Corporate superheros.

We’ve all heard the stats and stories. The first time mom who was restructured out of her role during maternity leave. Hiring managers concerned that young working moms take too paid time off taking care of sick kids.

It’s a tale as old as corporate time. It’s still unnecessarily unfair for working parents, mainly mothers, to be viewed as unreliable and inconsistent in their performance. When I was younger I used to find a casual way in interviews to hint that my husband and I were done having children or that he had a flexible job so could also be counted on to tend to sick children. How embarrassing is that?

I’ve been extremely fortunate to have been mentored by amazingly supportive bosses within organizations who didn’t view my age and uterus as a liability. And with a few more years under my career belt, I feel more confident than ever that being a mom makes me a better and more effective professional and manager.

Here are my top three traits on what makes working moms (and working parents in general) corporate superheros.

Empathy

I’ve found young working moms to typically be an empathetic bunch.

We’re old enough to understand the paintpoints of our colleagues but young enough to understand the fears and uncertainties of junior staff. I’m not so young that I assume that my more senior colleagues know everything (I know I don't!) and don't need support sometimes, but I'm also not too old to remember how overwhelming it was to be the youngest person at a boardtable, fresh out of university, with the most gut wrenching imposter syndrome.

Being cognizant of both allows me to hone in on what my senior colleagues and junior team members need from me to be their most assured and productive selves at work.

Time Management

Find a better group better with time management than working mothers. I’ll wait.

Calendars are my life line and you can pry my to-do list from my cold, dead hands. I seriously don’t have time to procrastinate on that project because I’m out of here promptly at the end of the day to make it to pick up and usher tiny humans around to extracurriculars. Working moms are constantly looking for ways to use their time as efficiently as possible in hopes of achieving the long standing dream that one day they might actually find an hour for themselves.

This allows me to work fast and to a high degree of quality that others in the organization can depend on.

Coaching

Like I already said, young working ExecMoms aren’t really "old" yet (even though I know you feel it).

I still feel like it was just a few years ago when I was in university pulling all-nighters (both academic and ... recreational) and then suddenly finding myself thrust into the working world. I had no idea what I was doing and I was sure everyone else knew it too.

Remembering this allows me to coach younger team members grounded in assurance and forward thinking. Assure them they aren’t supposed to know it all right now, they’re here to learn, and they’re killing it. Even let them in on a hot seceret: no one actually knows it all. But ask them to think ahead and work with them on a forward thinking action plan.

I love to ask my team members to think about their career goals. What projects can they be involved in to help ensure they are meeting those goals? How can we help set you up for success on the next step in your career journey whether that’s here on the team or outside of the organization?

I was very fortunate to have such guidance and reassurance from mentors not too long ago - I want to ensure I pay it forward.

Do you have other superpowers you think working moms bring to the corporate table? Let us know below!

- Madison