By Amber Van Schooneveld
Like many of you who follow the Global Leadership Network, I’m a goal-oriented, achievement-driven person. Five-year plans give me butterflies in my stomach like a middle-school girl with her first crush. So, since I started my role with the GLN a year ago, I’ve been going deep to figure out what my next passion project might be.
Will I finally get that master’s degree? Should I write that book that’s stuck in the back of my mind? Or maybe, now that I’m undeniably middle-aged, should I set some new outrageous goal for my career?
But here’s the thing: No matter how deep I dive into my psyche, I come to the surface empty handed, goals slipping through my fingers like so much water. Nothing feels right. My ideas are forced and contrived.
Have you ever felt that way? Do you engage with amazing leadership content, get all jazzed up and then struggle to know what it might mean for you? Do you ever feel like maybe it’s great for the C-suite or trailblazing entrepreneurs, but falter when it comes to your own (seemingly) ordinary life?
That’s me. The problem is this: It’s easy to get inflated with self-serving ideas that may lead to my own renown. But when I examine them, I realize that is precisely what they are. But when I consider my next five-year plan outside of personal delusions of grandeur, my most desired goal is glaringly obvious: In five years, I will have an 18-year-old daughter. I will be helping launch a fully formed adult into this world.
When you think of it, parenting is the most profound leadership opportunity of our lives. While we will have some impact and influence on those we work with, we can be the most important leadership figure in our own children’s lives. And my most important passion project for the next five years is to lead my children with focus and intention.
As I think back on the 2024 Global Leadership Summit, here are the things I’m taking from each speaker in my most important leadership role as a parent:
Dan Owolabi: A Legacy of Leadership
Dan reminded me that my leadership legacy is not a matter of what I accomplish but a matter of whom I indelibly influence.
Kindra Hall: Harness the Power of Story
Kindra reminded me that reading the “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” side by side with my daughter in bed is one of the most profound acts of human connection and meaning I’ll engage in that day.
Amy C. Edmondson: The Right Kind of Wrong
Amy reminded me that one of the most important lessons I can model for my children is admitting when I messed up and owning my own mistakes.
Mike Krzyzewski (“Coach K”): Victory Through Teamwork and Leadership
Mike reminded me that staying current with pop culture is key to leading those at a different stage in life, so I’m cranking up the Tay-Tay for karaoke nights and connection.
Jo Saxton: Amplify Your Purpose to Elevate Your Impact
Jo reminded me to lead my daughters in not letting their voices be silenced or snatched from them. In knowing that they have an important voice that this world needs.
Will Guidara: Unreasonable Hospitality
Will reminded me that it’s sometimes the smallest gestures that make the biggest impact. Drawing my daughter a bath, lighting a candle and making her a cup of chamomile tea is a divine act of love that will make her know she is seen and cared for.
Michael Jr.: Funny How Conflict Works
Michael reminded me that rather than lamenting the conflicts we encounter, I need to teach my children to understand conflict as the most key opportunity for personal growth and revelation.
Carey Lohrenz: Span of Control
Carey reminded me that I can’t control what happens to my children outside of the doors of my own home, but I can teach them that their response to the many trials life will fling at them is within their control.
Joni Eareckson Tada: The Paradox of Leading From Your Weakness
Joni reminded me that I don’t have to be (and will never be) the perfect mom. But that when I lead my children by leaning into my own weakness — admitting my own limitations and depending on the One so much greater than me — is the most profound act of leadership I could take.
How about you? What leadership lesson are you taking out of the workplace and into your personal life — whatever that life might look like?
