Says Stone: "I don't check my life at the door when I go to work anymore, and then pick it up on the way out. Life and work are no longer separate."

Coordinates: Denny Stone, dstone@csc.com

Sidebar: Life Change, Work Change

Motherhood had the usual effect on Cynthia Cunningham, 38, and Shelley Murray, 45, BankBoston branch managers who ran operations worth $100 million and $250 million, respectively: Motherhood made it impossible to keep up with the 60-hour workweeks that they'd once accepted as a fact of life. It didn't, however, make them give up on their career goals. But how could they meld their work with their changing lives?.

Two years ago, they hit upon an audacious plan: to package themselves and share one job. Here is their strategy for changing jobs without changing companies.

Network like hell.

Cunningham and Murray wrote a letter advertising their accomplishments, attached their résumés, and delivered the package to senior-level people with decision-making authority at BankBoston. They followed up with phone calls and eventually met with 15 executives whose paths they normally wouldn't have crossed.

Find a backer.

After two months of networking, they hit pay dirt. A high-level division head suggested that they connect with the division executive of the bank's Foreign Exchange department. His group was creating a job that would fit their skills -- teaching branch personnel and small businesses how to sell their services to customers.

Sell your merits, not your needs.

They approached the pitch meeting as if it were a regular job interview. They highlighted their ability to make tough management decisions, and they made a convincing case for their organizational skills -- critical to a successful job-sharing arrangement. The upshot: Each woman now comes in for a 20-to-25-hour week, sharing a vice president-level job at a "significantly" higher salary.

They both participate in committees at their children's schools, and they intend to keep climbing the corporate ranks at BankBoston. Says Cunningham: "I won't claim we'll make CEO, but it could happen."

Coordinates: Cynthia Cunningham, crcunningham@bkb.com; Shelley Murray, ssmuray@bkb.com