THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER BALANCES WORK AND LIFE-KEN BLANCHARD, D.W. EDINGTON AND MARJORIE BLANCHARD.

This book is the story of a One Minute Manager who got so carried away by success that he forgot the most important thing in life: to stay physically fit and healthy. Little did he realise that his life was spiraling out of his control, his weight was inflating day by day and basically his success was slowly but steadily killing him. His wife too warned him, If you dont watch out success could kill you! He yearned for simplicity in his life. He had achieved such great success by turning his last operation from a dying enterprise into a profitable venture that he was given a larger company to tackle. He had also become extremely popular as a manager and was in demand to speak and give advice to others. Inspite of all his successful ventures and exciting opportunities, he found himself losing energy and becoming increasingly irritable. What the One Minute Manager couldnt have known was that all of this would change with one fateful phone call. One day as he sat around thinking of the mess his life had become he was interrupted by his secretary telling him that there was a professor on the line who said that he could be of some help to him. On speaking to him, he discovered that the professor was the director of the Health Management Research centre and that he wished to meet with him soon to share some information with him. But since his schedule was so busy he couldnt make time for any new projects and promptly forgot all about the phone call for the next 10 daysuntil the following Saturday night.

It started off with the One Minute Manager waking up in the middle of the night with an excruciating pain in his chest and a lot of gas. He tried to convince his wife that it was just indigestion but she insisted on going to the emergency room. After a lot of persuading they went to the nearby hospital. There the doctor told him everything was OK but he should be grateful for the warning. This incident combined with the fact that one of his best friends, Charlie, had suddenly died last summer at the age of forty two convinced the One Minute Manager to contact the professor and seek his guidance regarding his health. So on Monday he called the professor and made an appointment for Wednesday. On Wednesday morning the first question that the professor asked him was, Would you like to be a peak performer with a stress free life? to which the manager replied that he definitely would but he thought it was pretty unrealistic. But the professor then made him realize that the real issue was not avoiding or being afraid of stress but managing it. According to the One Minute Manager he handled stress pretty well generally and sometimes even needed some stress in order to perform well. But he also realized that recently with all his success he was getting even more and more stressed and hardly had any time for himself or his family anymore. The professor then confessed that this was precisely the reason he had called him in and that he might be able to help him. He stated that there is a direct relationship between ones stress level and performance. Upto a certain point there is a positive relationship between productivity and stress. But once you reach that certain point, productivity no longer goes up with stress. Eventually the performance begins to decline with too much stress which is called BURNOUT. And the opposite occurs when one is understimulated at work or home. This state is called RUSTOUT. So basically what the professor was trying to say was that one should have the right amount of strain to give the maximum amount of productivity.

In addition the professor also informed him that an excess of stress and strain can cause a number of illnesses such as ulcers, a heart attack and even cancer! And to protect yourself from this there are four moderators to the stress/strain relationship:

AUTONOMY

CONNECTEDNESS

PERSPECTIVE

TONE

It has been found that when these four moderators are in good shape they can help prevent stress from turning onto strain. The first moderator is AUTONOMY - it is a sense one often gets on weekends when he has free time. People who have a high sense of autonomy have many choices and good control in their lives. The next moderator is CONNECTEDNESS-people with a high sense of this moderator have positive and strong relationships with their family and colleagues and also feel in tune with the members in their community as well as surroundings. The third moderator is PERSPECTIVE-it is related with the meaning of life-the direction, purpose and passion that one feels for what he is doing. It is basically having a good sense of where you are headed and being able to see the big picture of your life, which can help you to be more productive. The last moderator is TONE-it is the way one feels about his body, energy level, physical well-being and appearance. It is simply the question of being comfortable in ones own skin. It has also been noted that the four moderators have a kind of domino effect on each other-if you lose your balance and fall down on one, it can begin to knock the others too. The One Minute Manager realized that this was exactly what had happened in his life. To answer to all his demands on time he had lost control of his life.

The immediate question that the One Minute Manager had was what could be done to turn all of this around. The professor informed him that the best place to start is with your tone. This is because the things that make up your tone are measureable and observable. And once you have taken the time to exercise and eat properly you will begin to get back a sense of autonomy which will lead to creative thinking, in other words perspective. It has also been proven by a professor William Glasser that those who took time for themselves everyday to do something alone that was intrinsically good and non competitive were able to be more empathetic and listen to the concerns of others as they had already taken care of themselves-which means better connectedness too. This information was enough to convince the One Minute Manager to get started on his tone so he agreed to go to the research centre the next afternoon. When the One Minute Manager reached the university, he was met by the professor. After showing him around the high-tech and beautiful campus they were met by Rose Greenberg, the fitness counselor. She handed the One Minute Manager a card and told him it was called the Professors Dozen. It contained 12 questions relating to health and fitness and told him to grade himself one point for every positive answer and zero for a negative answer. There were also some unusual ones like Do you love your job? and Do you use safety precautions like wearing a seat belt in moving vehicles? etc. But the One Minute Manager could only answer four with a clear yes and also realized that most of his key people would get a similar score. So Greenberg gave him a few tips such as driving with a seat belt fastened, driving at a reasonable speed, ensuring that you have smoke detectors at home as well as at work, bending your knees when lifting things to avoid back problems and doing some minimum strength exercises such as sit-ups and pushups. She also emphasized that people should try to improve their lifestyle by reducing body weight, quitting smoking, improving nutrition getting adequate sleep and limiting alcohol consumption to no more than one drink a day. She also explained to him that one should develop

