As a proud Father of three beautiful, yet at times highly challenging young children, I have found myself over the years moving further away from the train of thought that looking after the children is an 'easy' career choice (I know, I know!)
One thing that has struck me about the way my Wife (and I'm sure many other Mothers/Fathers) manages her role as the 'Operations Director' of our household, is the amount of ‘further reading’ she does. She will make sure that she is always reading articles on ‘parenting’ techniques and taking new pieces of knowledge she has gained to help improve the way in which we operate as a family and in turn imparting her new found knowledge onto me.
This ‘further reading’ is something that in the main appears to be relatively low down in priority among the majority of sales teams. However, I believe it is not only a fundamental way of setting yourself apart from your competition but the behaviour of true leaders - whether that be in the office or at home looking after those little monsters!
Like military commanders, effective parents know how to create guidelines, set expectations, and get out of the way. You’re under pressure from your kids to give them enough attention and cater to their physical needs, a pressure that becomes less constant but no less real as they grow up. At the same time, you’re under pressure from yourself to make sure that they’re safe, happy, and learning to deal with the world in appropriate ways. With every ounce of energy going into this balancing act, it’s easy to take shortcuts, and that’s the point at which parenting becomes controlling.
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