Marriage and the Marketplace - Dual-Career Couples in the 21st Century

Aug 26, 2026

Marriage and the Marketplace examines how dual-career couples can make work and family life work in the 21st century, challenging the idea that “power couples” function as fully autonomous individuals. Using insights drawn from Harvard Business School interviews with executives, the discussion defines dual-career couples, outlines five balancing strategies, and highlights how culture shapes career tradeoffs for men and women. It emphasizes spouses’ ongoing roles through emotional support, practical help, advice, and expanded social networks.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Power couples and the 21st century dual-career model

Research approach from HBS course interviews

Key themes from student papers

Marriage as career infrastructure

Spousal support and human capital management

Relationships and networks

Balancing work and life

Marriage and the Marketplace: Dual-Career Couples in the 21st Century Preliminary draft/work in progress. Please do not cite, quote, or distribute with permission. Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams “My husband and I always talk about how we should write a book on making dual-income families work, but we just don’t have the time!” – Chief Financial Officer, U.S. energy company Are “power couples” a myth? If not, how do they make it work? The corporate wife of the 1950s—Betty Draper hosting dinner parties for her husband’s clients—is no more. Dual-career couples in the 21st century, however, do not and should not manage their careers like two autonomous individuals. Spouses still fulfill many roles in each other’s career path, whether through emotional support, practical help at home, advice, an expanded social and publicity network, and so on. Today’s couples have more options in how they combine work and family life, but fewer role models. This paper will discuss the definition of“dual-career couple,” five strategies couples use to balance work and family life, the role of culture, and the different nature of career tradeoffs for men and women. In early 2014, 68 students in the Harvard Business School course “How Star Women Succeed”interviewed executives for a class project similar to those conducted in the HBS course “Managing Your Own Human Capital” and the 2013 “How Star Women Succeed” course. The aggregate insights from these interviews have provided a unique portrait of how the business world looks from the inside, to those men and women who are trying to build rewarding careers in an ever-changing environment, and formed the basis for a Harvard Business Review cover story on the strategies top leaders use to manage work and family life. Students were allowed to customize the interview questions to their particular interests.“Dual-career couples” was not one of the suggested lines of questioning, but many of the guest speakers and case protagonists in the class had talked about the importance of choosing the right partner. In particular, the“Claytons,” a high-powered African-American dual-career couple who were case protagonists, were an exceptionally popular pair of speakers. Between the importance that class guests placed on marriage and the fact that many MBA students are in the formative years of choosing a spouse or starting a family, the topic was reflected in many of the interviews. The theme of dual-career couples was one of the six most common topics, emerging as a major theme in 19% of papers and a minor theme in 37% of the papers. Students’ top three paper themes all had relevance to the topic of dual-career couples. The most popular theme was “Managing Your Own Human Capital,” or how executives assess their strengths and weaknesses, elicit feedback, and develop their careers. Both the 2014 interviews and those from earlier years have made it clear that the support and feedback provided by one’s spouse is a key element, for married executives, in managing their human capital. As the “Manage Your Work, Manage Your Life”article pointed out,“The pressures and demands on executives are intense, multidirectional, and unceasing. Partners can help them keep their eyes on what matters, budget their time and energy, live healthfully, and make deliberate choices—sometimes tough ones—about work, travel, household management, and community involvement.”1 The second most common theme was “Relationships & 1 Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams,“Manage Your Work, Manage Your Life,” Harvard Business Review (March 2014): p. 65. Networks”—some of the interviewees found that their spouses’ professional or community networks significantly enhanced their own. The third most frequently occurring theme was “Success in Work and Life,” or balancing professional and personal life, which is clearly relevant to any discussion of dualcareer couples. Married interviewees of both genders, for several years now, have

FAQs

What is meant by a “dual-career couple” in this paper?

A dual-career couple is not treated as two independent career managers; spouses remain involved in each other’s career paths through emotional support, practical help, advice, and expanded social or publicity networks.

How were interview insights collected for the paper?

In early 2014, 68 Harvard Business School students interviewed executives for a class project, building on related HBS courses. The aggregated insights formed the basis for a Harvard Business Review cover story on work-and-family strategies used by top leaders.

Why is marriage portrayed as important for managing careers?

Married executives stress that a supportive spouse can help them manage strengths and weaknesses, elicit feedback, and make deliberate choices about work, travel, and household responsibilities. The paper also notes that partner choice can significantly expand or limit career options, especially for women.

Aug 26, 2026

Uploaded by Maya Linwood