This Week In Your Wallet: So You Want To Be A Successful Leader
It’s a new week, but like so many of you, I’m sure, I am having trouble moving past the horrible events that took place over the weekend in Orlando. My heart goes out to the victims, their families, the city of Orlando. To the members of the LGBT community, you are our community. As Lin-Manuel Miranda said in his Tony Awards speech Sunday, “And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love cannot be killed or swept aside.”
The days, of course, go on and so does the news — and the headlines. Today, I’d like to talk about self-awareness. It’s a trait that’s often essential in becoming a successful leader, and Fortune reports it’s a skill that most people lack. It’s the leader of a company’s job to self-evaluate, to figure out the status of the company culture and to compare where the company currently is with where it’s going. Self-awareness is about being internally honest not trying to be someone you’re not, as well as realizing there’s no one “right” leadership style. If you’re ever tasked with leading a team, focus on being authentic and — this is key — knowing where you’re leading. The team will likely follow.
Raising An Entrepreneur
Self-awareness is an important quality for entrepreneurs, just as it is for corporate (and organizational and community) leaders. But what if your concern is the budding entrepreneur you’re raising? In a column for Forbes.com, I outlined a few tips, starting with encouraging problem-solving. If your child mentions a problem, ask how he or she would solve it, then help brainstorm about how to turn that into a business opportunity. You could expand this exercise on a global scale by reading the newspaper and talking about community and world issues together, then coming up with potential solutions. Another key point? If your kid is drawn to nickel-and-diming, emphasize the lesson of “effort out, money in” — and use the opportunity to teach the importance of negotiating (especially with your daughters). According toGlassdoor data, 68 percent of women accepted the salary they were offered and didn’t counter, compared with 52 percent of men.
Stay-At-Home Money
Not many people would argue that raising a kid is a lot of work. So how high a salary does a stay-at-home mother deserve? The answer is open to interpretation, but a recent survey of stay-at-home moms cited by Fortune shows they say they deserve annual salaries of $50,000, on average. But they may be selling themselves short, according to sites like Insure.com and Salary.com, which calculated stay-at-home mom salaries at $65,283.81 and $143,102, respectively.
A majority (62%) of stay-at-home moms said they contribute to the family finances, and one in four respondents run some type of home business. On another note, 22% of survey respondents said they decided to leave the workforce because their jobs weren’t family-friendly or due to the high cost of childcare. If that’s the scenario you’re facing, why not give my podcast HerMoney with Jean Chatzky a try? On tomorrow’s episode, I sit down with the one and only Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze — an expert in money for millennials — and we talk about what has, and has not, changed in the world of finance over the past 25 years. (If you subscribe today, the episode will pop up in your feed tomorrow)!
How To Hire The Right Financial Advisor
The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Zweig has tips for finding the right person to help you manage your money, and one of the most important signs to look for is “humility in large doses.” Start with a search for fee-only advisors in your area at sites like NAPFA.org or LetsMakeAPla
Have a great week,
Jean
