Mother's Day insights from female leaders

This Mother's Day: How Motherhood Shaped My Career Path (And Why I Don't Apologize For It) When I stepped into digital marketing in 2016, I wasn't just changing careers—I was redesigning my entire life. From marketing lecturer to freelancer, my transition wasn't driven by industry trends, but by tiny hands that needed me present. The stats tell a powerful story: 47% of mothers who leave traditional employment cite childcare as the primary reason. Yet 85% of mompreneurs report higher job satisfaction than in their previous corporate roles. My journey from India to the U.S. highlighted a stark reality—without the support systems of home, I needed flexibility corporate America rarely offers. Freelancing wasn't just convenient; it was necessary. Today's working mothers face impossible math: * 71% of mothers work outside the home * Only 9% of companies offer comprehensive childcare benefits * Mothers spend 2.5 more hours on unpaid household work daily than fathers We're not asking for special treatment—we're creating sustainable solutions. Look at Sara Blakely building Spanx while raising four kids, or Tiffany Dufu launching The Cru while championing "dropping the ball" as leadership strategy. These aren't exceptions—they're blueprints. This Mother's Day, I celebrate all mothers who refuse the false choice between career and family. My success metric isn't solely revenue—it's my children's security in knowing I'm there, while witnessing me build something meaningful. I won't apologize for building my career around my family rather than squeezing family into career gaps. That's not compromise—it's strategic prioritization. To every mother designing her own path: your definition of success is valid. Your choices matter. Your contribution counts. The workforce doesn't just need mothers—it needs the innovation, efficiency and perspective that only mothers can bring. #MothersDay #Mompreneurs #WorkLifeIntegration #DigitalMarketing

All I hear is how being a mom hurts our careers. Here’s 5 ways it's helped me 10x as a leader 👇 1. Prioritization queen: Now that I know I can't work into the night, I'm WAY more efficient. Monthly, weekly, then daily I create a list of priorities. If an ask doesn’t fit within the priorities, I say ‘no’. I'm also more focused at work: I'd rather spend 15 minutes with my kiddo instead of scrolling on my phone & having to work later.  2. Empathy: Ever tried figuring out why your toddler is upset? It's not quite different from understanding what your team is trying to say (or not saying 😉). I'm better at reading people and developing messages that make them feel heard.  3. Be present: I’m a master multi-tasker (especially during meetings.) But with Reya, I’ve realized that she senses when I’m not fully present AND she’s growing so quickly that I need to soak up every moment. It’s taught me to be attentive.  4. Better decision making: As a parent, I’m making 1,000 decisions a day. I don’t often have the best info so I need to trust my gut and rely on the data at hand. This helped me streamline making decisions at work.  5. Strategic influence: Negotiating with a toddler is harder than getting buy-in with my most difficult stakeholders 😂. It’s taught me to co-create & craft compelling messages. Being a mom is the hardest thing I've ever done. But it's also the most beautiful part of my life. I’ve grown so much as a person & a leader. I wish the media would celebrate the strengths of motherhood instead of always just talking about the negatives (which are also true & need to be solved). P.S. Has being a parent helped you be a better leader? Would love to hear below 👇

Before I had my daughter, I had so many assumptions and reservations about motherhood, particularly concerning its potential impact on my life and business. With Mother's Day having been celebrated in the UK yesterday, I took a moment to reflect, and here are "5 Ways Motherhood has Helped Me In Business": 💪🏾 Resilience: Enduring sleepless nights, waking up for feeds and nappy changes, and then navigating the next day with minimal sleep – these challenges have helped me build remarkable resilience. This strength, born out of motherhood, has proven invaluable in managing the late nights and early mornings that most of us go through in entrepreneurship 🤹♀️ Multi-Tasking: The unpredictability inherent in parenthood has equipped me to manage multiple tasks at once and thrive in the dynamic and often chaotic nature of business. It has cultivated resourcefulness and the ability to think on my feet 🧘♀️ Patience: Witnessing the growth of my children has taught me that nurturing a business demands patience, dedication, and a serious commitment to development. Patience is not just a virtue; it's a necessity in both parenting and entrepreneurship 👂🏾Listening: Motherhood has stressed the importance of active listening. Deciphering my child's babble and jargon requires a skill that enhances communication and strengthens our relationship – a critical aspect in both family life and business. Make your client feel heard! 🫂 Empathy: The empathy developed through motherhood naturally translates into business leadership. I've become more compassionate and understanding in my approach to people, applying grace to situations where I might have once acted more harshly Almost 4 years in and I am so proud of the mother I am today. I look forward to the evolution of my motherhood journey and the many more life lessons to come. Balancing family life and business is far from easy, yet the rewards are incredibly fulfilling. To all my fellow mothers in business, keep going because your success is proof that it is possible !! 🚀💕🌍 #motherhood #momsinbusiness #mumpreneur

