Kick-Ass Executive Teams Need More Moms
Originally published on LinkedIn in May 2016
At year 27 of my career, I still see an unspoken bias persist against mothers in the business environment. We all know that a comment like: “I want to hire someone energetic and eager to travel” sometimes means: “I want young, cheap labor that is willing to work nights and weekends (because our business isn’t organized enough to create the efficiencies we need to get the work done during business hours).”
I’ve worked for companies of all sizes and I’m convinced that any business is better off having qualified, competent moms in executive leadership positions. Yes, it often means offering a flexible schedule, planning in advance to coordinate travel or late-night meetings, and offering an array of benefits that support parents. But the payoff is real. There’s a huge demographic segment that is proven to kick ass, and businesses need their skills and perspectives.
Here are just a few of the unique qualifications most mothers bring to fast-changing, high-stress and demanding business environments.
Flexibility
Kids Teach You How to Be Flexible
In any business, priorities are often rearranged. You can’t get set in your ways, react emotionally or take it personally when your plan changes. There’s no time to worry or complain. You take care of what’s urgent while fiercely protecting your time to complete what’s most important.
Parenting gives a person ample practice in flexibility. On a typical day when my kids were younger and I worked as a contractor, I recall having just quieted a tired and crabby toddler into an afternoon nap when the school called letting me know that my kindergartener was waiting in the office for a clean set of pants. Moving the toddler to the car meant waking her up, which meant a complete change in the course of my day. But when there’s no other choice, you just do it. Moms are continually forced to adapt.
“Kids keep you very close to experiences,” said poet Deborah Diggs. “You’re kind of constantly thrown off track.”
My kids are now 16 and 20, but after two decades of this “constantly thrown off track” state-of-being, I’ve learned to think several steps ahead and quickly respond to small issues before they become bigger problems — skills that serve me well in the workplace as well as at home.
Creativity
“Parenting is the most creative thing I’ve ever done,” said actor Jodie Foster.
When I had my first child, my days were filled with more diapers, feedings and laundry than market positioning, content strategy, or reporting against KPIs. I feared that my creative mind was regressing. When I heard and considered this statement from Jodie Foster, whose first child was a toddler at the time, I began to look at motherhood as an additional opportunity for creativity, rather than thinking of it as a “sabbatical” from the business world.
Parenting demands the utmost creativity. Quick thinking, made-up songs, silly quips, and jokes were my arsenal for interrupting the onset of an impending tantrum or getting healthy food into a tiny mouth that’s shut tight. Getting a stubborn toddler to comply is not something a person figures out once and repeats — what works once will rarely work the next time.
Parents must continually adjust and refine their strategies. The same principle is true in marketing and content strategy — an angle or message that works in a particular market, at a particular time, has no guarantee of succeeding in the next situation; every audience and venue must be addressed uniquely.
Perseverance
After Potty Training, You Can Persevere with Anything
After you’ve patiently endured six months of bringing a 3-year-old to the toilet every 30 minutes, you build confidence in your ability to stick with something to the end.
Once you’ve lost count of the times you’ve done midnight clean-ups after a child with the stomach flu who is too young to understand why something is spewing out of her all over her bed, you’ve achieved a level of both humility and tenacity that serve you well in the business world.
When you’ve made the choice to have another child that you know will do the very same things, you’ve shown a certain staying power to achieve your goals, despite the cost.
This is the type of resolve I see in many moms who find ways to stick with their careers without sacrificing their families.
Of course motherhood is not the only way to develop flexibility, creativity, and perseverance. The reality is that successful businesses need people of all ages, cultures and genders to bring various levels of energy, experience and perspective. But moms have paved the way for all to find better balance between business and family. I wouldn’t want to be in a workplace without them.
