April 9, 2007
This morning I nearly ran my mini van off the road when I saw a bumper sticker on the car in front of me: “Don’t vote for Hillary or she will make us all clean up our rooms.” This is the straw that broke this mother’s back. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Hillary Clinton’s public embrace of motherhood has sparked a flurry of attacks on the work of mothers. Obviously, it is Pelosi and Clinton’s impressive professional skills, not their motherhood, that qualified them to break through the marble ceiling. Still, the devaluing of mothers’ work that has quickly become fodder for countless bloggers and journalists is infuriating. As a leadership consultant, I work with business leaders every day. I’m always struck by just how much their work corresponds to the daily work of a mother. Who else but a mother fosters compassion, negotiates conflicts, and teaches communication skills, cooperation, empathy, and decision making? Who else builds human capital for this country? Leadership skills cross over from home to work and work to home. Motherhood and leadership are not antithetical. In fact, a mother of three who is juggling schedules, managing a home, and keeping her children happy and cooperative has a lot in common with a CEO who puts out daily fires while fostering a work environment where each person feels motivated and valued. And yet somehow, even in the era of political correctness, it is still acceptable to reduce mothers to mere nose wipers.
