Welcome to Conspire’s Fun Friday Links, a weekly collection of interesting discoveries from around the Web. Most of the time, the goal is to get you thinking differently about innovation, collaboration, business culture, and life in general. Other times, we may toss an infographic or fun video your way. Submissions are welcome, and you can send them to conspire@mindjet.com for consideration.
The Most Important Leadership Lessons You Can Learn Only From Mom
Try as we might to forget childhood lessons, for many of us, the echo of mom’s voice (stern, amused, exasperated) still penetrates our daily lives. But that’s not at all a bad thing, since she likely taught us some of the most valuable lessons we’ll ever learn — especially when it comes to leadership. From Inc.:
“Go to your room and think about what you did. It may feel like the punishment you got as a child, but giving yourself a time out–time to reflect, understand, and clarify–is one of the best things you can do to improve your leadership.”
Who do you think you’re talking to? How you speak and what you say is important. As a leader, you are looked to as a role model. People expect you to speak to them–and, more important, listen to them — with respect.
Inspiring Mothers Who Motivated Famous Business Leaders
Every leader starts somewhere much less powerful than they end up, but have you ever wondered what — besides a natural ability to influence others, that is — drove them to the top? Well, it turns out that, for a lot of business moguls, the answer is mom. From Forbes:
“Some people need an extra push, and their mothers played in a role in boosting their confidence when they needed it. When I interviewed Kat Cole, the president of Cinnabon, she told me the story of working as a Hooters waitress when she was presented with an opportunity to grow into the management ranks. She didn’t believe in herself and was afraid to step out of her comfort zone. Cole’s mother grabbed her 19-year-old daughter by the shoulders, looked her in the eye, and said, ‘You can do anything and I’m expecting you to do everything.’
Mothers often inspire their children to see the big picture. In a rare personal interview, Bill Gates once said that on his wedding day his mother wrote in a card, “From those to whom much is given, much is expected.” His mother died six months later and Gates still cherishes the card.”
Meet 4 Moms Who Are Changing the World, One Innovation at a Time
Being a mom comes with an incredible number of expectations and assumptions from the rest of the world, a lot of which are just downright archaic. Thankfully, there are plenty of women out there pummeling those imposed boundaries into dust. From Brit + Co.:
“It’s Mother’s Day WEEK, and today we’re turning our attention to four brilliant, beautiful, totally inspiring moms who spend their days innovating to change the world. It’s all part of an exciting series with GE that focuses on tapping into technological creativity in every mom, sister and aunt. We believe that all moms are engineers. Whether fixing, hacking or redesigning things, moms have a knack for finding solutions in unexpected places and achieving feats of greatness on the daily.
We hope these stories inspire you as much as they inspire us — these women are seriously badass!”
The post Fun Friday Links: Leadership Lessons from Mom, Motherly Motivation, and 4 Badass Innovators appeared first on via @Mindjet's Conspire #ideasquad.