Mommy Wars by Leslie Morgan Steiner

Author:Leslie Morgan Steiner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781588365989
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

I dabbled briefly with a less-than-full-time schedule back when Rachel was a baby and I was struggling to juggle the demands of the consulting firm with new motherhood. I worked part-time for a couple of months and then moved to four days a week. The firm valued me and was trying hard to retain senior women (there were no female partners, and I was one of the more senior female managers). But I realized that the only way to really get ahead there was to work like everyone else was working—all the time.

Commuting was no longer for me. Maybe it was the time when I was pregnant and had to pull over on I-95 to vomit. Maybe it was the realization that I could be with Rachel for two more hours each day if I didn’t commute. In any case, after about a year of being a new mom in consulting, I knew I needed to find a job closer to home with more manageable hours.

I also realized that I needed to work in a job I felt more passionate about. My time had suddenly become more precious; I measured more acutely what I was getting out of work. While I’d always loved the analytical rigor and challenge of consulting, I’d never felt terribly ardent about my specific clients or projects. My musical background and interest in pop culture led to a job at Viacom in the corporate-development department—an eight-minute taxi ride from our New York apartment. That job in turn led to an offer from a Viacom division, Nickelodeon.

The first time I sat in Nickelodeon’s offices, I wanted to work there. Nickelodeon was filled with talented, creative people who “bled orange.” Their passion was contagious. The staff was 60 percent female, many of the senior women had kids, and the president and founder, Geraldine Laybourne, was a working mom and former schoolteacher. Plus, they offered me a job when I was six months pregnant with Peter—a good sign that I’d hit the working-mom jackpot.

Soon after joining Nickelodeon, Gerry taught me an invaluable lesson about combining motherhood and work. I was helping to prepare the annual budget presentation to upper management. The week was filled with late nights. Friday morning came and I arrived at Gerry’s office with the presentations in hand.

“You don’t look so good, Ann. I bet you haven’t seen your kids all week.”

I said that I was pretty tired. No, I hadn’t seen much of the kids that week.

“You need to bring your kids into the office, Ann,” Gerry responded.

I asked her to repeat that.

“My kids have always been a part of what I do here. You need to make sure that Rachel and Peter understand what you do and feel a part of it. Bring them in.”

So I did. Peter was still a baby, but I started bringing in three-year-old Rachel. Gerry wanted executives to understand kids, to think like kids. Nickelodeon’s kidlike environment constantly reinforces the company’s mission. The walls are painted bright green. Toys fill people’s offices.

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