Wisdom from a Young Working Mother

Jessica Albuquerque is office manager of the Cohn Health Institute, a wife and mother. She is passionate about creating a healthy and vibrant environment for her staff and clients as well as her family. Around Mother’s Day we asked her two questions:

 

What leadership lessons did your mother pass on to you?

  • One thing that stands out for me in regards to what my mother instilled in me is my work ethic and I also don’t ask anybody on my team to do what I wouldn’t do myself.
  • Another thing I would say is that I always connect before I correct. Connect with someone and take that time to bond with them before you go into correction. I love that my mom did that with me and I am constantly reminded of that when I am around by other leaders in my community because the ones that are truly present and moving forward and growing and stretching themselves connect before they correct that all the time.
  • The third leadership lesson from my Mom is having compassion. You never know what’s happening with someone behind closed doors so although we might get frustrated with what’s going on and our coworkers are not being as productive as we would like them to be taking a moment to pause and be compassionate before moving forward has been huge for me.

How do you teach your kids to become a leader?

  • Right now my children are both very young, ages 4 and 6, and what I am trying to pass on to them is putting down the electronics and being present. It requires me to put away my electronics and connect with them and teach them to be present in that moment.
  • Rather than me as a parent, telling them what they should do or how they should do it, I’m helping them to ask questions like “What do you think you should do?” I emphasize critical thinking by asking “what are some of the ways you can solve this problem or how would you like to talk to that person”. Then, I ask them “would you like to hear some of my suggestions as a mom”? Usually, they say yes but as they grow older when they get to more challenging decisions having the ability to ask critical questions and know that they are in control of the outcome will be more and more important.

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