a positive mental attitude and think that life is a very special occasion. For all of these things all that is required is your willingness to choose between right and wrong, a good sense of humor and even a good sense of connectedness. Additionally good dental care, limitation of coffee consumption and keeping your blood pressure in check are some of the key factors to a healthy life. This is because today more than ever people are dying because of chronic diseases that they bring upon themselves. In order to summarize the above in a single sentence we can say:

The way you choose to live your life also determines where you find yourself on a wellness continuum as follows: LIFESTYLE SCALE: Premature Death/ Disability High-level Wellness/ Maximum Performance

Chronic Signs & Symptoms

Feeling OK

Greenberg explained that earlier we thought of people as either sick in the hospital or healthy and not in the hospital. But in the past three decades our thinking has changed and we have realized that there is a whole continuum of health. There also two extreme scenarios of

premature death and high level wellness. In recent times, doctors are interested to know and evaluate risk factors such as age, sex, race, family history, lifestyle habits, etc. This change of thinking is especially important because most of the people fall in the middle of the continuum between feeling ok and chronic signs and symptoms. Your answers to the Professors Dozen questions can give you an idea of where you fall in this health continuum. The One minute manager realized that he too would fall between chronic signs and symptoms and feeling ok. Greenberg also explained that although there would be no one who would rationally choose to move to the left of the scale, by the lifestyle choices that some people make, they are automatically moving to the left of the scale. So if you follow a healthy lifestyle , research shows that you will not only have a lesser chance of getting sick or dying prematurely but you will also have a higher quality and more productive life. Greenberg then asked him to fill out a Health Risk Appraisal or HRA which is a short questionnaire that would enable her to tell him fairly accurately what the statistics show about his risk of getting sick or dying prematurely and how they could change if he did some things like losing weight. It would also enable her to tell him his appraised age as compared to his actual age. She then wrote down a saying :

As the One Minute Manager filled out the HRA he realized that he hadnt taken any routine tests to check his blood pressure, cholesterol level, etc. He also realized that he had a wonderful family and friends but he didnt always take out the time to be with them as he should. As he finished the questionnaire the professor came back and told him that he would get his results the

next afternoon. When the One Minute Manager met with the professor the next afternoon he was told his risk of dying in the next ten years was equal to that of a fifty-year-old of the same sex and race. Also the difference in potential years lost would increase significantly as he got older if he made no lifestyle changes. With this the One Minute Manager was even more convinced to get his tone back into shape. Since smoking and drinking were not his problems he needed to stick to a regular exercise program and adopt healthy eating habits. The first step was to get a complete physical examination . The doctor conducting the examination told him that his blood pressure was not a problem for the time being but he still had to be careful in the future. For this he suggested him to start a healthy eating program. He left him with an important message: The professor also asked the one minute manager to come to Tech, Inc. the following Wednesday afternoon to meet the president of the firm Larry Armstrong, who is really into health promotion and believes it is a must for fast-growing high-tech companies. Also one of key people, Leonard Hawkins has done extensive training and now teaches health-promotion classes to their people. The class on Wednesday was to be on behavior change and so the One Minute Manager readily agreed to be there. On Wednesday afternoon, the One Minute Manager met with Larry Armstrong. He found his ideas of health promotion among the entire organization very interesting. This is because he presented him with simple logic as to why it would work : IF healthier people are better employees AND better employees provide gains for the organization, THEN healthier people provide gains for the organization.

Apart from this he also provided the One Minute Manager with some staggering facts such as: Health care costs consume as much as $1 out of every $9 the average worker earns. Illness related costs to employers are high: industry pays nearly 30% of a national health care bill that now exceeds $1 trillion per year. It is reported that the total cost of replacement of a top executive of a major corporation due to premature mortality is $1.2 million Absenteeism is 40 % greater in smokers, generating millions of lost workdays per year. He also showed him the benefits of spending on these health promotion programs for his company: Our health care expenditures are now averaging 80% of those experienced before the introduction of our exercise, smoking cessation, nutrition and blood-pressure-control-programs. Our absenteeism rate is down more than 15% Of all our health-care cost-containment strategies, this program has the highest employee support. The One Minute Manager and Lance Armstrong then went to the class on behavior change which was being conducted by Leonard Hawkins. He began the class by conducting an exercise on CHANGE. Most of the people were uncomfortable while doing this exercise as it involved changing something about your appearance and observing the same changes in your partner. The point that he was trying to make through this exercise was that at first changing your lifestyle will make you feel awkward and uncomfortable. But with due time all these feelings would change. He also emphasized that changing your habits not only means that you have to give up something but you can also gain something from the challenge. You also have to share your goals with

