Parenting and Leadership

Parenting, from a leader’s perspective, means knowing what matters most to you and your family.?Making decisions based on your values and working together with your partner to find greater compatibility between what you care about and how you spend your time and energy.

What parenting and leadership have in common are: showing up on time, taking responsibility for your actions, and having an obligation to uphold your word by doing what you say you will do,

These are all qualities that parents want to instil in their children and they are all "lead by example" kind of qualities. ?

Leadership starts at home.

Being a good parent is much like being a good leader, in the sense that you have to create a path for those under your charge to be successful in life ethically and professionally. You should have an interest in their development, show confidence in their abilities, encourage and provide them with the tools they need to overcome obstacles so that they may succeed in life.?

Building trust by setting reasonable limits, following through and always being available for them. Spending time to actively listen to, communicate with and mentoring them are crucial. It does not need to be serious all the time, it can be playful and fun. It is important to stress on being consistent and emphasize discipline does not reprimand. ?I truly think that effective parenting is all about friendliness yet being firm when the situation requires so.

The best example, in my opinion, would be a mother.?A Mother is a child's most enthusiastic supporter, most persuasive advocate, and most unwavering fan. ?In this same way, great CEOs champion their companies and employees. Great moms (leaders) multi-task.?

In order to get things done, moms become experts at doing more than one thing at a time.

Mom leaders' top qualities are:

A.?Being a role model for the kids.

B.?Setting boundaries and rules, as children need boundaries to thrive.

C. Being able to forgive --- extremely important value.

D.?Being patient, respectful, supportive and loving.

E.?Spending actual quality time with the kids and creating fun memories

I believe the most crucial thing about parenting is having a relationship with kids – it’s the most important component of parenting. ?It reflects the value of our connection that is determined by how well they listen to us, accept our limits and values, respect us and cooperate.

According to Jim Rohn:

“There isn’t a greater leadership challenge than parenting.”

As LEADERS, we need to ask ourselves do we really apply the above in our companies and with our teams??Do we take the time to listen to our employees/ associates, do we bond with them, do we build trust, do we effectively communicate with them, do we explain the boundaries, do we have fun from time to time and converse clearly to cascade the mission of our company?

Jack Welch, retired chairman and CEO of General Electric, said, "Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself.?When you become a leader, success is all about growing others." By developing others for leadership,?you can affect the future growth of your organization. You can also help others reach the limits of their abilities and accordingly, empower them to be more involved with the mission of the organization.

GREAT LEADERS put the needs of the team before their own, and they are strong fans of what their team members can accomplish. ?By focusing more on others than themselves, humble leaders?gain the trust of their followers by assisting them to develop and grow beyond what they may have thought possible.

In closing, I would like to emphasize that in our new era, growing as a leader?requires us to give up the things that we are familiar with, take new steps and do things differently. ?Those actions are what brings about CHANGE.

The reward lies not in what we get from growth, but in what we become because of our growth.