Motherhood is Leadership.
Driven women are accustomed to thinking of leadership in terms of a fancy title. Or, a corner office. Or, an MBA from (insert your favorite university). This misconception occurs without realizing that when you signed up for Motherhood, you were actually taking on the leadership role.
Fast forward to the present, and it probably seems obvious that you’re in leadership when it comes to leading your children. We all know they watch our every move: the good, bad, and the in-between, starting at a young age. And, leadership as a mother is not for the faint of heart. When you were pregnant with your first, remember how everyone told you how awesome parenthood is? Funny how they omitted the part about sleepless nights, tantrums, impact on marriage, career, etc. I work with powerful women all day long, and those of them who are mothers will tell you their leadership gets tested the most as a Mother.
I’m eager to see Mothers really own their leadership in a way that creates the relationships they want not just with their children, but with their partners and colleagues.
Imagine what more intimacy would feel like with your partner? Not just physical, but emotionally too.
Imagine what it would feel like to be even more leadership with your colleagues and to be really seen and heard?
I hear all day long from driven women how they are chomping at the bit for more intimacy and support from both partners and colleagues; how they’re tired of carrying all the load when it comes to the operations of the children and the household. While there are plenty of examples of mothers not being given the same respect and opportunities as men, I believe it’s up to us Mothers to change the narrative. We need to say goodbye to any flavor of martyrdom and pointing fingers (past or present) and stand in leadership. Otherwise we’re just handing over our power and perpetuating a leadership style that doesn’t foster intimacy and ultimately authentic connection.
Three telltale signs you’re owning your power and standing in leaders as a Mother and a woman:
Standing in personal responsibility and cleaning up a mess, if you’ve made one, that’s impacted someone else. This looks like not only owning your mistakes, it ultimately means owning the impact you had on someone. Clean. It. up.
Believing you’re worthy of your desires and asking for what you want. You were born worthy. Life happened, and you’ve started to pick up stories that your desires don’t matter as much as someone else’s. It’s not true. That story doesn’t serve you. Standing in leadership looks like choosing to drop that old storyline.
Practicing forgiveness daily! Forgiveness is the gateway between judgment and compassion. If you’re wanting to love more openly, be kinder, be more patient, then the judgement has got to go! Remember, judgment and compassion are like oil and water, they don’t mix. This doesn’t mean you have to let someone walk all over you. It just means being honest with that person and by all means practicing forgiveness and letting the judgments go.
As a Mother of 3 boys, I fall out of leadership regularly. We’re human. We’re complicated. We have lots of feelings all at once and that can create chaos. My focus is always how quickly can I get back to center. Leadership. Mother’s Day is just a few days away. Instead of hoping you get to have a lie in, ask for what you want. Stand in leadership. Ladies, we were born with voices and desires for a reason. Let’s use them to lead. Imagine collectively what would be possible if all of us Mothers took the bull by the horns and stood in leadership? I imagine we’d feel a tremendous sense of connection, support, and love not only from our colleagues and partners, but from our children too.
Here’s to being driven women who are owning ALL of their leadership, unabashedly,