Becoming a mother changes everything, including the way we lead. Motherhood often introduces a new layer of empathy, resilience, and adaptability , qualities that any successful leader should embody. Yet, these strengths are sometimes undervalued in the workplace. Through my experience coaching women leaders, I’ve seen firsthand how motherhood reshapes their approach to leadership. Here’s why these shifts are not only beneficial but essential in today's workplaces: ✅ Enhanced Empathy: Motherhood deepens our ability to understand and connect with others' emotions. This often translates to a leadership style that is more compassionate, creating a culture of psychological safety where team members feel genuinely supported. ✅ Unmatched Resilience: The challenges of motherhood , from sleepless nights to balancing family and career , build a level of resilience that is invaluable in leadership. Mothers often approach problems with a “find-a-way” mentality, inspiring their teams to persevere through obstacles. ✅ Efficient Multi-prioritization and Time Management: Juggling the needs of children while maintaining professional responsibilities sharpens skills in prioritization and efficiency. This often makes mothers highly effective leaders who maximize productivity without compromising well-being. ✅ Adaptability to Change: Motherhood is a constant exercise in adaptation. This flexibility helps women leaders handle unexpected shifts in business with ease, bringing a mindset that embraces change. Instead of questioning how motherhood might “detract” from a woman’s ability to lead, we should value and celebrate the unique strengths it brings to the table. Have you seen the impact of motherhood on leadership in your own experience? Let’s reframe the narrative , because motherhood makes leaders stronger.

💡 Reflections from a mother and economist—on the heels of Mother’s Day. A friend of mine, a new mom in her 40s who once climbed some of the highest mountains on Earth, recently said: “Motherhood is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” - The simple truth is this: women are expected to work as if they don’t have children—and to parent as if they don’t have jobs. The myth of “having it all” sets women up for exhaustion and disappointment. It skews our expectations for what life will look like after bringing a tiny human into the world. -Mothers are elite multitaskers. It’s a superpower born of necessity. You have to be done with work by the time the school bus rolls in—because after that, it’s game over. Homework help, dinner, storytime, bedtime… and somehow, still mentally preparing for tomorrow’s meeting. -The opportunity cost of motherhood is staggering. An evening reception at work means one fewer family dinner, one fewer story time. Meanwhile, your colleagues are out building social capital. That leaves many moms either left out or faced with an impossible choice. -We need to change that. Companies should offer networking that isn’t confined to happy hour. Conferences should provide childcare (I haven't been to one like that yet). And leadership should recognize that inclusion means designing systems that work for caregivers. -Children are luxury goods in today’s industrialized societies. It costs over $310,000 to raise a child in the U.S. to age 18. (That’s not including college.) And when something becomes more expensive, people consume less of it. While the costs are clear and front-loaded, what are the benefits? They're intangible—kisses, crayon drawings, and an annual Mother's Day card. -Yet, the societal return on investment is real. Each child is a future worker, taxpayer, innovator, caregiver. So where is the cold, hard number that values the social benefit of a new child? Why is so much of this burden left to individual families—and many moms who parent alone? -If we’re serious about declining birthrates, economic growth, and social resilience, we must stop treating motherhood as a private lifestyle choice. It’s time to create real public benefits that match the public value of raising children. 👩👧 To all the moms managing daycare/school drop-offs, work calls, and science fair posters in the same 24 hours: you are doing the most underappreciated, high-stakes, high-impact work in the world.

