The New Role of Parenting in Leadership

Revision with unchanged content. This work seeks to determine whether the act of being a parent influenced a public administrator's leadership style, or in contrast, whether leadership in­fluenced ones parenting style. Although there has been considerable research in both fields as independent disciplines, there is minimal information on po­tential relationships between the two subjects. This is surprising because parents are the first leaders each of us are introduced to throughout child­hood. Similar to leaders, parents must use their experiences as a guide for leading their children, inspire and lead by example, and set clear goals to maintain order within the household. Similar to the way a parent must put the needs of their child before self interests, leaders must remain mindful of the importance of their duty to meet their constituents' best interest while fulfilling the needs of the organization they serve. However, the paucity of published research on the interconnectedness of leadership and parenting leads one to conclude that the role of parenting is historically undervalued as a leadership skill that could be used within the workplace. This study sought to explore the gap between leadership and parenting by asking the primary research question, does a relationship exist between these two subjects, especially in a public administration setting?