How To Turn Mr. Mom Comments Around
A Lesson in Self-Confidence and Humor
Mike McGee, marketing executive and husband of legendary golfer Annika Sorenstam, has a great story about fighting for a check at Pebble Beach.
McGee was out one night with Andy Bush, who runs several professional golf tournaments and is married to LPGA great Morgan Pressel. They’d worked together when they were younger and stayed friends.
They were two Lead Dads doing what Lead Dads do when they come together: talking, laughing, having a drink or two. But they were also men married to women who were high earners and better known. They were fine with that. They could joke with each other about the sh*t they’d been given from colleagues and friends.
“I laid down the law immediately,” McGee said of the ribbing he got from friends. “They’d call me Mr. Sorenstam. I said, ‘Listen we don’t use the word Sorenstam in anything we do. The entire brand is built around this one word, Annika. Please call me Mr. Annika’.”
It’s a good line. And way better than Mr. Mom cracks.
When the check came, McGee and Bush battled over who was going to buy the drinks. Bush won. The waitress asked for his room number and handed the check back. “Thank you, Mr. Pressel.”
“We both cracked up,” McGee said. “I was used to the crap, he was used to the crap, but we hadn’t really talked about it. It made me laugh to see someone else deal with it.”
McGee is a grounded guy. He had a great support system from his parents growing up. And he recalls a lesson he learned from his mother: “Every marriage has a king and a queen and sometimes the queen is the king.” In other words, a successful partnership requires both people to be comfortable in their roles.
Would I like to end the use of the phrase Mr. Mom? Of course. I’m passionate about us saying Lead Dad, which is positive, proactive and encompasses so much more. (Here’s a little video on it.) But sometimes a bit of humor goes a long way. It allows us to keep our eyes on the prize: more Lead Dads means fewer working moms burdened by the second shift and more happy families. Soon the joke’s on the other guys.