The leadership playbook wasn't written for you... A client of mine—an incredible founder, leader, and mother—told me about a book she was reading. "Be prepared to burn out so badly you might end up in the hospital. That’s what it takes to build a successful business." Umm… no, Greg. No, Steve. No, Richard. No, thank you. She was frustrated when she read that, and it was the same message in the podcasts she was listening to. Because when she looked back at her career, she realized—she had been following exactly that playbook. Push through exhaustion. Never say no. Sacrifice yourself for success. She had climbed the corporate ladder while balancing pregnancy. Closed deals on maternity leave. Held everything together at work and at home, because that’s just what working moms do. She's not them, she's different and she's a mom. And now? She was leading her own business, carrying the weight of it all, and wondering—is this really the only way? 💬 "Every mentor I’ve had is a man." 💬 "Every leadership book I read is by men." 💬 "I’ve been playing by their rules. But now? I don’t know what leadership looks like for me." She’s not alone. Most of us were taught that leadership means: 🚨 The loudest voice in the room. 🚨 The 80-hour hustle with no time for family. 🚨 The person who never asks for help. But here’s what I told her—motherhood already rewired you for leadership. ✔ You know how to manage crises in your sleep. ✔ You balance competing priorities like a CEO every single day. ✔ You’ve mastered adaptability, decision-making, and resilience—because you had to. So, she started writing her own playbook. Because if the only blueprint for success leads to burnout—it’s time to build a new one. 👉 What’s one leadership lesson you had to unlearn? Let’s hear them. #WorkingMom #Business #Burnout #Leadership #WomenLeader

Motherhood has changed how I lead. Before I became a mother, I was the boss from hell. I would schedule meetings at 5:30pm to debrief the teams for next days (I could have waited till the next morning). I would delegate work to my team and expect unreasonable timelines. I would march up to my colleague's office and demand an explanation for a decision made without consulting me. I would shout at my team from across the corridor (despite being 7 months pregnant. My staff wondered when I will pop). Well, I was a young upstart. But thankfully I became a young mother. Here's how motherhood has change me: 1. 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆: Motherhood deepens my understanding of the challenges employees face, both personally and professionally. I became more patient 2.𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 Appreciating everyone has a life outside of work, I set boundaries on meeting times and became more understanding when staff needs to take time off for their kids or parents. 3. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Handling unexpected challenges: Motherhood prepares me for unexpected obstacles and teaches me to adapt quickly and I don't give up easily when it comes to challenges at work. 4. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: I became a better listener and understand the importance of active communication in building relationships. Motherhood was the best thing that happened to me. I lead better and continue to hone my skills because I was intrinsically motivated to be a good role model. ♻ How has your life experience impact your leadership skills? Follow me, Adeline Tiah 謝善嫻, for more insights on leadership, reinvention and future of work.

She’s listening into the all-hands while folding clothes. She’s scheduling meetings while prepping dinner. She’s fielding emails between school drop-offs. She’s managing a team and the perpetual grocery list. She’s participating in Zoom calls with a sick baby on her lap. She’s strategizing for work while keeping track of dentist appointments. She’s leading projects while coordinating after-school activities. She’s balancing deadlines with laundry cycles. She’s managing the mental load of the household while exceeding at her job. She’s working from home, which offers flexibility and saves commute time, but comes with the pressure of the second shift. She’s wondering if she's expected to single-handedly manage the household because she’s “just” working from home. She’s feeling the weight of invisible labor, balancing her career and the countless tasks that keep her family running. She’s resilient. She’s resourceful. She’s relentless. She’s a working-from-home Mom. Partners—offer to take ownership for a more equitable division of labor. Employers—offer solutions and resources to parents in your organization. Friends—offer words of encouragement and love. Moms— it’s time to have the courage to ask for the help you need and outsource the mental load.