The Power of Repetition—In Parenting & Leadership

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Borrowed & Learned

Mylo was home from daycare a couple of weeks ago after having some breathing issues from yet another cold-like sickness. Luckily, no hospital visits this time, and he’s doing alright now.

The first morning he was home, I was walking around his room trying to find his pacifier that’s connected to a rubber clip-on string. We like to call it his “string pass.” We’re easing him off the pacifier, but when he’s sick, it helps him soothe. I specifically wanted the one on the string because it’s less likely to end up in our dog Gizmo’s mouth—he’s mistaken Mylo’s pacifier for a snack more than once. Luckily, it's been awhile. *Knock on wood*

As I was searching, I yelled to Dana in the other room, “Do you know where his string pass is?” Minutes later, Mylo walks into the room, holding it in his hand. Without hesitation, he took the pacifier out of his mouth, handed it to me, and put the one on the string into his mouth instead.

I was in disbelief. The little dude knew what I was looking for!? ...and found it!?

At a year and a half, Mylo is starting to put things together in ways I hadn’t fully realized. He’s absorbing everything—especially the things we do and say over and over. I always knew this day would come, but to experience it is an entirely different thing.

It made me think about the power of repetition—at home and at work.

Around the same time, I was reviewing process optimizations with the team for some of the new programs we launched last year at Barrel. In doing so, I realized not everyone had a clear grasp of how to differentiate between them. In my mind, it’s obvious—but I talk about these programs with prospective clients every day.

Maybe it’s a stretch, but this moment with Mylo made me think about where I could do a better job of repeating myself, more specificially reinforcing key ideas and modeling the behaviors I want to see on the team. The gaps—like the ones in understanding these programs—aren’t always about complexity. Sometimes, they’re just about not hearing something enough.

Everyone has a lot going on, and their attention is divided. It’s my job to keep the important themes top of mind so that people stay aligned.

As Patrick Lencioni puts it in his book, The Motive:

“The very best leaders in the corporate world understand this and don’t hesitate to repeat themselves. They see themselves as CROs—chief reminding officers.”

Raising a kid and leading a company aren’t the same, but maybe they have more in common than we think.

Repetition reinforces behaviors and beliefs—whether intentional or not. Over time, that repetition becomes habit, and habits shape the culture of how a team—or a family—operates. Acknowledging this allows us to be intentional about what we reinforce, rather than letting things take their default shape.