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Family Smart/Parentsmart Leader: Yoshihasa Aono, Father of 3, CEO at Cybozu, Japan
“I have very positive experiences from my three paternity leaves. Since I started taking a lot more time for my family I have changed my views. Now I have large social networks, in corporate culture and education, and I think about things I have never thought of before, as medical systems and politics for example. It has definitely a positive effect on my career and my company. The company goal now is to solve social problems.”
Family Smart/Parentsmart Leader: Ikue Yaoka, Mother of 3 (1 + twins), Assistant product manager at the business marketing division, Cybozu, Japan.
”I have been on maternity leave twice and I have learned a lot with my children, like time management, flexibility and effectiveness – and patience! I am better at anticipating different situations and planning every work flow. It’s clearly very useful in my business role.”
Parentsmart Manager: Joakim Ströberg, Father of 3, on paternity leaves when working as marketing manager at Telge Corp, Sweden
“The company initiatives made me feel strengthened in my decision to take parental leave and I feel a strong loyalty towards a company that not only accepts that, but also is proactive in the matter. During my paternity leave I discovered a number of links between parenthood and leadership – things that I hadn’t thought of. I will use the mindset in my leadership forward, to motivate, keep and develop my employees, using ALL their competence.”
“Something that has struck me is my ability to create opportunities for my children to grow and develop in their daily learning. Sometimes you have to patiently stand by and, without being there and poke, watch as the children make one mistake after another in their attempts to carry out a task. Once they succeed, the joy and learning is enormous. Such knowledge and such a curious attitude from me as a father creates a great foundation for their developed learning in the future. The same goes of course for my employees.”
