As a GoHealth executive and father to a three-month-old son, Michael Mahoney, GoHealth Senior Vice President of Marketing, manages competing demands from family and work. The first-time dad shares his secret to maintaining success in the office and at home with his son.
I have found that the key to my success as a father and business leader is to make time at the right time – both for family and business. That means not only deciding when to be in or out of the office but also when to be engaged (even remotely) and how to prioritize your time while at work.
Let’s say you have a report due at 6:00 p.m. Do you understand the core nature of it? Who will use the information and how? If you were tasked with another opportunity or problem instead of the report, would you produce different information?
Thinking this way can lead to a better understanding of the core issues and more impactful work. This means not only getting more done in less time but stepping outside of delegated tasks to tackle bigger opportunities, ones that you would not otherwise be able to solve if you were just focused on what was “assigned” to you.
If you are able to embrace this approach, you’ll be working when the business needs you and with your family when the business does not. By making a concerted effort to be present and engaged in your child’s life, you’re focused on maximizing what matters at work and minimizing what does not. That can have a very positive effect on your business, simply because of the mindset it engenders.
Fortunately, our company praises impact over input, so it’s a lot easier to think and work this way at GoHealth than at a company with a different mentality.
