Breakout Spotlight: Why Working Moms Make Great Leaders

Working Moms: Embrace Your Leadership Superpowers

Working mothers have superpowers! If we didn’t have them before we became mothers, we develop them “on the job.” Or, rather, in both our jobs--the work one and the home one.

We sometimes lose sight of this truth in the busyness of the “balancing act.” As life flies by, we’re trying to contribute to and advance our careers, while we’re also embracing the messy and joyful experience of raising children.

In reality, most of the key skills that transformational, change-ready, emotionally agile leaders need in this topsy turvy moment in our workplaces are skills that working mothers hone every day.

As I remember from my own maternity leave experiences years ago, to even get through a maternity leave and back to work, we’ve usually leveled up our time management and logistical coordination. We’ve become extra creative problem solvers, and enhanced the negotiation and advocacy skills that leaders need.

Today’s leaders need to be multi-project thrivers, and that’s exactly what so many working mothers are. We learn amplified boundary-setting strategies. We clarify our goals because life is complicated. We understand there will always be missed opportunities in the balancing act, so we focus on what matters, and help others do so as well. We model resilience and adaptation, and even vulnerability sometimes.

If we’re paying attention, we learn to see ourselves as long-term investments, even when we’re in the most messy work-life-complexity stages of our career. And hopefully, along the way, we learn to be mentor-leaders to others who are balancing multi-faceted lives.

We come to see the systems in which we work in a new light when we become mothers, and some of us level up our leadership around making those systems more humane, creating more spaces of belonging for everyone who has caregiving responsibilities. We might become advocacy leaders for lactation support for new moms, hybrid or temporarily part-time work arrangements, or leave options that work for retaining and nurturing the talent on our teams.  

That’s one form of powerful leadership that can stem from the expertise working mothers develop. But as I’ve suggested here, it’s not the only one.

When we become working mothers, our identities shift. We often empower ourselves to take a more holistic view of workplaces and the people in them. Although our culture teaches us to imagine working mothers as harried, pulled-in-all directions people, once we get our rhythm, we’re often some of the most grounded and clear-eyed leaders. We embrace change, we lead through it, and we inspire others.

Meet the Author

Jodi Vandenberg-Daves | Women’s Leadership Conference Breakout Speaker

Working moms are already leading in powerful ways—at home, at work, and in their communities. It’s time we recognize those strengths not as a balancing act, but as a leadership advantage. If this message resonates with you, we invite you to join us at the Women’s Leadership Conference on October 8 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Surround yourself with women who lead boldly, live bravely, and support one another through every season of growth. Register today at womensleadershipwi.com/register—because your leadership journey deserves this space.