Working Parent Superpowers: Why Parenting Skills Make You a Better Manager

When my son was born, I saw being one of the first moms at my company as a setback. But I realized in time that parenting actually gave me an unexpected edge in leadership.

While many parents worry about not being as available as non-parent colleagues, the truth is our superpowers often come directly from what we learn raising kids.

The Parent-Sales Manager Connection

If you're the only working parent manager in your company, you might sometimes feel like you're straddling two worlds. You're juggling morning tantrums before jumping on deal reviews, or adjusting your forecast between soccer practices, or taking the second half of a 1:1 from the car while you rush to pick up the kids from school.

It often leaves you feeling like you’re giving fractions of yourself to both jobs.

You might even feel like you’re judged for being “less invested” in your work than your non-parent colleagues. 

But zooming out, I think it’s important to recognize that the skills you're developing at home as a parent aren’t actually a setback - they’re what gives you a competitive advantage at work, especially if you are in leadership (or hoping to step into a leadership role soon). 

Your Parental Superpowers 

Some of the skills directly translate, while others are more nuanced.  Rather than feeling less than and beating ourselves up, let’s take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate ourselves as parents and as leaders.  

Here are some natural superpowers that working parents have in in their leadership roles:

1. Emotional Intelligence on Steroids You've negotiated with a toddler over broccoli. Sales objections? Underperforming AEs? They’re child's play for you. You are an EQ master because you’ve been negotiating with the most stubborn and unreasonable of the entire human population.
2. Efficiency Master You've learned to maximize every minute. While others spend hours on low-yield activities, you're laser-focused on what actually matters in the moment.
3. Resilience Under Pressure Handled a public meltdown at Target? The team’s missed quota this month isn't going to break you.
4. Teaching vs. Doing Just like teaching your kid to brush their own teeth or tie their own shoes (even when you could do it faster or, frankly, better), you recognize your job is to develop a team who can do their job independent of you.
5. Authentic Leadership Your team sees you balancing real life with work demands. You are building deeper trust through vulnerability without even trying - because you literally don’t have a choice other than to juggle it all without always appearing “perfect.”

Embracing Your Dual Identity

The next time you feel like apologizing for having to leave early for a school performance, remember: your parenting experience isn't holding you back—it's your secret weapon.

Your non-parent colleagues might have more time for happy hours and rise and grind culture, but you've developed an unmatched ability to prioritize, communicate efficiently, and build genuine relationships.

Even when you don’t feel like you’re doing all that great of a job at it, I promise you, you’re doing better than most.

So to all the working parent managers feeling like the odd one out in your company: we're not playing catch-up. We're bringing a unique playbook to the table.

What parenting skill has unexpectedly elevated your sales leadership game?