Professional couple power dynamics: you have to negotiate to make dual careers work, says author of road map to successful partnership
- An expert, herself one half of a dual-career couple, spent six years interviewing couples around the world at different career and life stages
- Those that succeed, Jennifer Petriglieri says, have regular conversations, check their power dynamics and base their relationships on kindness
It’s a Wednesday evening and the crowd squeezed into a small function room at Hong Kong’s exclusive China Club are alumni of the Insead business school.
Mostly in their 30s and 40s, they are a professional-looking bunch – men and women fresh from their offices.
What has enticed them to come straight here, skipping dinner? Perhaps a talk on banking trends or corporate governance? No – they are here to discover the secret to being a successful dual-career couple.
The number of dual-career couples is on the rise. In North America and Europe, both partners in more than 65 per cent of couples are working, and that number is increasing. Even in Japan, where the proportion of dual-career couples is slightly lower – at about 60 per cent – the trend is consistently upwards.
