Sheroes: mothers make great leaders, naturally.(IN HER OWN WORDS)

The 19th century poet William Ross Wallace wrote, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." His words should empower working mothers everywhere by forcing a re-conceptualization of them as leaders.

If a leader is one who leads, directs, motivates, inspires, instructs and trains others, then mothers are in fact the first leaders that each of us encounters from birth.

Sarah Palin, recent Republican VP candidate and mother of five, identified herself simply as "the average hockey mom"--although she was governor of Alaska. This notion forced Americans to grapple with their social biases that separate mothers and motherhood from leadership.

Motherhood forces one to adapt, make challenging decisions quickly and move fluidly between multiple roles and tasks. On any given day, the average mother is a nurturer, chef, teacher, doctor, financial consultant and more. Few books extol mothers as leaders or link the two intricate roles.

In the past women had only three options:

- If unmarried and without children, a woman found it socially acceptable to work; but the moment she married and became pregnant, she was expected to leave her career.

- Successful career women often married late or not at all, expected to sacrifice motherhood to focus on their careers.