When we talk about the programs from our company, we state that we are interested in developing leaders at every level. That does not just mean from senior executive to admin. It means from boardroom to dining room. Leadership, at its core is about helping others reach full potential. Isn’t that the deep yearning in all of us? Here is a good article and my response is an underline of what needs to be seen as a core competency of leadership.
The One Thing Exceptional Leaders and Parents do Differently
By Lisa Earle McLeod, Huffington Post Contributor
We’re weird about paying for advice.
We’ll spend time and money on relatively non-important areas, like tennis lessons. Yet we often resist seeking expert advice in critical areas like our career or parenting.
Ask your neighbors how many of them have paid a golf pro. Then ask how many of them have ever hired a business coach or taken a parenting class. I guarantee you the number will be much lower.
Which is a shame. After 20 years of coaching leaders and studying parents, I’ve learned that the one thing exceptional leaders and parents do differently from everyone else is to seek out and pay for expert advice.
They read, they take classes; they’re always trying to up their game. They’re constantly in learner mode.
I’d love to tell you that I’m a lifelong learner in both leadership and parenting. But it would be a half truth.
The full truth is, I’ve been a student of parenting since before I had kids. But I didn’t hire an expert business coach until I was 5 years into owning my own firm.
I made the classic mistake. I was proactive about improving in the area where I felt the least confident — parenting. But less so in the area that came naturally to me, work.
Most people do the opposite; they get training for work, but not parenting.
Parenting expert Amy McCready, founder of Positive Parenting Solutions, says, “Most people don’t come to a parenting class until they’re in crisis and they’re out of control. They don’t know what to do and they’ve spiraled down.”
McCready’s new book, If I Have to Tell You One More Time: The Revolutionary Program That Gets Your Kids to Listen Without Yelling, Nagging or Reminding, opens with a candid story about her own parenting stress.
After years as a successful corporate executive, she elected to stay home with her two boys and found herself turning into “The Yelling Mom.”
In her video at www.AmyMcCready.com she says, “I had this aha moment one night when I thought, I feel like I’m getting sick. My throat was scratchy, it was hurting. I thought, I must
be coming down with something. Then I realized, I’m not getting sick. The reason my throat hurt is because I had been yelling so much that day.I thought, how in the world did this happen to me? I love these little guys more than anything in the world and intellectually I didn’t want to be the yelling mom, but that’s who I had turned into.”
McCready went on to study Adlerian psychology and create online parenting education programs to help parents break out of the reactive power struggles she once found herself in. She even offers free training for military families (see www.positiveparentingsolutions.com).
As for me? I became a student of parenting because I wanted to create a happier, more successful family than the one I came from. My parents did their best, but I wanted to do a little better. I’m not a perfect parent, but 18 years into the job, I can honestly say, my kids are turning out fabulous and I’ve loved every minute of it.
That’s the thing about training, when you become more skilled, the job becomes more fun. Whether it’s leadership or parenting, if it’s important to you, invest in some training. Paying an expert doesn’t mean that you’re failing. It means that you’re making a commitment to succeed.
Business strategist Lisa Earle McLeod specializes in sales force and leadership development. A sought after speaker, she is author of The Triangle of Truth, a Washington Post Top 5 Business Book.
Visit her Blog – How Smart People Can Get Better At Everything
Web site – www.TriangleofTruth.com
My Response to the above article:
Being a leader in business and as a parent are two sides of the same coin. Our employees and our kids want very much the same thing; a safe place to grow and become the best they can be. So, how do we become a leader of choice, one remembered and respected long after graduation or promotion? The first step as Lisa suggests is getting the best help possible. Coaching is in! It makes a difference. I have morphed from a therapist to an executive coach and so many of the ideas that are discussed are taken from the office straight to the home. This is probably the most important place for getting better and better at life; it may also end up improving your golf game since you have a better handle on what gets in the way of success.
Sylvia Lafair
Sylvia Lafair, PhD, is President of CEO – Creative Energy Options, Inc., a global consulting company focused on optimizing workplace relationships through her exclusive PatternAware™ Leadership Model. Dr. Lafair is the author of Don’t Bring It to Work: Breaking the Family Patterns That Limit Success published by Jossey-Bass. As an executive coach and leadership educator, she has more than 30 years of experience with all levels of management from leading corporate officers of global companies to executives of non-profits and owners of leading family-owned businesses. She is now offering GUTSY Women Weekends, giving women the opportunity to dialogue and clarify next steps.
Follow Me:
I agree that leaders should be developed at every level of the organization. Organizations that focus of leadership development at every level have greater success rates in accomplishing organizational goals. I encourage women-owned businesses to invest in leadership development for themselves as well as the staff.
G. Nunn, PhD