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Episode 2: Perfect Parenting Does Not Exist, with Karen Catlin

January 3, 2017

Karen Catlin is an advocate for women in the tech industry, a leadership coach, a TEDx speaker, and co-author of “Present! A Techie’s Guide to Public Speaking.” Formerly, Karen was a vice president at Adobe Systems.

Karen started a blog in 2012 called “Use Your Inside Voice – Thoughts on the Intersection of Leadership and Parenting.” She believes that many leadership skills can be applied to parenting, and vice versa. In her blog, she explores these overlapping skills with personal stories from her career in software and her journey as a parent of two teens. (Her children have since graduated high school and are attending college.)

Karen also works with a number of non-profits. She’s on the Board of Directors of The Women’s CLUB of Silicon Valley, an incubator of women leaders (theclubsv.org). Through Brown University Women’s Launch Pad, she mentors young women about to start their careers. She is also a member of the Diversity Advisory Board for Browns Computer Science Department.

In 2015, the California State Assembly honored her with the Wonder Women Tech Innovator Award for outstanding achievements in business and technology and for being a role model for women.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

  • Karen’s background
  • Karen’s blog
  • Why you have to give your kids the freedom to make mistakes
  • Perfect parenting: why it doesn’t’ exist
  • Challenges facing teens today that previous generations didn’t experience (ex: cyberbullying)
  • Benefits of limiting technology use
  • The challenges of working with new college grads
  • Parenting strategies to help your kids become successful future employees
  • Why you have to be a lifelong learner — and why you need to instill that in your kids
  • Improving feedback — both in your professional and home life
  • The benefits of working on interpersonal skills inside the office
  • Why being helpful to others can be such a boon for your career
  • Why you need to stretch your kids’ responsibilities (don’t do their laundry forever!)

Ways to contact Karen:

Resources: