8
Children
Powerful
Ways To Mold
LEADERS
W
e all want our children
to become leaders.
Whether they spend
the bulk of their days
in the mailroom or
the corner office, we want our children
to grow to be courageous, passionate,
and authentic. We want their actions
to inspire other people to be their best,
to get more out of life than they ever
thought possible.
As parents and caretakers of children,
their path to leadership is in our hands.
We can model and teach the skills that
will equip them to lead themselves and
others in this hyper-competitive world,
or we can allow them to fall victim to
the kind of thinking that makes them
slaves to the status quo.
It’s a big responsibility—but when isn’t
being a parent a massive responsibility?
The beauty of building children into
leaders is that it’s the little things we
do every day that mold them into the
people they’ll become.
Focus on the eight actions below, and
you’ll build leadership in your children
and yourself.
6
INTO
BY: DR. TRAVIS BRADBERRY
1. MODEL EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE (EQ)
Emotional
intelligence
is
that
“something” in each of us that is a bit
intangible; it affects how we manage
behavior, navigate social complexities,
and make personal decisions that
achieve positive results.
Children learn emotional intelligence
from their parents, plain and simple. As
your children watch you every day, they
absorb your behavior like a sponge.
Children are particularly attuned
to your awareness of emotions, the
behavior you demonstrate in response
to strong emotions, and how you react
and respond to their emotions.
EQ is one of the biggest drivers of success
in leadership positions. TalentSmart
has tested more than a million people
and found that EQ is responsible for 58
percent of a leader’s job performance.
Likewise, 90 percent of top-performing
leaders have high EQs.
Most people do very little to develop
their EQ growing up. Just 36% of the
people we tested are able to accurately
identify their emotions as they happen.
Children who develop a high level of
EQ carry these skills into adulthood,
and this gives them a leg up in
leadership and in life.
2. DON’T OBSESS ABOUT
ACHIEVEMENT
Parents get sucked into obsessing about
achievement because they believe
that this will make their children
into high achievers. Instead, fixating
on achievement creates all sorts of
problems for kids. This is especially
true when it comes to leadership, where
focusing on individual achievement
gives kids the wrong idea about how
work gets done.
Simply put, the best leaders surround
themselves with great people because
they know they can’t do it alone.
Achievement-obsessed children are so
focused on awards and outcomes that
they never fully understand this. All
they can see is the player who’s handed
the MVP trophy and the celebrity CEO
who makes the news—they assume
it’s all about the individual. It’s a rude
awakening once they discover how real
life works.