'The Voice' Crowns Its Winner
Mitch Kellaway: Father's Day as a Transgender Man
Parents have the same skills as successful CEOs
Filed under: Just For Moms, Just For Dads, Work Life, That's Entertainment
On Friday I attended The Motherlode, a conference on women's issues pertaining specifically to mothers, hosted by the Association of Research on Mothering. Though all the speakers were fabulous, the engaging and humorous Ann Crittenden, author of The Price of Motherhood, struck me the most. Crittenden, a mother and former New York Times economics writer, had noticed over the years that the techniques being taught in business seminars sounded surprisingly similar to what she had read in childrearing books.Her latest book If You Can Manage Kids, You Can Manage Anything blows away "the myth that raising children is not real work." In her talk, Crittenden offered this list of skills that one acquires from parenting and can be applied to your professional life. Here's what all parents learn after years on the job:
- Multitasking: All parents learn the ability to focus amid constant distraction. Parents learn to prioritize, particularly "What can be put off until later."
- Interpersonal/people skills: Parents master the skill of listening respectfully, as well as the art of negotiation. We deal with irrational people every day!
- The ability to motivate and inspire people to do their best: As parents we are growing "human capabilities." The most effective leaders encourage drive and bring out the very best in people through positive reinforcement. (Sound familiar?)
- Habits of integrity: Parents have perspective and humility. (Having an entire hospital see my breasts comes to mind.) Parents are good at "being there." Even if we're not physically there all the time, we have a way of making people feel like we've got their backs.
Got anything to add to this list of transferable skills?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
11-30-2006 @ 2:06AM
dessi said...'ve told my friend about this interesting article, here is her comment:
Hey! I agree a mother as a CFO, but what a father can be?
A shareholder!!
The reason are:
1.Shareholder has higher level position than CFO
2.Shareholder can challenge CFO's work and fire her anytime
3.Shareholder invest a little at first and can enjoy the profit all his life
4.Shareholder do nothing with a company, but once this company get some
problems, he yells to CFO. He says=====>Look at you! How do you manage your
company? (Read: Look at you! How do you teach your child?)
Reply