Leadership Starts at Home

“Something to chew on over breakfast”

Last week, I’ve had the chance to facilitate another CE CLASS, learning with and from four chief executives running large organisation’s across business and government sectors. Some fascinating learnings and insights ensue.

One of the CEOs shared a challenge he is facing. “The new job offer, a global leadership role, requires him to attend a meeting in Europe in October – the month his son is sitting final school leaving exams”. The purpose of the meeting is to meet the Global Board as part of the selection process.

With tears in his eyes, his son said “you promised me you would be here for me dad”.

As the CEO said to our four person group,

“This job focuses on the global welfare of children. How contradictory would it be for me to overlook the promise that I made to my son, in pursuit of my own personal opportunities?”

My bet is that he will give a thumbs up to the job offer, but the organisation will need to make its decision without his attendance in Europe.

This rang a bell. As the four of us sat there around the crackling fire on the edge of our armchairs listening to this challenge, we all silently reflected back on our own careers; “how often have we prioritised our work and personal opportunities above the interests of those nearest and dearest to us?”

Over the last fifteen years I have worked with over 2,000 top executives and I’ve always been amazed at how readily they share their stories, unsolicited, about their relationships with ‘mum and dad’.

I sensed that many people have unconscious ‘chips on their shoulders’. In the depths of their core, they lack confidence in themselves as a consequence of, time to time, feeling undervalued or under appreciated by the most important people in their lives – their parents.

This seemingly small but powerful insight provides us all with something to chew and ponder on over our Brainy Breakfast this morning.

Put simply, “Leadership starts at Home”.

Food for thought…