--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Dr. Becky on What Good Parenting and Good Leadership Have in Common image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63dfbf7341a508ca/6a2c813abb7077156503f2fc/charter-dr-becky-emory-parker.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- The information presented here is created by Charter, independently from the TIME editorial staff.  Time charter * [leadership](/partner-content/charter/tag/leadership/) ## leadership Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Dr. Becky on What Good Parenting and Good Leadership Have in Common by [Jena McGregor](/author/jena-mcgregor/) and [Massella Dukuly](/author/massella-dukuly/) Jun 14, 2026 10:30 AM CUT  Photo by Emory Parker by [Jena McGregor](/author/jena-mcgregor/) and [Massella Dukuly](/author/massella-dukuly/) Jun 14, 2026 10:30 AM CUT As anxieties rise in a slowing job market—and AI threatens traditional expectations about work—people are looking to leaders for clarity and calm. They're asking questions like: Can I trust this place? How do leaders behave under pressure? How do they handle conflict? Many of those questions are also at the heart of parenting. At our [New Employer Brand Summit](https://www.charterworks.com/events/new-employer-brand-summit/2026/ "undefined") June 9, Charter spoke with [Dr. Becky Kennedy](https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbecky/ "undefined"), whose books, social media posts, and workshops from her company, [Good Inside](https://www.goodinside.com/?utm%5Fsource=google&utm%5Fmedium=paid&campaignid=22406568629&utm%5Fcampaign=search%5Fus-row%5Fbrand%5Fdrbecky%5Fmax-conv%5F251217&utm%5Fcontent=brand%5Fdrbecky%5Fdrbecky%5F251217&utm%5Fterm=dr%20becky%20parenting&match=e&adid=802056274470&keywordid=kwd-1492715689188&adgroupid=179125844804&network=g&gad%5Fsource=1&gad%5Fcampaignid=22406568629&gbraid=0AAAAABIM8w-86YOeH1mTJHRSZH8sIVPem&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3K7RBhDJARIsAKRtP5Qk73iLWyMHs-g%5FsklzLGmGUbWMvtMOD8xaN3NsWdLhKVHwjg9HpQ0aAjdDEALw%5FwcB "undefined"), have transformed how many people think about parenting. But her work on emotion regulation, boundaries, repair, and what she calls “sturdy leadership”—leading with both personal connection and authority—are a framework for the workplace, too. The following excerpts from [our conversation at the summit](https://www.charterworks.com/raising-kids-building-culture-what-dr-beckys-guide-to-good-leadership-reveals/ "undefined") have been edited for space and clarity. Sign up for Charter's newsletter to get the handbook for the future of work delivered to your inbox. Email Address You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our [Terms of Service](https://www.charterworks.com/terms-of-service/) and [Privacy Policy](https://www.charterworks.com/privacy-policy/). **A lot of leaders are navigating through rapid change and stress and uncertainty. When you're leading people through a difficult moment, how do you actually communicate?** There's a couple concrete things that come to mind. Number one is this concept I call MGI, which stands for ‘most generous interpretation.’ I think it's best contrasted with what we naturally do in our minds, which is to come up with an LGI, or ‘least generous interpretation.’ It forces you to separate your good identity from a bad moment. \[In the workplace, imagine\] I have someone who's constantly interrupting at meetings or talking over someone else. I'm thinking, ‘Oh, \[this person\] doesn't respect anyone on this team.’ But I'm responding to a story in my own head. What if I say, ‘What's the most generous interpretation?’ Maybe it’s that it's hard to have an idea and not share it or this person has felt interrupted in other moments. I'm going to be much more likely to say to that person before the next meeting, ‘Hey, hold on a second. There's some reason this keeps happening. I don't think either of us want this situation.’ Number two…there's a sentence structure that every leader in their home and at their workplace should commit to memory. As soon as you start a sentence this way, it's amazing how everyone \[takes\] a deep breath: ‘I want to tell you what I know and what I don't know.’ Uncertainty doesn't make us feel unsafe as much as _unnamed_ uncertainty. **How should leaders be thinking about the concept of repair?