Larry Weinstein, a father of two girls, is our Thanksgiving Lead Dad of the Week.
A lifelong office devotee and road warrior for work, Larry’s life was changed by Covid. And instead of pushing to go back to how life was before, he has adapted – something senior managers at other companies might learn from.
Since he was 14, Larry wanted to work in production for events. Over the past two-plus decades, he’s done just that, and it’s worked out great for him as a career. What it used to mean was living close to the office in New Jersey and traveling almost every week for clients. Today it means something different: working from a home in Stratford, Connecticut, near his wife’s family, and traveling as needed. He’s happier and just as productive.
It’s been a huge shift, including a move to another state. Big upside: he’s able to take his daughters, 7 and 3, to school most days and divvy up non-work chores of life with his wife Alexis, who also is working largely from home for a medical education company.
“I haven’t been in the office since January,” he said. “I miss seeing people and the ‘let’s go for a drink after work.’But I like this better.”
He’s kept up with his work and his company, Tallen, is doing well. And the shift, he said, “has made me a better father.”
“We’re both in the house now so it’s a little bit more of a level playing field,” he said. “I’ve never wanted to be the complacent father. I saw the silver lining of the pandemic. I can do this. I can do a midday pickup.”
Larry and Alexis joke that if their family were a restaurant he opens it for breakfast and she closes it at night – an apt analogy for the juggling so many parents undertake every day.
Welcome, Larry, to The Company of Dads. You’re an inspiration and a model to other corporate leaders.
