I’ll never forget it. A couple of years ago I attended my son’s Back to School Night for Kindergarten. His teacher told us how great the children were doing and she shared a cute story from earlier in the day. She told the parents that there were some boys in the corner playing when it suddenly became very loud. She went over to see what was going on and one of the boys said excitedly “there can only be one manager, and I’m the manager of the restaurant!” I don’t know if it was my son or not who made the comment, but, it goes to show that five year olds are already taking charge. Future CEOs? Could be.
Fast-forward to today, and my son still tries to take charge of situations. Of course, it is mostly when he is playing with his younger brother. Still, he often makes it clear that he is in charge and he knows what is best.
My son is also at an age when he is realizing that the harder you work at something the more successful you will most likely be and the more money you will potentially earn.
Read the Wall Street Journal any morning and the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the world’s biggest companies are typically making headlines. Sometimes good and unfortunately, sometimes bad.
CEOs have a huge responsibility. They are not only overseeing sometimes thousands of employees, but are also committed to doing what is best for customers as well as investors in the company.
In fact, a recent article I read on CNN Money says that companies that treat workers well have better stock returns. According to research by professors at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Warwick Business School, investors are drawn to companies that are considered to be among the best companies to work for. Treat your workers, customers and investors not so well and the CEO could very well be out the door.
A good example comes from a couple of years ago when there was a well-known case of a CEO of a financial company accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from customers, lying to regulators and mail fraud. Not exactly the best role model.
We teach our kids to be respectful and independent. At the same time, most kids are naturally competitive and want to win and get ahead.
The more we continue to encourage such traits, the more likely we are to raise kids with the potential of being our future business leaders.
Want to take this lesson further? Give us your email and receive a free download to a story that you can read with your child called “From the Corner of the Playground to the Corner Office,” educate yourself even more on how to explain what it takes to be a CEO and a business leader to kids and share a fun activity called “Help Bode Get Dressed for Work.”
