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Shari Storm has written an enlightening new must-read, Motherhood is the New MBA: Using Your Parenting Skills to Be a Better Boss. Being a mother means being boss to a challenging team – your family. Storm uses this parenting knowledge and merges it with the skills she has acquired from her high-level corporate position. Mixing humor, insight and compassion, Storm outlines how being a good parent translates into being a great boss.
PC: As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
SS: Oh! I wish I could say I had something clever – like my sister who wanted to drive an ice cream truck. I knew I liked writing and public speaking (I won the Young Authors Contest in 2nd grade and a district speech contest in 3rd grade); however, I turned practical early on and became a banker. I work at a credit union in Seattle.
PC: What inspired you to write MOTHERHOOD IS THE NEW MBA?
SS: When I first became a mother, I found it to be an exhilarating and powerful experience. When I looked for things to read, I found much about how hard being a working mom is – work / life balance challenges, the wage gap, postpartum depression. These are all very real issues, but they were not what I was experiencing personally.
I had an idea knocking around in my head for many months that I wanted to write something about the positive aspects of being a working mom, but I just didn’t know what exactly I wanted to write.
One day, when my oldest daughter was about 2 years old, we had some drama going on at work, and I suspected a co-worker of something. When I asked her about it, she started to answer me and it occurred to me that she was giving me the same type of answer I got from my two year old when I ask her, “Did you put your sneakers in the toilet?” It’s the look she gives me when she is lying!
It occurred to me at that point that human nature is human nature, whether we are 2 or 62. We are basically hard wired the same way and parents get in-depth, long term practice in human nature. We learn quickly, through parenting, how to get others to act in a way that we want them to.
PC: How did you conduct your research for your book?
SS: I interviewed 60 women. I’m thrilled by the diversity in careers – CEO’s, journalists, doctors, pilots, TV producers, firefighters and even a barista (who, by the way, gave me some of the best advice in the book).
PC: Would you share a few of the key rules that are applicable to raising children and being a great boss?
SS: One of my favorite chapters is “Don’t Put Things in Your Mouth”. We spend years telling our children, “Don’t put that in your mouth,” and then what do we do when we can’t get the aspirin bottle open or we are hanging a picture on the wall? We use our teeth!
Parents know they are always on stage. Good managers realize this as well. You can say how you want your employees to act until you are blue in the face, but the behavior they will display is the behavior you demonstrate. If you tell your employees to get along well with other departments, you can’t bad mouth other people and expect your staff not to. If you want your team to act with urgency, then you better not leave early every day.
PC: Would you say you have to be fearless to be both?
SS: Parenthood and management are certainly not for the faint of heart. But I would say better advice is to trust your ‘mother’s intuition’. Parents are practiced at thinking on our feet and it helps us in business.
PC: Would you share a few of your favorite aspects of being a mother? Being a boss?
SS: I can think of few things more magical than raising children. Being a boss? Well, it suits my personality.
PC: How long did it take you to write MOTHERHOOD IS THE NEW MBA?
SS: I was contractually bound to write it in four months.
PC: What is the central message in your book that you want readers to grasp?
SS: We’ve heard sports analogies when it comes to business and we’ve heard war analogies when it comes to business. Both metaphors are a bit foreign to most women, and to some men, frankly.
I think using the family as a frame work for creating an effective and sane working environment is something that a lot of people can relate to.
Good parents are singularly focused on creating an environment where their children thrive. Imagine if good bosses did the same for their employees?
PC: What were your feelings when your book was accepted, or when you first saw the cover of the finished product?
SS: I had booked marked several blog posts from other authors on ‘getting the call’ and tagged them, “read+often”. I day dreamed about the call for so many months that when it finally happened, it was a bit surreal.
There are so many steps along the way that are thrilling – getting an agent, getting that first book bid, seeing the book, getting your first interview. It’s all very fun and exciting. But for every victory, there are ten? Twenty? I don’t know, 30 defeats.
PC: Are you hearing from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
SS: I was shocked the first time a stranger emailed me to tell me about my book. I was featured in the Costco Connection – which is distributed to over 7 million people and clearly read by most of them. Lots of people have sent me emails that start with “I read about you in Costco Connection…..”
The very interesting thing is that I am getting feedback from men and from people without children. They were two segments I thought would not be interested in the book. But the opposite has turned out to be true. I sell a lot of copies to men.
PC: Would you mind sharing advice for aspiring writers, mothers and/or leaders?
SS: My advice is to not let things get you down. I’m new at this author stuff, but I know one thing for certain – there is a LOT of rejection. And the rejection doesn’t stop once you are published. If any thing, it heats up.
But much like parenting and being a boss, there will be many times when you feel inadequate. You just have to power through those moments and keep doing your best.
PC: Was there anything you found particularly challenging in writing your book?
SS: Oh goodness – coordinating interviews with 60 working moms. Half way through the process and looked at my husband and asked, “Am I completely nuts? What was I thinking?!?”
PC: Where do you hope to take your writing in the future?
SS: Well, we have to see how this first book does. I don’t want to take any time away from my children if it doesn’t some how benefit them.
If this helps pay for their orthodontia, then maybe I’ll start the proposal process again and pitch a book for dads.
Shari Storm’s Motherhood is the New MBA is a quick and insightful read that is perfect for parents, those wanting to lead a successful business team and, of course, your boss.
To learn more about Shari Storm visit her website at: http://www.sharistorm.com/
* Image courtesy of Amazon.com
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