Today’s staff blog comes from our very own Aubrey Chapnick, client services executive, about our recent meeting with Dr. Shimi Kang, the award-winning Harvard-trained physician and author of the new book, The Dolphin Way:
Last week, the sales and marketing team had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and catch up with one of our newest speakers, Dr. Shimi Kang. Here at Speakers’ Spotlight, having a strong understanding of our speakers’ material and who they are as people is very important to us. By meeting with our speakers on a constant basis, we gain a deeper understanding of what our speakers talk about and deepen our personal relationships with them. Quite often, these meetings lead to the discovery of great stories, and we love sharing these with you!
In her latest book, The Dolphin Way: A Parent’s Guide to Raising Healthy, Happy and Motivated Kids…Without Turning into a Tiger, Dr. Kang digs deep and explores many of the difficulties that parents face when trying to raise their children. Topics such as how to avoid being categorized as an overbearing “Tiger” parent, and various commentaries pertaining to the state of youth mental health are fused into a must-read for all those who are faced with life’s greatest responsibility of raising children.
What I found particularly interesting about our discussion with Dr. Kang, however, was how her work can be applied across a range of different contexts. Although her book focuses on parenting, her expertise and research transcends this subject. Having met Dr. Kang, I now understand that that her work is also applicable to the business world, and can serve as a powerful resource for today’s business managers.
Interestingly, Dr. Kang’s work touches on many of the same core issues that business leaders must take into account when trying to build the most effective, innovative, and attractive working environment (this is not your average parenting book!)!
If I were to ask what makes companies such as Google so innovative, many would say that it’s their unique corporate culture and work environment. Employees are encouraged to take a holistic approach to their work, interests, and health because by doing so, Google believes that its workers will ultimately be able to produce more innovative solutions for its customers. As Dr. Kang explained, the importance of play, sleep, structuring time appropriately and human connection are not only key factors that go into raising healthy and happy children, but are also foundationally important when trying to create the best working environment for a company’s employees.
In our meeting, Dr. Kang also spoke about how the increase in the amount of cognitive and mental issues in children can serve as a corollary for the broad disconnect that exists been how human beings naturally function and the way that the modern working world operates.
All of this comes as a result of Dr. Kang’s Harvard education and her 15-plus years of clinical experience. Who knew that parenting and business went so well together?!