Work-obsessed corporate cultures are hardly news to executive coach Russell Jensen. As the founder of Jensen Consulting in 2002 and director of RSM McGladrey Inc.’s management consulting program in Iowa for 20 years before that, he’s made a living out of helping CEOs and other executives improve their businesses’ bottom lines.

But all that tending to the bottom line can get in the way of life, according to Jensen, whose services include executive roundtable sessions that allow CEOs and other leaders in non-competitive industries to discuss their business and management headaches. Some common themes emerge.

“By and large, these are people who are really passionate about what they do and they really love it,” he said. “They can’t wait to get to the office. For them, the struggle, the conflict is between passions: passion for their work, passion for their family, passion for the grandkids, passion for travel or, in many cases, passion for giving back, volunteer work and charitable work.”

He’s not naming names, but he has a story or two about Greater Des Moines executives who haven’t fully grasped the concept of work-life balance, a corporate catch phrase for the past decade and increasingly cited as important by new hires. For example, he worries in particular about one CEO in town and, he said, so do the employees who report to that executive. If he could, he’d offer the following New Year’s resolution to the guy:

“You’ve built a great organization and a strong team, and with several strong years in a row, the company is finally delivering on its potential. But you are not taking care of yourself and it shows. I imagine retirement is a lot harder to enjoy when you are six feet under. My New Year’s resolution for you would be to take care of yourself, eat smart, exercise and get some sleep for crying out loud.”

Now that it’s been established that Jensen doesn’t mince words, read on.

To the classic Type A entrepreneur, he offers this: “You have recently come to realize you can’t keep doing it all yourself. Well, looks like you’ve now got the right people in the right seats on the bus. My resolution for you would be to give them the room they need to run. Resolve to be more of a coach and less of a player on the field.”

To the beloved patriarch of a business: “You are a man of many gifts but only one passion: the business. My resolution for you is to take time off every month. Yup, every month. Travel with your wife; explore places and activities together. Discover pursuits you enjoy outside the business and learn to define yourself more broadly than your career.”

To the specialist breathing new life into a tired business: “Being president of a turnaround sure is fun, isn’t it? My resolution for you is to only be the last one in the office at night once a week. OK, maybe twice, but don’t bring the BlackBerry to Canada.”

To the executive who works in the field: “OK, Mr. Road Warrior CEO, this one is easy. Resolve to use videoconferencing this year. Sure, the state troopers will miss talking with you, but the rest of us will feel much safer.”

To make the resolutions more than just words on paper, dedication is necessary, Jensen said. He sees that commitment to work-life balance in some of the clients he works with, especially younger executives, including “a couple of business owners and CEOs in their early- to mid-30s who have really developed a strong discipline around leaving the office to go work out at the end of the workday,” he said. “It’s their bridge to getting home at a reasonable hour.”

Another young man he knows arrives at work late once a week after spending time with his daughter. The two go on a bagel date, then he drives her to preschool before arriving at the office. “One special effort does not a habit make,” Jensen said, “but he works pretty hard not to violate that time.”

Sometimes, he said, older CEOs can take a page from the Generation-X fast-trackers they’ve been paired with in mentoring sessions. Among older workers, “live to work” has been a guiding principle, but Gen-Xers have successfully turned that around to “work to live.” They may knock off early to go bicycle riding or kayaking, but they answer e-mails at any hour of the day.

“We have to change how we think,” Jensen said. “A Gen-X friend is always telling me about his recreational activities and inviting me to do things I’m too old or tired to do, but he’s one of the highest performers in his organization and I have no doubt he’ll be a CEO one day.”

Whatever the strategy for improving work-life balance, don’t wait for a crisis, Jensen warned. “Often it requires something of an epiphany,” he said. “It requires somebody to have a health crisis or a family crisis for them to reprioritize.”

That’s a scenario Jensen said he has seen played out in corporations too narrowly focused on financial performance. “There are a couple of organizations in this town that really have a reputation for being hard-chargers, but the divorce rate at the upper levels of the organizations are astronomical,” he said. “If you look around at some of the corporate cultures, there are successful companies that people admire, but may not be healthy.”

He advised executives of such organizations to work on becoming more efficient, setting priorities and delegating minor tasks so they can spend their time on the highest-value activities. “There is a lot of stuff you can just let slide,” he said. “If you are getting the really important things done well, nobody cares.”

He said executives at such companies may also benefit from asking themselves a crucial question: “Are the values of this company in alignment with mine?”

“If you’re not willing to compromise those things that are important deeply at the core, it may be time to do something else.”

And the leaders of those organizations should also do some soul searching about the message they’re sending to employees. “Think about your own personal values and the values being lived out in your company,” he said. “Are you asking people to pay a higher price than you really want?

“If people are fully engaged at work and fully engaged with their kids and fully engaged in their faith, isn’t that better than working your butt off for 70 hours a week and coming home and being a potato with nothing left to give your family or your faith?”