This is a very sensitive subject but one that needs to be addressed. CNN covered it today but I wanted to expand on it. The topic is “Helicopter Parents” or, in some of our cases, “Helicopter Grandparents.” In case you don’t know what that means, let me spell it out.

CNN claims the fate of the term “helicopter parent” as part of the American lexicon was sealed when it was introduced into the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 2011 as “a parent who is overly involved in the life of his or her child.”

For some reason, “Helicopter Parents” have infiltrated the tech industry in epidemic proportions. Perhaps it is because many of them are still supporting their adult children in startups, or it’s just the nature of the baby boomer. Many of us made much more money than our parents, so we feel the necessity to try to control our children’s lives in order to insure their success. Notice I use the word “try.”

Some adult children are strong enough (like mine) to ward off any attempts of parental interference in their personal and business lives. Other adult children allow it because the demands on personal and business lives are so intense that it’s comforting to know that mommy and daddy are there as safety nets.

Let me offer one piece of advice. Parents and grandparents today are in no position to be dispensing advice. This goes for me, too. While we want to offer the wisdom of our experience, those lessons no longer necessarily apply. The world has changed so much because of technology that what worked for us doesn’t mean a thing to our offspring now. The mentality of how business and adult children function is so foreign to us that it would take us a lifetime to catch up. I couldn’t be more involved than any other business hustler in today’s workforce, yet I will be the first to tell you that my thinking is still foreign to how many leaders lead today.

You really should read the CNN piece. I’m not saying that many of you (us) are 100 per cent guilty, but the tech industry is starting to revolt about some of the scenarios they are witnessing. Being an employer for 37 years, I have had only two or three incidents where parents tried to insert themselves in my business decisions regarding their little darlings. They went away wounded but came back soon after to thank me because valuable lessons were learned, which CNN describes in detail.

Click here for CNN story.