What is the Ambitious Dads Project?
The Ambitious Dads Project is an initiative for fathers that are inspired to lead in their careers AND at home with their children. Our definitions of success at work and at home are changing rapidly, and we have little history or support to draw on.
I’m beginning this journey by interviewing 50 executive dads to try and understand what is and isn’t possible. And I want to share with you (via this newsletter) what I’m discovering along the way.
Can we be great leaders at work and at home? Can we maintain healthy (and happy) relationships with our wives while balancing careers and kids? What best practices exist? What giant gaps await us (and our kiddos!), and most importantly, what can we as dads, and future dads, do differently?
Why am I doing this work?
I am an entrepreneur, executive coach, husband, and father (rarely in that order)! Co-parenting with my wife who is also navigating her career, and working with executive dads (and moms) as clients, I recognize the constant struggle in balancing the evolving, sometimes conflicting goals of fatherhood and leadership.
But the deeper reason I'm invested in this work is that 8 years ago I discovered I could never be a biological father. After a painful infertility journey, both physically and emotionally, I had to completely reimagine what it meant to be a dad, in partnership with my wife. In my mind, I was an imperfect dad from the start. A daunting way to begin, but a cliched blessing in disguise.
Today, as a dad to 2 boys, I understand what it means to be a father of intention and the challenges and tension that brings to my career goals. My boys are 3 and 6 and they’re the lights of my life. They have more energy than I know what to do with. I don’t go to the gym to look fit, I go so I can wrestle with them on the bed! I want to be a great leader because of them. I want them to be proud of me and I want to help other dads navigate this dual, often conflicting drive of parenthood and career.
So here’s the summary:
I’m launching the Ambitious Dads newsletter - it’s a free newsletter where I’ll highlight the insights I’m accumulating from my dad interviews.
It’s going to be focused on the great ideas, the big gaps and challenges, and the best practices Ambitious Dads are discovering on their parenthood journey.
The ideas will be about work, (how our teams can be family-sensitive, how we father while traveling, etc.), and about home (how on earth do we make co-parenting work?! How do we build rituals and show up with energy at the end of a long day? How do we support our spouses’ careers?) And they will be relevant to single dads and those already partnered off.
There will be more coming soon, too. Coaching, an online course, but one thing at a time.
