CEO resigns in order to be a better dad

The CEO of a software company and one of the 100 Biggest Stars in Silicon Valley has announced he is stepping down in order to become a better father to his children.

While the question of balancing work and family life is something most often asked of women, Max Schireson - the head of MongoDB - decided to evaluate himself as a business and a father, and made the decision to resign from the job which required him to travel between offices in California and New York every couple of weeks, meaning he "missed a lot of family fun".

He documented his self-assessment in a blog post, titled "Why I am leaving the best job I ever had".

"Earlier this summer, Matt Lauer asked Mary Barra, the CEO of GM, whether she could balance the demands of being a mom and being a CEO. The Atlantic asked similar questions of PepsiCo’s female CEO Indra Nooyi,"  Schireson wrote.

"As a male CEO, I have been asked what kind of car I drive and what type of music I like, but never how I balance the demands of being both a dad and a CEO."

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Although he doesn't plan to leave MongoDB completely (according to a company press release he will remain on as vice chairman) he writes about how he realises that by writing the blog post he "may be disqualifying myself from some future CEO role", but that the more he thought about the change, the more it appeared to be the right choice.

He also, very admirably, writes about how it's his turn to bend for his family, after years of his wife - a doctor and professor at Stanford University - has been doing it for years.

"She is a fantastic mom, brilliant, beautiful, and infinitely patient with me. I love her, I am forever in her debt for finding a way to keep the family working despite my crazy travel. I should not continue abusing that patience."

Schireson's move mimics that of the company's previous CEO and current chairman, Dwight Merriman, who left the role in order to step down and write code for the company instead - something he was truly passionate about - after deciding the C-suite was not for him.

Image: Twitter