Being a founder and a parent

Finding the balance of being a parent and doing your life’s work, without losing out on either, is no easy task.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many positive role models of founders being engaged parents in the media. This leaves many feeling like being an entrepreneur, or a parent is a binary choice or that they must resign themselves to being an average parent. That’s not the case, and this narrative needs to change.

We asked Kate Lambridis (Co-founder, Human), Mark Tanner (Co-founder & COO, Qwilr), Simon Griffiths (Co-founder & CEO, Who Gives a Crap) and Siobhan Savage (Co-founder and CEO, Reejig) to share their experiences about the realities of managing a young family and growing a startup.

The discussion covered parenting fails, tactical advice and a candid perspective on managing the juggle. Here are a few of our favourite takeaways:

• Simon: “As a founder and CEO, you’re often trying to bring your best self into every meeting and that’s where our focus is. We forget that after that’s all done, we go home and see our family, and might want to collapse into the couch, have a drink and not talk to anyone. But you have to remember that your family needs to get the best version of you too.”
• Kate: “A lot of people think boundaries are a nice-to-have, but if something urgent happens, they go out the window. But the first thing about boundaries is you have to actually believe you are better at your job, being a mum, a partner and a friend, if you have them.”
• Mark: “Whether or not you have kids, I would strongly encourage everyone to blow up their calendar every year or so. It’s a wonderfully cathartic experience. Rebuild it thoughtfully and intentionally.”
• Siobhan: “If you look at the people who start companies, we’re all obsessive. We’re all in our houses saying ‘This is our moment kids!’. And I get my kids involved in this conversation. I’ve told them this is our moment. They walk around in their Reejig hoodies because they’re part of building this thing.”

There’s so much to this topic that can’t be covered off in one session alone. Sign up to AirMail to keep across our next events where we’ll continue the discussion on what life, outside of your life’s work looks like.

LIFE, OUTSIDE OF YOUR LIFE’S WORK, IS A SERIES OF CONTENT AND EVENTS EXPLORING OUR MULTI-FACETED LIVES BEYOND THE WHIRLWIND TEMPO OF STARTING, BUILDING AND DOING OUR LIFE’S WORK.