At a recent event, I had a special co-moderator with me – my daughter, Brynne. She was a welcome addition, let me tell you.
More on that later. First, I want to confess I was really struggling with my role in the event, Deepening the Leadership Capacity of Women Today.
I had agreed that Vision Coaching should host the virtual panel on March 8, International Women’s Day, and we assembled an impressive lineup of women leaders for it – women I know well and respect a great deal: leadership coaches Lisa Haydon and Lianne Krakauer with career and HR consultant Shauna Cole.
What unsettled me is the suggestion that I moderate it. Was that the right thing to do? Should it not be a woman? Lisa, Lianne and Shauna each told me I should, but I still wrestled with it.
I mentioned it to Mary Ellen Veale, my partner in life and business.
“Why don’t you invite Brynne to do it with you?” Mary Ellen said.
And so I did, and the 12-year-old hardly blinked an eye.
“I’d love to,” she said.
Poised, confident and charming
When March 8 arrived, I was more nervous than she was. (She has stage experience through the local youth theatre; I’m a Toastmasters dropout.)
The panel discussion was tremendous, and Brynne certainly outshone me – poised, confident and charming, she wasn’t even fazed when I asked whether she’d like to be CEO of Vision Coaching one day.
It reminded me of one of the reasons I love what I do. My passion for coaching aside, I was able to deliberately build a business that allows me the freedom and flexibility to be an involved father.
It allows me to be true to my values. And it allows my family to be involved in what I do for work – Mary Ellen helped found Vision and is today an active member of the coaching roster as well. My three children are all too familiar with what I do, since I work mostly from a home office or the car, shuttling them to school, friends or activities.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I also had the distinct pleasure of having my dad, Ron Veale, as a guest on The Boiling Point. I’ve been after him for years to do this, and he finally relented now that he is firmly retired as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Yukon.
If you missed the recent Boiling Point episode with my dad, where he delves into alternative dispute resolution, you can find it here.
And if you want to catch that terrific panel discussion, and find out what Brynne’s answer was when I asked her if she wanted my job some day, you can find the recording on the Vision Coaching YouTube channel.
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