👩👧 We interviewed Monday Mavens writer's mom for Mother's Day.
+ lessons from mother-leaders at top companies and more.
In this week’s Monday Mavens edition, we are honoring the hero that started it all for all of us: Mothers. No matter what stage of personal growth we’re at, or what field of expertise we specialize in, mothers seem to always have the right thing to say.
Here are some of the lessons we need to be reminded of as we celebrate this year’s Mother’s Day.
Great mothers create great leaders
Beyond personal development and growth, the advice we get from the mother figures in our lives may directly or indirectly reflect in the way we work. For many founders in Silicon Valley, it even translates to leadership styles and company culture. Avinoam Nowogrodski, CEO and founder of project management software Clarizen, sets ‘awareness’ as one of his company’s values based on his mother’s advice on honesty.
My mother always taught me to be honest with myself. She didn’t mean it in a way that would limit potential, but rather open my eyes to where I could grow.
For Adobe-affiliated Marketo CEO and founder, Tawheed Kader, the unique visual depiction from his mom taught him that the way to build lasting and successful organizations of people is to embrace their unique differences.
She’d told me to look at the five fingers on my hand. They’re all sized differently, each with unique strengths and abilities and that’s why they work so well together.
Read more leadership lessons from the mothers of 7 CEOS here.
Bringing home to work—and vice versa
As Moira Forbes—the daughter of Forbes chairman Steve Forbes says, many traits which great mothers cultivate and practice every day are being leveraged at home and at work to lead teams and run successful businesses.
Lizzie Widhelm, who is both Pandora’s SVP of Product Strategy and a mother of three, states that a personalized approach is key in managing a successful team as everyone has different strengths, passions and motivations, just like her kids. Louise Pentland, Chief Business Affairs and Legal Officer at PayPal, brings her insights as a mother to work when she practices empathy in creating deadlines, setting meetings or prioritizing team projects.
Find more lessons from mother-leaders in this Forbes article.
Motherhood and personal growth
For this special Mother’s Day edition, we had the chance to interview Liani, who is the mother to one of our Mekarians, Yovani. Liani is a working mother and has been for the past 25 years. Here are some of our interview’s takeaways:
The motherhood qualities that have helped her throughout her career include focus in getting any tasks done, consistency in your words and action, and risk mitigation such as building strong fundamentals to prevent future wrongdoings.
Advantages of being a working mother: a high sense of responsibility in growing the team as if raising her own kids, and humanity over repressive methods in conflict resolution.
From watching her kids grow, she observes that the most important things to have when it comes to personal growth are faith, respect, and a sense of responsibility.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and mother figures around us. May we bring with us a piece of their thoughts in everything we do.
If you’ve had any remarkable advice from your mother, share with us by replying to this email or shoot us a DM on Instagram at @lifeatmekari.
See you next week!