Lessons in leadership from the maternal playbook

If you've ever watched a mother soothe a toddler while readying their meal, mentally tracking the call she had to make to a client and also silently preparing her kid’s science project, then remembering to stock up on some snacks for breakfast, all at once, you’ve witnessed a masterclass in leadership.

It’s high time we admit it, some of the best leadership lessons aren’t taught in B-schools or boardrooms - they’re playing out in kitchens, living rooms, hospital waiting areas and playgrounds every day. And no, this isn’t about glorifying maternal sacrifice or reducing women to caregivers, it’s about acknowledging that maternal qualities like empathy, intuition, patience and nurturing can be serious power tools in the modern leader’s kit.

In a world where burnout is real, attrition is rising and Gen Z isn’t afraid to walk away from tone-deaf workplaces, maybe what we need are fewer bosses quoting KPIs and more leaders who actually give a damn.

Empathy is not a 'soft' skill. It’s a survival one.

Let’s start with empathy, often tossed around in town halls like confetti but rarely put into practice.

Mothers, by default, practice active empathy. When a child says, “I don’t want to go to school,” she doesn't just scold or dismiss. She digs deeper. Did something happen at school? Is the child overwhelmed? Bullied?

Now replace the child with your team member. When someone misses deadlines or turns up disengaged, do we pause and ask why? Or do we go straight into performance reviews and HR warnings?

We spend more than 50% of our active time at work. You’ve already got our Boomer parents at home telling us to do something or another at home, naturally, you don’t want to be in the same mindset at work. The generation today wants to be heard. All they really want is someone who listens and understands and allows them to be themselves & grow. 

At SoCheers, at a point in time, we had back-to-back resignations. We failed to find a pattern. Instead of treating it as a thing that happens all the time in agencies, the leadership chose to dig deeper. Through candid one-on-ones & exit interviews, we learned that our task tracking mechanisms to measure productivity were massively failing our team. It was bogging them down with a lot of unnecessary data entry instead of sorting out their daily task lists. We immediately did away with that, made workflows simpler and solved for it. Our average exit rate went down by 60% in the next two quarters. Coincidence? Not quite.

Empathy led to insight. Insight led to action. That’s leadership.

Patience is not passive. It’s strategic.

Anyone who’s ever tried to get a toddler to eat their meals knows the art of patience. You don’t yell & you definitely don’t fall into the trap of screen time. You don’t give up. You try ten different ways of engaging & entertaining till you finish one meal and then another. And you keep showing up every day.

Leaders today are dealing with something similar: teams that are multitasking, struggling with information overload and adapting to constant change. Screaming “why can’t you get this done faster?” helps no one. Strategic patience does.

In fast-growth environments, I’ve seen founders lose good people simply because they expected them to sprint from day one. But just like with kids, every employee learns at their own pace. Giving someone 90 days instead of 30 to adapt isn’t being ‘soft’; it’s setting them up for long-term performance.

Intuition isn’t guesswork. It’s informed instinct.

The number of times my mother has said, “I just know something’s off,” and been right is creepily accurate. That’s not magic. That’s 20 years of watching micro-behaviours, hearing tone shifts and noticing patterns.

Leaders who develop intuition are essentially doing the same thing. They read between the lines. They sense when a campaign will flop despite the perfect pitch deck. They spot the burnouts before the resignation emails. This comes from spending time with your people, not just above them.

Some of the best hiring decisions I’ve seen weren’t based on resumes, they were based on a gut feeling in the second round of an interview, when someone paused to ask a thoughtful question.

Nurturing talent is more than mentorship. It’s motherhood in motion.

The best leaders aren’t the ones who shine the brightest; they’re the ones who help others shine. That’s classic maternal behaviour, helping kids find their voice, build confidence, fall down and get back up.

A good leader knows how to hold space. To say, “You’ve got this. But if you fall, I’ve got you.”

Look around at workplaces where talent is thriving. Chances are, someone senior is actively nurturing, not micromanaging. They’re asking: What are your strengths? What excites you? How can I help you grow here and even beyond here?

It’s not rocket science. It’s parenting energy.

So, how do leaders bring in maternal qualities without being reductive or tokenistic?

Here are a few practical ways:

• Redefine performance: Make space for emotional intelligence, listening skills and resilience in appraisals.

• Celebrate care: Reward managers who retain and grow talent, not just those who deliver numbers.

• Model vulnerability: Leaders who admit when they’re tired, wrong, or confused give others permission to do the same.

• Rethink team rituals: Introduce weekly check-ins that focus on emotional health, not just tasks.

Let’s stop separating humanity from leadership.

The old-school, top-down, alpha-leader archetype may have won wars and market shares once. But the future? It needs something softer. Stronger. More sustainable, more adaptable. 

It needs maternal leadership. Not just from mothers, but from everyone willing to lead with empathy, show up with patience, listen with intuition and build with care.

If more leaders could do that, we’d have fewer burnouts, better workplaces and teams that don’t just perform, they thrive.

After all, as every mother knows, it’s not about control, it’s about care. And that, dear reader, is what real leadership looks like.

News