Storytime: Mother’s Day Tea and Lessons in Leadership

Note from LSG: We’re back with another post for my Storytime series where I post a story that has a bit more of a personal twist (and always a big life lesson). This story was originally posted to my LinkedIn page back in 2020 but I wanted to share it on The St. Germain Journal so that it has a home here as well. My family and I are gearing up for our annual Mother’s Day Tea this Sunday and you better believe we’ll feature my brother’s famous chicken salad! Read on to hear more about why this chicken salad is famous…

Originally published on LinkedIn on May 15, 2020

Every year on Mother’s Day, I host my version of Afternoon Tea for my mother and godmother.

Picture beautiful three tiered trays filled with an assortment of finger sandwiches, dainty desserts and warm scones served with clotted cream and fresh strawberry jam. I love our tradition and it has become something my family looks forward to each year.

Last year, I was feeling overwhelmed planning for the day, and enlisted the help of my brother. He agreed to lead the charge on making all the finger sandwiches. Phew! A weight lifted off my shoulders! It felt good knowing we were tackling the to-do list together. That we were a team.

Come Mother’s Day morning, two hours before my mom and aunt were set to arrive, my brother walked through my front door, seemingly empty handed. “I knew I should have done it myself,” I thought.

“Steven! Where are the finger sandwiches?!” I was clearly frustrated. “You were in charge of making the finger sandwiches!” He proceeded to tell me he was planning to make them fresh at my house and that he still needed to go grocery shopping. He told me to relax and reassured me that he had it under control. “You have got to be kidding me! You haven’t even gone grocery shopping yet?! This is ridiculous!” His attempt at reassuring me wasn’t working and I was still frustrated. The organized party planner in me couldn’t believe he had waited until the last minute to put it all together.

Two hours later we were pulling warm scones from the oven and plating an assortment of beautiful finger sandwiches onto my three tiered platters. My mom and aunt were squealing about how beautiful everything was and how grateful they were for our tradition. And just one bite into the chicken salad sandwich my aunt exclaimed, “Steven! Did you make this chicken salad? It is amazing! I love the grapes, the pecans, the hint of mustard. It’s perfect!”

My brother shot me a smirk and then looked back at my aunt. “Why yes, yes I did make the chicken salad.”

On my journey to become a great leader, at home and at work, I quickly learned that I could not do it all, despite the feeling that I wished I could. I needed a team, in this case my brother, to help me execute on my vision.

I realized that as a leader, it is not my responsibility to do it all. It is not my responsibility to have all the answers. And it especially is not my responsibility to micro-manage every task of my team members.

It is however, my responsibility to build a strong team, unite them in our mission, set clear expectations and ask them to execute. It is my responsibility to allow my team to bring their unique styles to the table and trust that they will get the job done, even if they go about it differently than I would.

A year later, my brother still teases me about this story. About the time I panicked for his waiting until the last minute and that it all worked out beautifully. But becoming a leader means always learning and always growing, and that’s what happened here.

Mother’s Day celebrations looked different this year, but that didn’t stop us from making the women in our lives feel special. We adapted, another quality of a great leader, and sent a box of scones and jam to both my mother and aunt, symbolic of our tradition. There was no chicken salad, but there was a whole lotta love.

On the left: Text reads “Personal Growth for Modern Corporate Women, Commit to yourself & growing into the next version of you.” Below is a radio button that says “Tell me more!” and by clicking the photo, you are directed to a page where you can learn more about coaching with Lauren.

On the right: There is a picture of Lauren, smiling, sitting on a park bench with her laptop.