The best gift Jenna Bush Hager was given as a daughter of a president and granddaughter of another was permission to fail, she said.
That gave her the ability to learn and to become her own person, said Bush, the keynote speaker at the Invest In Women conference being held by Financial Advisor in Atlanta this week.
“I’m asked all the time what it was like growing up in the spotlight, which we did, but we had a normal childhood,” she said of herself and her fraternal twin sister, Barbara. “In fact, we told Dad he was ruining our lives when he wanted to run for president—and we told him he would lose.”
Hager is now the co-host of Today With Hoda & Jenna, the fourth hour of NBC's morning news program Today. She is also an educator and author, who has taught in the Washington, D.C. inner-city schools. One of the things she addresses in her books is the fact that where a child is born does not have to determine where he or she ends up.
She and her sister are the daughters of the 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush and former first lady, Laura Bush, and the granddaughters of the 41st President of the United States, George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush.
Two of Hager’s major concerns today are the high rates of depression and anxiety among young people and the state of education in this country.
“We don’t allow kids to fail,” which prevents them from learning and puts too much pressure on them, creating anxiety and depression, she said. At the same time, young parents are often too preoccupied with their own social media to pay enough attention to their children.
“What does that say to a child when the parent is too busy to look up from the phone at the dinner table? It tells the child he or she is not interesting or important,” Hager said.
It is never too late to change career paths, she told the mostly female audience of financial advisors.
Growing up in the White House, Hager said she did not view reporters as her friends or as anyone she ever wanted to be, and she ran from the idea for more than a year. But “my father told me to always take the meeting” to see what is being offered, which landed her in television in the field of journalism and entertainment.
Hager told the story of her father and her husband, on two different occasions, jumping into dire situations to perform the Heimlich maneuver on people who were choking. She said she is afraid there is a hesitation to help others in some situations.
“I hope we are raising kids who want to fight indifference, I hope goodness and compassion” are winning out. She said she does see examples of that compassion as she travels the country.
Hannah Shaw Grove, chief marketing officer of Foundation Source, moderated the chat.
Hager was asked how others could convey the same authentic demeanor as she does when making presentations.
“You can learn it and the more often you [make presentations before clients and prospects], the better you become,” she said. “You have to know who you are [in order] to be authentic. Being yourself is liberating.”
But she also added that knowing your limits is important. “I’m done with the days when we think women have to do it all,” she said to a round of applause. “Don’t work hard to prove to others you are a hard workers,” work hard at something that fulfills you, she said.
Another rule to live by to help you stay calm is something her mother always told her. “She always said, ‘Don’t worry about the little things; save your resources to care about the big things.’”