Welcome to AFR BOSS

February issue out now!

Welcome to our first issue for 2012. And I have to ask, are you matchfit yet for the world of work? It was a phrase that cropped up at the office as we straggled back from leave. As you settle back, you keep an eye on the tennis, another on the cricket, try to get in that twilight walk/swim or game with the kids. And you attempt to cling to the dolce vita ease that was the holidays.

We might return mentally clear and rested after the summer break, but it's those sometimes testy weeks of transition that require careful handling as we adjust our physical selves and psyches to routine. How do you train for the hours back at the desk and the emails and grinding through the commuter zone? And how do you fit all that in with school and the sport run ? even when you really love your work?

It's the quiet life decisions that are powerful and which you cheer. A friend finally gets her teen to take her iPod our of her ears for agreed periods and they start to talk again. A dad quits to spend the year at home while his son settles into kindy. Another just says "enough".

In Time Bomb: Work rest and play in Australia today, Barbara Pocock, director of the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia, and her colleagues, draw together some data that will get you thinking about the bigger picture: infrastructure and social connections.

It is shaping up as a big testy year with lots of challenges. There's the new carbon tax regime to get on top of, new OH&S laws, cost pressures from the high dollar and lingering concerns about Europe and China. We've compiled a timeline of key dates for the carbon tax. Our 2012 consumer trends (page 24) also offer some practical ideas to help start your year. And if you feel chronically easily distracted by technology, it is not all bad. Learning to make that work to your advantage will be one of the three essential skills in the global workplace.

Art director Oliver Towning has freshened up our design and we've made a few other changes this issue, we hope you'll like. We've also added another, um, agenda item for 2012. It's time to declare war on corporate weasel words. It might have been Kevin Rudd's infamous "detailed programmatic specificity" line or Julia Gillard's "moving forward" that tipped us over, or the fact that now we're seeing blather in job ads and school reports. It's time to fight back. Narelle Hooper

Narelle Hooper Editor

AFR BOSS current issue contents

TEAM BOSS

Ollie Towning, art director NO SUIT NEEDED. It's all about the look. Although the suit is often seen as the mark of power visually, the trend in BOSS lately has been to strip back the suit to create a relaxed, humanised and more approachable person.

Louie Douvis, photographer Rely on your instincts and keep experimenting - it's a good philosophy for coming up with new ideas in photography and life in general.

Rose-Anne Manns, chief subeditor I used to think capitalism and socialism were mutually exclusive. I've been heartened to see a breed of businesspeople embrace the idea that social benefit can co-exist with the profit motive.

Haki Crisden, subeditor Coming from the United States, I note that the Australian workplace only appears to be more casual than the one I knew.

Jessica Gardner, reporter As a young journalist, I am often pigeonholed as being "so gen Y", but I won't be surprised when the generation Y approach to work and leadership becomes the norm.

Catherine Fox, deputy editor I wish we had another word for management because it doesn't cover the fascinating stuff about behaviour, emotion, philosophy, power and neuroscience that I have discovered working here. At BOSS, we say this isn't just about the way we do our jobs - it's about life.

Narelle Hooper, editor I marvel at how many leaders achieve all they do and stay sane and grounded. Words and symbols are important signposts in the development of our thinking. I now have a personal ban on the phrase "soft skills". The numbers - they're the easy things. The people behind the numbers, that's the really hard part.

Fiona Smith, AFR Workspace The evolution of a more humane, people-centric workplace was merely set back by the GFC. The talent shortage means we will continue to progress away from those industrial-age organisational structures, which no longer fit.

We value your feedback boss@afr.com.au