Be a Force for Positive Momentum

Claire Hughes Johnson's career advice distills to one line: Be a force for positive momentum.

What do we all care about? Progress. Impact. Movement. Getting stuck is the enemy. When people or teams freeze - unsure of what to do, who decides, whether they're allowed to act - everything grinds to a halt.

Claire tells people at Stripe: 'If you're not sure who the decision maker is, it's probably you. I'd rather you act that way than not, because otherwise you're going to slow the whole company down.'

This is profound parenting advice. Your child is stuck. Can't figure out how to start. Frozen in front of the puzzle. Paralyzed about which toy to play with. Your instinct is to solve: here, do this piece first. Try that one.

But your real job is to restore momentum. Not to make the decision for them, but to help them feel empowered to make any decision. 'What's one small thing you could try?' 'What would happen if you just started somewhere?'

Don't get stuck yourself, either. You'll make wrong calls as a parent. That's fine. Wrong calls that create movement are better than perfect paralysis.

Be a force for positive momentum. It's a career maker and a parenting philosophy.