Parents Who Lead

Parenting is far from easy. With all the extracurriculars kids are in, juggling work and home, and now during a pandemic managing work and their children’s school, many parents feel overwhelmed, stressed and on autopilot.

Freidman and Westring recognize parenting in the new normal can be daunting at times. In their book, Parents Who Lead: The Leadership Approach You Need to Parent with Purpose, Fuel Your Career, and Create a Richer Life, they draw on evidence-based leadership concepts to show how to not only survive but thrive in your parenting/professional world. Diving deeper, they have identified behaviors and ideas essential to life as both a parent and a professional. This guide will help you prioritize, strategize and take conscious action to be well-rounded and successful.

Freidman and Westring integrate their work on what’s known as “the Pursuit of the Four-Way Wins” to support parents with balancing work and life. A key component is the awareness of important relationships and how they integrate their values and vision. To start, they suggest envisioning your future together, engaging your children with the process, connecting with colleagues and cultivating a community for support when needed.

There are two big takeaways from this book: First, you have to see yourself as a leader, not only at work but, more importantly, at home. Parents are leaders too.

The second big takeaway is to identify your values first on your own, then with family and colleagues because values are the foundation for building our visions. Visions compel images of our achievement in the immediate and long-term future. If we have a strong vision/purpose, we will be more focused and motivated in the present.

Friedman and Westring state, “For the benefit of today as well as the world tomorrow in your children’s world, you need to lead” both at home and at work. This book will provide you the tools to develop greater connection, engagement and success in the modern world of 24/7 demands.

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Looking for more strategies to better parent and lead? Watch a webinar with Westring discussing strategies for parenting in COVID-19 here, hosted as part of the Fisher Leadership Initiative's webinar series. View a one-page job-aid summary with strategies to achieve better work-life balance.