Two-Career Families

Manage the competing demands of careers, childrearing, and chores—together.

When you and your partner are prioritizing your careers and your family, every day can feel like a series of small and large negotiations. How you navigate balancing both of your careers with your family life not only affects the type of people you're raising, your success at work, and how smoothly your household runs, but also how you feel about each other. Can you each chase your dreams, raise good citizens, make time for hobbies and health, and nourish your relationship well enough that you still like each other when your nest is empty and you're in your final acts of your careers?

If it seems like a lot, that's because it is a lot. But it is possible to support your family, your children, your careers, and your relationship without collapsing into a heap every Friday night. In Two-Career Families, experts provide answers to the challenges you face as a working parent partner from negotiating responsibilities at home to making career decisions to supporting each other's growth.

You'll learn to: define success as individuals, as a family, and as a couple; stay on top of daily demands while tracking long-term goals; communicate your needs more effectively; make fair tradeoffs; deal with crises and setbacks; build and maintain a team mindset; and balance it all—or most of it.

  1. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leading with Purpose

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  2. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Employee Engagement

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  3. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Leadership, Updated and Expanded (featuring "Begin with Trust" by Frances X. Frei and Anne Morriss)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  4. The Year in Tech, 2026 : The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Scott D. Anthony, Amy Webb, José Parra-Moyano, Christina Shim

    audiobook
  5. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Yourself, Updated and Expanded (featuring "How Will You Measure Your Life?" by Clayton M. Christensen)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Peter F. Drucker, Amy Gallo, Amy Jen Sue, Clayton M. Christensen

    audiobook
  6. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Strategy, Updated and Expanded (featuring "The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy" by Michael E. Porter)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  7. HBR's 10 Must Reads 2026 : The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review (featuring "The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift" by Kevin Evers)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  8. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing People, Updated and Expanded (featuring "Are You a Good Boss--or a Great One?" by Linda A. Hill and Kent Lineback)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Daniel Goleman, Linda A. Hill, Tsedal Neeley, Marcus Buckingham

    audiobook
  9. HBR's 10 Must Reads on High Performance, Updated and Expanded (featuring "Nine Things Successful People Do Differently" by Heidi Grant)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  10. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Mental Toughness, Updated and Expanded (featuring "How to Stop Worrying About What Other People Think of You" by Michael Gervais)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Michael Gervais, Angela L. Duckworth, Martin E. P. Seligman, Herminia Ibarra

    audiobook
  11. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Change Management, Updated and Expanded (featuring "Leading Change" by John P. Kotter)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, John P. Kotter, Frances Frei, Vijay Govindarajan, Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez

    audiobook
  12. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Emotional Intelligence, Updated and Expanded (featuring "What Makes a Leader" by Daniel Goleman)

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook