Leadership lessons from my mom
In honor of Mother's Day, this week's tip is inspired by the most influential woman in my life: my mom.
It doesn't feel quite right to only spend two minutes talking about what I've learned from her, but a one-hour special defeats the purpose of a “Two-Minute Tip” so here we go...
In this video, I share two specific leadership qualities that she has mastered and used to bless me in incredible ways over the years. I am so lucky to call her mom, and continue to learn from her in every stage of life.
Love you, Mom! xo
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Well, in honor of Mother's Day, I thought, what better timing than to learn some leadership tips from my own mother. She has been such an instrumental and foundational force in my life, and I'm so very grateful for her.
So, two specific characteristics that I want to call out today that we can learn from her. First is her selflessness.
You think about servant leadership and the beauty and the strength and the power in servant leadership, and she has been one of the best examples of that in my life.
In fact, even today, it continues. So now that I have kids and have had them for a number of years, ever since I became a mom, every single Mother's Day she tells me not to come celebrate her not to worry about what I need to do to honor her but instead to just enjoy my day, enjoy my time with my own family...and that selflessness, it gives me such freedom honestly.
The second thing that I will say is that she did a really amazing job of teaching me, equipping me, but then giving me space to make my own decisions to try things and learn from the failures and the celebrations along the way.
In fact, when I reflect back on my teenage years, there were times where I almost feel like she should have been a little more authoritative and told me not to do certain things, but instead, she trusted me and gave me that space. And as a result, I was more inclined to come back and reflect on those learnings with her and to take ownership of them rather than being resentful about what she told me I could or couldn't do.
And so, applying that in our own leadership with our own teams: how much freedom and space are you giving employees to make their own decisions to take ownership, to try to fail, to learn from them and to feel a safe space to come back and reflect on that with you?
So, thank you Mom for all that you taught me about so many things my whole life, but even specifically in leadership and Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there.