Powerful Women: How they do it all
Everyone wants to know how high-achieving women balance work and family. Three top executives share their stories.
A co-worker shared the above article from Fortune magazine with me a few weeks ago. Like a lot of working moms, I struggle with how to balance it all. How do you work and not be distracted by thoughts of your child? How do you deal with the guilt, which invariably will, and does, strike, over being away from your child? On the flip side, there's nothing wrong with taking pride in what you do for a living. In fact, in my mind, the fact that I work makes me a better mother than perhaps what I would be if I were staying home. See, I know myself well enough to realize that I need to have a career. I need to be satisfied mentally by the work that I do. It makes me a better woman, which in turn makes me a better mother.
It was personally satisfying, and inspiring, to read that Sheryl Sandberg, who is the COO of Facebook, also questions whether leaving her children in someone else's care for the sake of her own career is the right thing to do. If she can balance it all, and she's got a much larger work load than I do on a daily basis, then why can't I? I've learned some of my most important lessons on humility, respect and teamwork from my co-workers and managers. If I can share that knowledge with my daughter, then my career has not only been personally challenging and satisfying to me, but rewarding for her as well.
Granted, I envy my girlfriends who are able to stay home with their children. They have the blessing of not missing a minute of their lives and when I hear them talk about how wonderful it is, that nagging voice in my mind kicks in and tells me that I am missing out - that worst of all, my daughter is somehow missing out too. But then I hear a co-worker tell me his daughter started daycare when his wife was hospitalized and she literally blossomed in an environment of new friends and experiences, and I don't feel so bad.
Its a struggle some days to sit at my desk, analyze numbers and offer advice on how to manage a multi-million dollar category of consumer products for a leading retailer (that sounds WAY more important than it actually is) but on the other hand, I really do love my job. Without it, I would be missing a part of who I am. So, with that in mind, I'll go check the webcams at daycare to see what my precious baby girl is up to and know that she's happy, I'm happy and all is right in our world.
Everyone wants to know how high-achieving women balance work and family. Three top executives share their stories.
A co-worker shared the above article from Fortune magazine with me a few weeks ago. Like a lot of working moms, I struggle with how to balance it all. How do you work and not be distracted by thoughts of your child? How do you deal with the guilt, which invariably will, and does, strike, over being away from your child? On the flip side, there's nothing wrong with taking pride in what you do for a living. In fact, in my mind, the fact that I work makes me a better mother than perhaps what I would be if I were staying home. See, I know myself well enough to realize that I need to have a career. I need to be satisfied mentally by the work that I do. It makes me a better woman, which in turn makes me a better mother.
It was personally satisfying, and inspiring, to read that Sheryl Sandberg, who is the COO of Facebook, also questions whether leaving her children in someone else's care for the sake of her own career is the right thing to do. If she can balance it all, and she's got a much larger work load than I do on a daily basis, then why can't I? I've learned some of my most important lessons on humility, respect and teamwork from my co-workers and managers. If I can share that knowledge with my daughter, then my career has not only been personally challenging and satisfying to me, but rewarding for her as well.
Granted, I envy my girlfriends who are able to stay home with their children. They have the blessing of not missing a minute of their lives and when I hear them talk about how wonderful it is, that nagging voice in my mind kicks in and tells me that I am missing out - that worst of all, my daughter is somehow missing out too. But then I hear a co-worker tell me his daughter started daycare when his wife was hospitalized and she literally blossomed in an environment of new friends and experiences, and I don't feel so bad.
Its a struggle some days to sit at my desk, analyze numbers and offer advice on how to manage a multi-million dollar category of consumer products for a leading retailer (that sounds WAY more important than it actually is) but on the other hand, I really do love my job. Without it, I would be missing a part of who I am. So, with that in mind, I'll go check the webcams at daycare to see what my precious baby girl is up to and know that she's happy, I'm happy and all is right in our world.
