What Do Men Really Want?

It's hardly news that accomplished women are des­perate for a new deal at work. But anyone who un­derstands America knows that unless men want something, too, not much will change. So what do men really want?

Our new survey of senior FORTUNE 500 male executives offers surprising answers. Fully 84% say they'd like job options that let them realize their pro­fessional aspirations while having more time for things outside work; 55% say they're willing to sac­rifice income. Half say they wonder if the sacrifices they've made for their careers are worth it. In addition, 73% believe it’s possible to restructure senior management jobs in ways that would both increase productivity and make more time available for life outside the office. And 87% believe that companies that enable such changes will have a competitive ad­vantage in attracting talent. Other interviews sug­gest that the younger a male executive is, the more likely he is to say he cares about all of this.

Of course there's a roadblock to reform: fear. FORTUNE'S survey found that even though most senior-level men want better options, nearly half believe that for an executive to take up the matter with his boss will hurt his career.

Still, two things seem clear. First, men and women are far more alike in their desires than the debate over these issues has assumed. Second, as talented men raise their voices with women who have been irate about this for decades, the 24/7 ethic is pretty clearly on borrowed time. Consider the provocative case made by Lowell Bryan, a top partner at Me­Kinsey & Co., who maintains that many senior managers have undoable jobs. "We don't know how to work given the reality of the 21st century," he says. "We're in a world where the marginal cost of interaction [via e-mail and the like] is falling toward zero. The volume of interactions is headed toward infinity, and infinity's winning."

How did business get to this point? For starters, Bryan says, the scope and complexity of business have grown enormously. In 1970 the world's 50 biggest companies averaged $29 billion in revenue; now it's around $100 billion. The number of consumer products introduced each year has increased 16-fold over the same period. Firms now compete across different industries and geo­graphies. The overload is compounded by ineffi­ciency: A 2003 study by Marakon Associates and the Economist Intelligence Unit, for example, found that up to 80% of top management time is devoted to issues that account for less than 20% of the company's long-term value. As a result, decisions take too long and end up botched.

And here's the clincher. When McKinsey asks top managers, "If you had twice as much time, would you really exhaust the things you should be doing?" the answer is in­variably no. "We have created jobs that are literally impossible," Bryan says. "The human cost is profound, and the opportunity cost is also great in terms of or­ganizational effectiveness."