Life Lessons in Executive Leadership

August 7, 2025

What Homebirth Taught Me About Executive Leadership

If you’re wondering whether I hesitated to write about birth on LinkedIn… the answer is yes.

But then I thought about it more – and realized homebirth was the best leadership training I’ve ever had.

So, let’s get into it.

Two unmedicated homebirths. Both babies born in a tub in our bedroom. One after 18 hours of labor, the other after 12 hours with rolling contractions. Both births took me far beyond what I thought was humanly possible.

These weren’t just personal milestones. They were the most intense leadership training I’ve ever had.

As the co-founder of an executive headhunting firm for hard tech startups, I spend my days helping founders make some of the most pivotal decisions of their company’s life: building leadership teams, hiring executives, choosing key partners. I lead my own team, and help others lead theirs.

Here’s what birth taught me about leadership:

1. Leading through chaos isn’t about control.

It’s about trusting the right people and systems.

In my case, that meant trusting my body, my baby, my husband and a midwife team, instead of a hospital full of interventions.

2. Endurance leadership is real.

Sometimes there’s no shortcut. You just keep breathing through the pain until the breakthrough comes. Sometimes the only way out is through.

In labor, there’s a moment called “transition.” It’s when your body prepares to push – and I, like many women, hit a wall. An impenetrable, un-conquorable, impossible wall. I remember thinking: I can’t do this for one more minute. But I did. For many mind-bending hours longer than I thought possible.

In startups, founders hit transition too: hiring pain, scaling pressure, investor noise, juggling personal life while holding, what feels like, the weight of the world on your shoulders (and being pretty sure you’re holding it wrong).

It doesn’t always mean something’s wrong. It often means you’re almost there.

3. Your team shapes your trajectory.

My husband was my rock in both births. In business, that might be your co-founder, your exec hire, your advisor. The one who says, “I’ve got us,” when you say, “I can’t.”

It’s not always the person with the flashiest resume. It’s the person who stays steady when things get hard – the one who holds the line.

4. There’s no one right way.

Both of my births were completely different – one wild and fast, one long and spacious. I’ve also heard over 500 birth stories from friends, women I just met, and many hours of podcasts as I prepared for my own. There is no one right answer, there is no one prescribe-able path.

Leadership is unique like that too. Hiring is like that. Building anything from scratch is a unique path like that.

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Both of my birth experiences left me more humbled, more grounded, and more attuned to what it really takes to lead. Not just professionally, but as a whole human.

I’d love to hear from others: Have you had a personal experience – parenting, health, sports – that shaped you as a leader in ways no MBA or conference ever could?

And if you liked reading this, consider reviewing my other articles here: