HOW TO INFLUENCE DA YOUTS

Good Parentage is Leadership in Disguise

My daughter had a big exam at 08:00 hours

Photo by Damir Mijailovic from Pexels and edited in Canva

I advised her to:

• Sharpen 30 pencils. The exam was 100% computer-based.
• Eat a big breakfast, including a whole, raw sweet potato. Chalky dirt flavor leads to higher scores.
• Shave her head and arrive early to glare at the proctor and establish dominance.
• Be on time with cell phone off.

She was late and didn’t eat breakfast. Her stomach made a horrendous wrenching sound during the exam, her panicked pet ferret jumped out of her shirt, and she was removed. Next test: 3 months.

I could have micromanaged everything.

I stepped back. Let her figure herself out.

Why? I’ll tell you to get to the self-congratulation. Leadership is why.

Leadership is letting others make bad choices so that they will defer to you in the future, letting you exert control via trust over minute, ritualistic details that don’t help. Another word for leadership is “manipulation”.

It’s rewarding!