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How Dual-Career Couples Make It Work

by Jennifer Petriglieri

Quick Takes

  • Communicate about values, boundaries, and fears
  • Negotiate roles and divide family commitments
  • Support each other through periods of reflection and exploration
  • Identify the opportunity in loss
  • Address regrets and developmental asymmetries

Camille and Pierre met in their early forties after each one’s marriage had ended. Both were deeply committed to their careers and to their new relationship. Camille, an accountant, had felt pressured by her ex-husband to slow her progress toward partnership at her firm. Pierre, a production manager at an automotive company, was embroiled in a bitter divorce from his wife, who had given up her career to accommodate the geographic ...

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