What Are the Traits of a Boss Mom?

Question: What do you get when you combine the notable traits of a Female Elephant and a Female Weddell Seal?

Short Answer: A Boss Mom!

Mom elephants are one of the most protective species in our universe. They offer blanket protection for their offspring by ensuring their young calf's travel in the innermost position of a herd to protect them against potential dangers. Interestingly, whenever one of these young calves becomes orphaned, they are usually adopted by the herd.

In contrast, a Weddell Seal Mom undertakes the titanic responsibility of teaching her offspring all the essential skills needed to survive the most dangerous conditions that they might encounter during their lifetimes.

These seals even teach their offspring to use their teeth to create air holes in ice-water conditions to prevent them from freezing over. As their offspring grow, these seals also produce a type of high caloric milk to accelerate their growth and thereby maximize their odds of survival.

Along with her desire to always be helpful, my Mom possessed many of the attributes shared by these amazing mammals. On a career-related front, she insisted that I always separate my short-term, intermediate, and final goals. At the most basic level, she said that over the short-term, I always needed to maintain a positive outlook because good things come to those that exude optimism. In contrast, an intermediate goal should focus on developing the skills needed to qualify for a job while the final goal involves the tactics employed during the interview process.

Finally, my Mom unleashed her secret sauce by quoting her favorite proverb, namely that "All roads lead to Rome," attributed to Alain de Lille, a French theologian and Poet in 1175 as she reminded me to always be willing to try multiple strategies to achieve my goals. Although my Mom had little formal education beyond the third grade and therefore had no idea of the actual origins of this proverb, she remained an impassioned advocate of this popular proverb.

After completing my Ph.D. in Economics and stints as a University Professor and a Federal Reserve Economist, she listened intently as I informed her one day that I had decided to pursue a Senior Economist position on Wall Street. And after going through more than 7 levels of job interviews that took me to Canada, Europe, and the United States, I noticed that the people interviewing me remained concerned that I didn't have enough inner toughness due to my academic and public sector background to survive working on a Trading Floor with "street-savvy" fixed income traders.

I felt this was rather strange because I grew up in New York City's low-income public housing projects where rampant crime and drug use implied that my survival skills were above the norm. Nonetheless, after talking to my Mom, she insisted that I change tactics.

With a burst of confidence, my Mom said, "You need to remind those people from the Hamptons that if you survived your drug and crime surroundings, …. they are the ones that need to worry about surviving around you."

With this thought in mind, I proceeded to emphasize the attributes that weren't included in my curriculum vitae. In my final level of interviews with the CEO of Barclay's Fixed Income Group, I said, "nothing personal, but with my background that involved surviving gang disputes and witnessing conflicts between drug dealers that frequently placed innocent bystanders in harm's way, I don't think you will ever have to worry my ability to deal with your traders."

Within minutes, the CEO informed me that I was hired for the position!

Although my Mom is not around today, I give my quick-witted Mom full credit for my first private-sector job on Wall Street. After a few years, I went on to successfully work (after being recruited by a headhunter) for 25 years as a Global Chief Economist for JPMorgan Chase (1994 to 2019).

Thanks again, for being a Boss Mom and sharing your insights when I was just a young calf.