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 Data Strategy

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  2. Managing Overthinking

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  3. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Projects and Initiatives

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  4. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Managing Across Cultures

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Jeanne Brett, Yves L. Doz, Erin Meyer, Hal Gregersen

    audiobook
  5. Speak Up, Speak Out

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  6. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Reinventing HR

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Marcus Buckingham, Reid Hoffman, Ram Charan, Peter Cappelli

    audiobook
  7. HBR's 10 Must Reads for New Managers

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Linda A. Hill, Herminia Ibarra, Robert B. Cialdini, Daniel Goleman

    audiobook
  8. HBR's 10 Must Reads on Negotiation

    Harvard Harvard Business Review, Daniel Kahneman, Deepak Malhotra, Erin Meyer, Max H. Bazerman

    audiobook
  9. HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across

    Harvard Harvard Business Review

    audiobook
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 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