When former General Electric CEO Jack Welch let loose the now uber-tweeted and uber-blogged words, "There's no such thing as work-life balance" women and men alike pounded the digital pavement in protest.

Jack might have gotten away with a comment like that back in the day when men were men and women ran scared, but fortunately those days are like a beehive hairdo and way passé because women aren't Welching on work-life balance; they're redefining it.

Total Practice Management Association, organized to promote work-life balance for legal professionals, defined balance and the movement best in their post What Jack Welch Doesn't Know About Work-Life Balance:

Work-life balance isn’t about squeezing enough hours into the day (or years into life) to fit the 1950s corporate executive mold and still have time for life outside the office. It’s about redefining not only priorities, but the way we work altogether. It’s about changing the way work and life interact. More than anything, it’s about finding creative ways to achieve your goals professionally without letting those goals become the only thing on your radar.

We women know about choices. But some of us still misinterpret what choosing means. We are not talking about choosing life vs. work. We're talking about making choices based on what we value, no matter where those choices land: work, finances, health and wellbeing, relationships, family, spirituality, all of it. We're talking about whole human beings making choices that impact their whole lives.

Here are some good examples about choice, again from TPMA:

At Total Attorneys, we’re making a conscious effort to redefine the day job. Our unique company culture contributes to our success and our ability to provide top-notch client service. It’s also a key reason we’re able to recruit and retain top talent.

Everyone loves to hear about entrepreneurs whose unconventional efforts rocketed them to success, like Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin or Nick Swinmurn’s Zappos, but there’s an understanding gap. Many haven’t yet recognized that these innovative companies, built on talent and relationships, aren’t anomalies—they’re the wave of the future.

To be fair and complete, scores of women want and consciously choose to make their way in corporate America, foregoing possibilities like children, family, travel, etc. It's simply what they choose.

However, for women who choose to work in companies that lag far behind the curve the work-life balance curve (clueless about flex work and other balance options) and wish their companies to be different, to get with it, here's the challenge:

Women need to shift their complaints into action or they risk living their work lives as victims. At the very least we should all be mentoring, coaching, blabbing, tweeting, posting with women about leading the charge and opening up the work-life balance dialog in their companies. Extra work to initiate, but talk about a leadership opportunity. Goal would be to generate dialog and discovery, and to develop “best practices” and policies.

I realize people are pitting fear of job loss w/work life balance issues. I may be inciting a riot, but I actually think loathing one’s work is more painful than losing a job.

Other blog reactions to Welching:

Mama Bee

Career Life Connection

The WSJ Juggle

Karl Alrichs' Uncommon Experience

In Joy,

Lisa