Management, Leadership and Motherhood
Tanmay Vora
The lessons I learnt in the Management Development Programme (MDP) way back in Apr 2008 keeps clogging my mind space – and something new comes out as an insight.
One of the topics Mr. Pillai touched upon was motherhood and management. Let me explain.
I have always seen my mother give me plenty – she would always offer me more than I can eat. She would take care of smallest of my needs. She withstood my tantrums, cleaned my diapers, taught me to be on my feet, raised me, nurtured me, pushed me to do better and helped me. She managed to do this without any complain ever. And now she does all of this all over again for my daughter with same love – and all this with no expectations whatsoever. And this is true for every mother in the world. When I ruminate on how my mother raised me, it just helps me become a better manager. Mr. Pillai helped us realize and relate motherhood with the way we work and operate in professional lives.
My learning from the MDP is that motherhood is not about gender – not about whether you can have babies! 🙂 Motherhood is beyond gender – it is a state of mind. It is a way of thinking. The very nature of mother to give in plenty, pour themselves into their work (of raising kids) and nurture without any expectations is motherhood.In a way, Managers and Leaders have to be like mothers. They play this very important role in professional lives of their people. They need to nurture professional dreams of their people, help them when they are stuck, motivate them, support them when they are down, pat their back on their small successes, bring them back on track when they digress and ensure their professional well-being. And all this has to be done with no expectations. All this has to be done for each and every team member over and over again.
Mothers are never selfish – they think “We” and not “I and my team”. Same is true for managers and leaders.
I strongly believe that when managers and leaders embrace these core properties of motherhood and operate accordingly, workplaces will become much better.
Do you agree?
Related Post: Like Manager, Like Mother at KindExcellence Blog
What a beautiful post…
I guess “motherhood” (be it given by a father, a mother or your boss) is something we all respond to at our core.
It is because of that impact that if we use it wisely we can move mountains…if only that energy was constantly directed to positive actions…
It is so great…so great that I’d venture to say that where it is absent it is the heart of all the problems in the world.
Thank you whole heartedly for this post.
Reut
Hi Tanmay,
I reached on your blog, through your Linked-In Profile.
I really liked the way you have represented the relation between the motherhood and management. I agree with you, but most of the Managers wants to run so fast that they forget to take the steps in between, short term they are successful and long term yet to come. And thats how life goes on….
Regards,
Prakriti
@ Reut – Thanks for taking this one step further. You are spot on when you say that absence of motherhood attributes amongst men is the cause of most of the problems in the world.
@Prakriti – Thanks for commenting. Speed is important when managing – however speed needs to be managed. A speeding truck with no control often meets accident. Managers ought to speed things up and at the same time maintain the fine balance so that there are no accidents (heart-burns).
you made it look so simple. Great findings…great learning…A MUST implement
Motherhood beyond gender – Motherhood A Role to be played constantly at home and work.
It will deliver for sure…
~ Sandeep Suryakant Kulkarni
Sandeep – Thanks for your kind comments. Probably you could instantly connect to the message of this post because you were also a participant of the same Management Development Program.
These insights are here to stay with us for a long time.
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Tanmay,
Thank you for sharing this post with me. I love the image of your mother taking care of all your needs, and now doing the same for your daughter. What a great example you have of how to serve your family (and your team) selflessly.
.-= Becky Robinson´s last blog ..Why We Persevere =-.
Thanks Becky – My mother is also a great example of how to persevere and establish certain rituals that essentially become the legacy of the family.
Thanks for the comment and I am glad you liked the post.
Twitter Comment
Thanks @LeaderTalk for commenting on my older post “Management, Leadership & Motherhood” – [link to post] Glad you liked it!
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