An article in the business section of today’s USA Today caught my attention. More Dad’s Resist Business Travel, made me smile because it reinforces what I found in interviewing entrepreneurs for my book: men care about balance, too.

The article reports that nearly 50% of male senior executives surveyed indicated they were more likely to ask for less travel when negotiating a new job than they were five years ago. Additionally, 55% of the men said they were less willing to consider a job that required heavy business travel because of family demands.

I have suspected all along that men care about balance, primarily because I am married to a man who values flexibility. He believes that it is not just my job as mom to be available for our children – he has always been willing to share the parenting load. We are partners.

When I started looking for business owners to interview for my book, I was somewhat surprised by the number of men that were willing and eager to talk to me about more than just their business, but about their families as well. Across the board, the men I talked with valued their time with their children and felt that their entrepreneurship contributed positively to their kids’ upbringing. They talked as enthusiastically about their children’s accomplishments as they did about their company’s success. And we’re not talking about hobby businesses, here. All of the men (and many of the women) I interviewed had multi-million dollar businesses, and one, Rackspace, is even positioned to reach the $1B mark.

It will be interesting to see if men mirror the growing trend among women of starting businesses in search of flexibility. At a minimum, employers are starting to realize they need to be creative to keep not only women, but men as well. Finding alternatives to travel or allowing employees more control over their schedule is becoming a necessity to retain talent. I am convinced, however, that the best alternative for flexibility is to start your own business. After all, when you own the business you can usually control which 80 hours you work in a week.