What Motherhood Taught Me About Being a Leader

With extensive experience in banking consultancy, Agnes has mastered managing complex bank mergers and leading cross-functional teams while overseeing strategic project management.

  Leadership  

I recently read an article[1] on the effects of motherhood on careers, and it turns out that we are still living in the past:

“In the workplace, mothers face a motherhood penalty, where they are perceived as being unfit for leadership roles, are evaluated as less competent and less committed to their careers.”

Isn’t this infuriating? In my opinion, it’s not only enraging, but completely untrue. I’m here to advocate on behalf of all mothers. I’ve learned many skills essential for leadership from my experience as a mother, and I’m going to share the most important ones with you.

I've been working in project management and leading people for over 11 years. Between the births of my two children, I passed the PMP exam, and one of my responsibilities at our company is training and guiding the careers of young professionals.

In the past, I too saw motherhood as an obstacle to my career, a period when one doesn’t progress but instead regresses (because, let’s be honest, that’s how our society views stay-at-home moms). My career is important to me. I love my job, but I also wanted to spend the first few years of my children’s lives with them because I’m convinced that this has a significant impact on their brain development.

Over time, however, I realized that motherhood is like any other task: …

Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.