Parenthood and Leadership: A Mother's Day Scare

Two weekends ago my daughter had a serious allergic reaction to penicillin - yes, in the middle of Mother's Day Brunch!  She had been on penicillin before but had never exhibited symptoms of a negative reaction.  As a parent, it was in frightening slow-motion that I watched my daughter start to cough, gasp for air, and break out into red, blotchy hives.

Solution Mode!  Immediately and without hesitation my maternal instincts kicked in and I grabbed the emergency EpiPen out of my purse and pricked her in the leg.  Though this might sound extreme, I knew it was the right thing to do in order to get her up and to a doctor.  My objective was to calm the chaos, remove the immediate danger, and move to address the issue (called the doctor, took her in for a home visit, all okay!).

On my drive home with my daughter nestled in my husband's embrace in the backseat, I began assessing how I handled the situation.

• What did I do well?  What could I have better?
• Did I have the tools and resources I needed?  How could I be better prepared next time?
• Did I have the support that I needed?  Who else could I have asked for help?
• Did I calm the chaos and create a healthy and proactive environment?
• Was I sympathetic?  Was I empathetic?
• How would I have rated my EI (Emotional Intelligence) if I was outside the situation looking in?
• And, ultimately, as a parent, what was the example I portrayed to my children?

Things quickly became cloudy as to whether I was reflecting on my parenting skills or working myself through a leadership coaching exercise!

In the days since, my daughter has recovered and is back on her feet; thanks in large part to our family doctor and her immediate attention to our emergency.

The lesson I took away from this situation is the correlation between parenthood and leadership, they are almost one in the same: to be successful as a parent requires much the same skill set as that of a business leader (in this scenario, jumping to immediate action and keeping my cool to let others know it was going to be alright).

My story of going into solution mode is just one example of the overlaps between parenting and leadership.  Share your stories below.