everyone who can support your effort. To keep on track, most of us need the support of the people who care for us. Also once the change has started, you should not return to your old behavior though the pressure has been lifted off. After the class was over the Professor and One Minute Manager started discussing what areas he should start with to move towards a healthy lifestyle. They decided that a regular exercise program was the first step. The professor suggested brisk walking twenty to thirty minutes four times a week. He also suggested getting into an exercise class at the health club or YMCA. Also his current weight being 236 pounds, he would have to lose a minimum of 51 pounds. But he assured him that an eating program combined with regular exercise would enable him to do that in six months to a year. As for his eating habits the professor advised him to keep his intake of sugar, salts and fats to a maximum of two times a week. He also recommended fruits, celery and carrots as snacks and to drink at least six glasses of water a day. With all this in mind the first step that he took was to create two graphs to use in keeping a weekly record of his weight loss and exercise frequency. He chalked out his three-month weight loss goal as 210 pounds. That was a weight loss of 2 pounds per week from his present 236 pounds. He changed his eating habits as per the professors advice by cutting out fats, sugars and salts. He started increasing his intake of water in order to kill some of his appetite. He also aimed to reduce his moderate drinking to an occasional glass of wine. As for exercise, he would indulge in brisk walking for forty five minutes at least five times a week. He would also ride an exercise bike at a local health club. He also started walking to his destinations and using the stairs instead of the elevator. In other words he started thinking physical. He also joined the health club for a flexibility and strength training class that met twice a week.

While his goals were all in order the, there was still one thing that was worrying the One Minute Manager: that he was great at announcements but lousy at sticking to his commitments. On confiding this to the professor , he suggested that he should get someone to agree to be his coach-to remind him to stick to his commitments. The professor urged him to work with John Turner, the exercise physiologist at the health club he had joined. As soon as the One Minute Manager met him, John Turner agreed to work with him. He advised him that his fitness motto should be:

Commitment!..not announcements, make the difference.

Soon, with the help of his new coach, the One Minute Manager discussed with his family, friends, management team and staff how they could help him accomplish his goals. They would reprimand him on the spot if they saw him doing something he shouldnt. They would also praise and encourage him when they saw him sticking to his commitments and doing a good job of it. As time went by, he realized it was easier said than done to stick to your commitment. Everything seemed to tempt him and he found it harder and harder to stick to his diets. He found his exercise class extremely strenuous and felt really embarrassed to work out with fitter people than him. But with the help of his coach and support system he managed to retain his diet and exercise schedule. At the end of twelve weeks he weighed 207 pounds-3 pounds less than his intended goal. He began to review where he had been three months ago on the balance model of autonomy, perspective, connectedness and tone. Taking time to exercise daily and work on his tone had not only made him feel better physically but also provided him with an increased sense of autonomy

in his life. Taking time for himself everyday gave him the opportunity to think and get his life back into perspective. And finally he was amazed by how less affected he was by little hassles and how much more patient and empathetic and connected to the people around him he had become. He had kept his commitment to his commitment and it was rewarding him. Apart from this what made him even more happy was that he was having an impact on other people as well. His daughter had been feeling very low lately. But after seeing her father she was determined to get her life out of the mess and get it back into shape. Also his close friend and business associate Hank Barnes called to tell him that his life too had been really spaced out the past couple of months. But after listening to the One Minute Managers success story he too decided to start exercising and has immediately noticed the positive impact on his entire life. As a follow up he established new three month goals and it actually didnt feel like work to him anymore. He felt he was ready to coach others in this department. He began to evaluate various approaches for a health-promotion program in his company. With the help of Larry Armstrong and the professor he decided to set up a program which was on a relatively small scale. And it was a success! The personal health and quality of life benefits could be clearly observed with his employees within just six months. People began to look and feel better. And eventually THEY PERFORMED BETTER. Not only that, the absenteeism and labor turnover also decreased significantly. In a stress producing world, where it seems we cant control very much, we can control our own health and lifestyle. And when we do, It makes a difference to both people and organizations.

CONCLUSION
After reading the One Minute Manager balances work and life by Ken Blanchard, D.W. Edington and Marjorie Blanchard, I have come to realize the importance of physical fitness and leading a healthy lifestyle. As a management student this book has been extremely helpful to me with regards to what one should do to get the most out of life. It is not only necessary to be an efficient manager but it is equally important to identify the areas in your life where you need to improvise. In order to improve your lifestyle, you not only need to be committed to your commitments but also seek the help and guidance of those around you.
The advice given in this book is truly invaluable and I am sure it be useful to me throughout my career and the rest of my life.

THANK YOU
PRESENTED BY JUHI VASANWALA FYBMS B ROLL NO:79