ‘obedient’ are words often used to describe Chinese people. These qualities are highly-regarded in individuals in our society, especially among the most demanding jobs, especially in areas such as medical, advertising, design, law and finance. In a fast-paced city like Shanghai, where friendships and romantic relationships often come and go, it is common for individuals to experience a sense of uncertainty every now and then, but more often now than before.
At the end of each year, many individuals tend to review their past achievements and make plans for the upcoming year. Among all the goals that we set for ourselves, the most common one tends to be about achieving a balance in life and work, about working less in general, or about working more on things that matter i.e. those that one enjoys doing or an issue one is passionate about. However, we another year passes and this goal remains unachieved. What’s worse, people have gotten busier than before and lost track of their priorities. According to a Forbes article, over 70% of employees hate their jobs, and as per another article, one-third of U.S employees are so unhappy they are thinking of leaving their jobs. The situation isn’t too different in China.
According to Gallup, people who are “emotionally disconnected from their workplaces are less likely to be productive.” and more likely to leave.
In this forum, we’re going to look into a problem that gets trickier as we get older, a topic that has been discussed since the idea of ‘work’ was created.
Some questions we would be looking to answer are:
- What problems that lead to work-life unbalance are specific to Shanghai / China?
- What makes people unhappy – in life and at work, how are the two are interrelated?
- How can work-life balance be achieved?
- What are some of the common mistakes people make in order to find job that they love?
- How can people be encouraged to be more bold to take tough decisions that could bring them long-term happiness?
Speakers
Yoky Yu, Founder of 2BHappy, Coach, Facilitator
Subject: Dare to be happy? What does life balance look like for you? Create a “User Manual” for yourself. You can build sustainable happiness by knowing yourself really really well.
Background: Yoky Yu is a life artist. She facilitates creative self-exploration workshops and coaches people to gain more love, awareness, and life-improvement. She is a Gallup-certified strength coach trained in the International Coach Academy. She is also the author of a graphic book and the creator of 2BHappy.
MCK (季迈轲), Inventor, The Bounce Framework; Head of Learning & Development, MCK123.com
Subject: How does the Art of Asking Good Questions help you to live a better, more balanced life?
Background: MCK Michael Keefrider (季迈轲) graduated from Brown University in 2004 and was an Asia Pacific Leadership Program fellow at the East-West Center from 2013-2014. What started as a 20-minute conversation experiment a couple years ago, now 400+ conversations later has become The Bounce Framework. This is one of the main tools MCK uses to help leaders to be great listeners and to ask the right questions, as they create more harmonious and effective working environments.
Rachel Li, DDI Project Manager Team Leader, Assessor and Counselor
Subject: Meaningful unbalance
Background: Rachel Li holds a Masters of Psychology from East China Normal University and now works in DDI, a company that helps organizations to define and achieve great leadership in the past five decades. During her time at DDI, she has assessed more than 200 leaders and managers at different levels and developed great insights on how to balance work and life.
