Built billion-dollar companies by giving my employees agency. I use the same approach with my 5 kids.

Mark Pincus, fundador de Zynga y autor de Life at the Speed of Play, describes how giving employees and children agency shaped his approach to parenting his five children, including three with learning differences or disabilities. Speaking in an “as-told-to” essay edited for clarity, Pincus says he has learned to meet each child where they are and to follow what engages them. He recounts his son Wyatt, 12, who was born with a gene deletion and is developmentally delayed; his verbal communication has improved recently, after earlier challenges that included wearing a helmet due to frustration and head-hitting. Pincus says he rejected an expert-driven feeding method that he described as forcing food, and instead followed his intuition. He also discusses using agency with his twin daughters, now 15, and preparing them to manage two commercial buildings in San Francisco at age 16. He adds that he’s open to college but emphasizes developing agency and a mindset applicable to a changing future.