Leadership lessons from mothers

Replace the word mother with leader and it will make perfect management sense to all. While we pay tribute to mothers on international Mother's Day we must live the lessons that motherhood teaches not just on that day or at our homes but in every sphere of life. If leaders make a nation and mothers make leaders then the parallels between the two are much more than just paying homage to a person who brought you up from being a child to being a grown up. What we teach leaders in workplaces in social spaces and in public places is what mothers have been practicing for centuries in their homes with their families. We need to draw upon at least six of motherhood lessons to the role of a leader at our private and public offices.
"A mother is a school. Empower her, and you empower a great nation." Hafez Ibrahim.
I) Sacrifice for others: A mother will always think of her children before herself. She will work more, sleep less, care more, eat less, give more and expect less. A mother will neglect her health to keep her children healthy. Similarly, all great leaders will go beyond themselves to work for causes that require physical and financial sacrifices. The fact that Quaid-e-Azam had Tuberculosis and he hid it from the people around him as he was afraid that this news of a serious disease will demotivate people, is itself an example of how personal sacrifices are a pre-requisite that distinguish a boss from a leader.
II) Every child is unique but needs nurturing: A mother quickly recognizes that every child is different. The eldest may be more serious and responsible. The youngest may be more precocious and difficult. The middle one may be more challenging in behavior. A mother refuses to only cater to the easy and bright one and gives even more attention to the problem child. Similarly the great leader knows that every team member will be different. Some will be fast movers other snail paced. No team can have the same balance. It is the leader's ability to get the maximum out of each member with different strengths that matters. The art of leadership is not to make the good team members perform but nurture skills in the ordinary team members to perform extraordinarily.
III) She has to become a role model for her children: Mothers know that children copy what they see. She is aware that mere lecturing will not bring result. If she wants her children to become honest and disciplined she has to display those traits herself.She will try her best to match her behavior with her words so that her children follow her. Similarly a great leader will only succeed if he leads by example. Many inspiring leaders are talked about even when they are no longer in their positions because they have set examples by following the path they preached. If they want the team to be committed to the task regardless of the difficulty they would have to take bold decisions and take the responsibility of the decisions. Steve Jobs was one of the most daring entrepreneurs of his time. He would take a stand for creating inventions that were yet not verified by market researches. This built a culture of innovation that made iphone a driving force of Apple.
IV) She invests time in teaching and living values to her children: Character building starts at birth. A mother will constantly be shaping the future of the children by developing traits that help them lead a life that is stable and successful. She instills in them the value of hard work, integrity, quality, and respect. If you study today's organizational world you will find them promoting these values through seminars, workshops, assessing employees on these values and rewarding and punishing them on this. Jack Welch, who was given the award of the leader of the millennium, transformed General Electric, a company that was $12 billion to $ 400 billion. His main emphasis was on values. He removed five Senior Vice Presidents who had excellent performance but were not following values of equality and diversity.
V) She takes responsibility of the crisis and protects her children: A mother is essentially a protection shield for children. When they are scared, or upset the first person they want to run to is the mother. Whatever financial or emotional crisis she goes through she shoulders it herself and tries to provide the best atmosphere to her children under the given circumstances. This is the hallmark of great leaders too as when the organizations go through a crunch they try to take the brunt of the difficulties on themselves. They become stress absorbers and try not to transmit organizational stress and anxiety to their team members to enable them to give their best.
VI) She is a great therapist and a motivator: A mother is somebody who is willing to listen endlessly to all the children's problems and is a great downloading shoulder. Similarly she is the one who is going to believe in her children's potential when nobody does and thus motivate them constantly. A great leader has this ability to listen openly to the employee's concerns and inspire them to discover potential in themselves they never thought they had. All great feats whether in organizations or sports are the result of somebody boosting your confidence to a level where you outperform yourself.
A mother embodies what is best about being human. The ability to care, reach out, motivate, protect is all a natural process of humanity. All great leaders have embraced these qualities and have become legends not just because of the titles and designations they carry but the values they practiced that are the foundation of every human endeavor. All mothers have to lead by example and all leaders have to walk the talk. Remember children and team members don't follow what you say, but what you do.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])