When I saw the title, “Mom-in-Chief” on the soon-to-be-released parenting bookshelf, I couldn’t wait to meet the author who sub-titled her book, “How Wisdom from the Workplace Can Save Your Life from Chaos.” Jamie Woolf has mastered the art of how to bring your leadership skills from work home and reap great rewards. As you know, this is something I, too, believe in strongly – from the management perspective.

mom-in-chief

When I told my Knowing Pains editor, Molly Rosen, about this find, turns out, she’d already found Jamie, who is not only her neighbor, but hiking buddy to boot!

So, this world of Mompreneurs gets smaller, more collaborative, and more fun by the day!

I talked to Jamie, and wanted to share some nuggets of her workplace wisdom to help fellow moms.

She outlines 7 leadership strategies, and each chapter is loaded with a game plan, worksheets to personalize the approach, real-life examples from other parents who have succeeded or failed at these strategies, and basically, a road map to becoming the best leader you can be at home:

1 – Set Big-Picture Goals – The job of mom is a leadership job. Parents demonstrate acts of leadership everyday when they manage conflict, balance competing priorities, foster teamwork, and create trusting relationships. Like all good leaders, parents set big picture goals to guide their behavior and rise above the relentless demands of the job.

2 – Discover Your Leadership Style – Knowing your “mom mode” or leadership style helps you to play to your natural strengths and feel more satisfied as a parent. Understanding your “mom mode” also sheds light on why you and your partner sometimes can’t see eye to eye.

3 – Manage Conflict – How can you avoid common mistakes that turn conflicts into recurring power struggles? Learn effective approaches to handling conflicts in every area of your life.

4 – Create a Family Culture – Every family, like every company, has its own culture and personality. Great leaders create vibrant cultures that promote harmony and foster shared responsibility. Learn how to diagnose the culture of your family and learn practices that encourage cooperation and cohesion.

5 – Leading through Crisis – What are the essential practices that can keep you and your family resilient through death, divorce, and other family crises. Successful leaders help people not only survive crises but also turn them into opportunities to grow.

6 – Manage the Growing Pains of Adolescence – How do you create a close positive connection during the turbulent teenage years? This chapter addresses topics including how to discuss sex, how to know when to step in and when to step back, how to help teens resist peer pressure, and how to respond when teens mess up.

7 – Balance Priorities – Is there such a thing as balance for the working mother? Learn techniques to help you keep ahead of the torrent of demands on your time. You really can’t do it all, but you can minimize the costs of a demanding life and maximize the joy and fulfillment of being a working mother.

I look forward to bringing you more leadership strategies from Jamie in the coming months. How do you think Moms can be the best leaders at home?

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