Kajsa Nichols-Smith

Yes to all of those questions. I could do it, and I would do it. I made a mindful choice to not see that story as a bad harbinger of how hard it is to have a family and a career. Instead, I embraced it as an indicator that having both is possible. Standing in front of me was an enormously successful woman, who’d spent decades doing the job that …

I was my own boss, so I got to be the decision maker. But there’s a lesson here for managers who have women reporting to them: let them be the one to make decisions that might require some kind of sacrifice. If you’re worried about putting undue pressure on them, give them an easy out: “It is okay to say no to this, but I wanted to put the decision in your hands.” Ask yourself: am I empowering my team members, or am I impeding them?