[jusa92pl]

I followed this on Twitter and think some clarification is in order.

1 - Joe immediately regretted using the word "loser" https://twitter.com/JTLonsdale/status/1453420638832635904

2 - The headline is missing "in an important position." Joe's statement applies to the top leaders of a company/country, not everyone. He's saying people like the CEOs/SVPs of a company, or the presidents/cabinet members of a country, shouldn't take six months off without staying involved even part time. That's a reasonable take that I think most boards and top executives agree with.

It's not like you have to spend your entire life at work and can never see your child. It's just that top leaders at a company have commitments to the company that shouldn't really be dropped for six whole months. If you're in one of these positions, and you take time off (for any reason), it either needs to be a short vacation, or you need to stay involved at the same time (like a vacation where you're still checking in for important meetings).

[nostrademons]

The challenge there is that the rest of the org will look to leadership to take cues for what is normalized, what is rewarded, what do the decision-makers value, etc. And if you, as a leader, are not willing and able to take 6 months off for paternity leave, the rest of the organization will take home the message that it is not acceptable for them to take 6 months off. It's the same reason that good leaders avoid sending e-mails or visibly working after hours: if they do it, the message to the org will be that everyone has to do it, and then you burn out your people.

In a well-functioning organization, you (as a leader) should be developing leaders underneath you in all the time that you are not on paternity leave. That way, when you do have a family commitment, they can step into your position and the organization is just fine. This is handy for a lot of reasons other than paternity leave: it increases your bus number, it generates a deep leadership bench in case the organization wants to take on additional initiatives, and it reinforces the idea that leadership is a role and not a person, such that many potential leaders could step into the role and do it well.