** Repair is the most powerful relationship strategy there is, whether you're talking about your kid, a partnership, in-laws, a workplace. We're all going to mess up…We blame ourselves or we try to avoid \[fixing\] it because we don't want to look at the thing that would make us feel bad about ourselves. What ends up impacting a system and a relationship and our own mental health is rarely the first thing \[we did to mess up\]. It's always what we do _about_ that thing. If you leave this room with nothing else, I hope this is it. What really impacts a relationship isn't whether you mess up. What impacts a relationship is whether you repair _after_ you mess up. **If your idea of ‘sturdy leadership’ became more common, what would actually be different?** \[Sturdy leadership\] is really best exemplified by a pilot. When you're in a leadership position at work, you really control so much of the safety of the company. \[As an adult\], there are very few times your safety is truly 100% in the hands of someone else except being on a plane. Imagine going through turbulence and everyone is screaming. There's three kinds of pilots you could hear, and I think they exemplify different leaders. The first pilot's just like, ‘Everyone be quiet, stop freaking out. You're really overreacting and you're ruining my ability to focus.’ You'd be worried this pilot doesn't understand the turbulence. You’d probably be a little freaked out that your overwhelm was enough to make them unable to stay calm. The second pilot is a version of modern parenting—the overcorrection—which is, ‘I'm going to open up the cockpit and if any of you want to fly the plane, just come do it because I'm scared and maybe you know what to do.’ Sturdiness is our ability to stay connected to ourselves and our authority, which I don't think has to be a dirty word…That \[third\] pilot would say, ‘Hey, I hear you screaming. I get that you're upset. I believe you _and_ I know what I'm doing. I've flown planes before. What scares you does not scare me..’ That immediately makes you feel calm because \[the pilot\] saw the reality of your experience, but your experience wasn't contagious. --- ## Read more from Charter [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/) [Open article: The Three Ingredients for Building Trust](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/the-three-ingredients-for-building-trust/)  ### The Three Ingredients for Building Trust [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/the-three-ingredients-for-building-trust/) [Open article: Box CEO Aaron Levie on the AI Fluency Skills Leaders Need Right Now](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/box-ceo-aaron-levie-on-the-ai-fluency-skills-leaders-need-right-now/)  ### Box CEO Aaron Levie on the AI Fluency Skills Leaders Need Right Now [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/box-ceo-aaron-levie-on-the-ai-fluency-skills-leaders-need-right-now/) [Open article: 10 Lessons on AI Transformation—and Leadership—from Top HR Leaders](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7383559/10-lessons-on-ai-transformation-and-leadership-from-top-hr-leaders/)  ### 10 Lessons on AI Transformation—and Leadership—from Top HR Leaders [READ MORE](https://time.com/partner-content/charter/7383559/10-lessons-on-ai-transformation-and-leadership-from-top-hr-leaders/) --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/dr-becky-on-what-good-parenting-and-good-leadership-have-in-common/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/dr-becky-on-what-good-parenting-and-good-leadership-have-in-common/"},"headline":"Dr. Becky on What Good Parenting and Good Leadership Have in Common","datePublished":"2026-06-14T10:30:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-12T22:01:02.893Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/dr-becky-on-what-good-parenting-and-good-leadership-have-in-common/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63dfbf7341a508ca/6a2c813abb7077156503f2fc/charter-dr-becky-emory-parker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jena McGregor","jobTitle":"Editorial director and VP, content strategy, for Modern Executive Solutions","url":"https://time.com/author/jena-mcgregor/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Massella Dukuly","jobTitle":"Head of Workplace Strategy + Innovation, Charter","url":"https://time.com/author/massella-dukuly/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63dfbf7341a508ca/6a2c813abb7077156503f2fc/charter-dr-becky-emory-parker.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"charter-dr-becky-emory-parker.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Photo by Emory Parker","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/partner-content/charter/dr-becky-on-what-good-parenting-and-good-leadership-have-in-common/","name":"Dr. Becky on What Good Parenting and Good Leadership Have in Common"}}]}] ```