“My mother never helped us,” she tells The New York Times. “It was like: ‘Get over yourself. Get back on the dishes.'”
Though teaching her kids the value of hard work and discipline involved some tough love, her mother always made sure to be kind and encouraging. It’s a smart management style that Corcoran says impacted her own.
“She never criticized us,” Corcoran says. “All she did was compliment us on what we did well. It taught us to have a positive attitude about ourselves, and it also taught us to look at the light in people.”
The only time the “Shark Tank” judge ever felt like she didn’t get the right lesson from her mom was when Corcoran first decided to become an entrepreneur.
“The only bad advice my mother ever gave me in her lifetime, and she gave great advice, was when I said I was going to start my own business when I was 23,” Corcoran tells Inc. Magazine.
“She suggested that I stay as a waitress and build a resume and perhaps hold a job for a while,” she recalls.
The advice to stay on a more stable career path was clearly given out of love and parental concern, Corcoran says. She encourages young professionals to pursue their ambitious career goals, regardless of the advice they might be receiving.
“I had a phenomenally motivating mom,” Corcoran tells The Times, “who was a good role model for all of us, boys and girls alike.”
Check out what Barbara Corcoran does each morning to stay productive all day
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank.”