While no words perfectly capture the contribution of mothers, all of us are living proof of how meticulous mothers are with their “projects”. Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege of working with inspiring mothers including my own, who is a first-generation entrepreneur. This Mothers’ Day, I am penning down the 4 of the many things I learned from the greatest beings in the world:

Turning dreams into reality

“Moms have critical entrepreneurial skills such as patience, stamina and persistence. They know how to prioritise and are master schedulers” says author Tamara Monosoff in her book The Mom Inventors Handbook. Mothers constitute 11% of all women entrepreneurs in India and most of the successful women entrepreneurs we know today, from VLCC's Vandana Luthra to Shahnaz Husain, are mompreneurs too. Brands like Nykaa, Tjori, Swa, JhaJi Store, FreshMenu, etc. have excelled a great deal under the guidance of visionary businesswomen and that has only confirmed my belief in saying that mothers can make all dreams a reality.

Just do it

Mothers are the OG problem solvers and they are huge believers in “just do it”. They are focused, energised and always on their feet to get things done. There is a reason that a mother’s relentless badgering to get you to clean your room is an urban legend. Because mothers can’t just let it go & move on. Harris, Morrison, Ho & Lewis identified the link between motherhood and the entrepreneurial experience through exploratory research of how Mompreneurs orient the activities of their enterprise to their family, their children and personal aspirations. As a leader in a business setting, mothers are great at guiding their teams to solutions and balancing priorities across the board.

Real (time, life) Calculator

You would get what I am talking about if you remember how your mother bargains with a neighbourhood vendor. Mothers understand budgetary constraints and it reflects in their planning & management style. Without being stingy, they can utilise every penny to its fullest which makes for a great quality to have in the workplace. Everyone loves a good negotiator on their team. Financial experts swear by the personal finance tips by mothers and it is recognised across industries that by being good at people management as well as finances, mothers turn out to be great strategic planners & leaders.

Emotional & rational, best at both

Women are generally more empathetic & supportive (Forbes confirms this too) making them great leaders, mentors and professional educators because of their brain conditioning to sense non-verbal cues and body language. Mothers have elaborate experience with freshers (kids!) and they carry those lessons while managing teams as intuitive leaders.

I have been privileged to be surrounded by mompreneurs who are breaking the glass ceiling and setting benchmarks for the rest of us. Mothers have a lot to offer beyond the conventional notion and I am glad we are getting to see more and more examples of this.