Lead Dads can be in the C-suite.
I say that to clear up the misconception that Lead Dads are stay-at-home dads. In fact, only 8 percent of Lead Dads devote all their time to their families. The rest are working while being a super-involved father at home and parenting advocate in the office.
A recent announcement got me thinking of this – when a former Lead Dad of the Week got a huge job as commissioner of the LPGA.
How I met him is a great story about leaders understanding the role of fathers in their families and being allies to working moms in the office.
Three years ago, I was explaining the mission of The Company of Dads – then only about four months old – to Seth Waugh, a financial services executive who was then running the PGA of America. We were at the KPMG Women’s PGA at Congressional Country Club, one of the majors on the LPGA Tour.
Seth immediately understood the importance of what I aimed to do – helping families by focusing on getting fathers more involved at home and open about their parenting roles at work. He said I needed to talk to Craig Kessler who had written a book of fatherhood advice, which he did by asking for and receiving tips from a wide range of fathers, famous and not so.
Craig was up for being one of our early Lead Dads of the Week – the regular feature that I’m most proud of it, for its ability to highlight the advice of a dad a week while also showing the depth and breadth of men who are Lead Dads. (Their opposite is an Event Dad.)
Craig has three sons; I have three daughters. Our parents are divorced. We love golf – and love our wives. The conversation was easy.
In that piece, he talked about his book, The Dad Advice Project, and two common themes for successful fatherhood: Kids need to feel psychologically safe, and kids need to see love between their parents.
Here’s the quote that stuck with me: “If I can’t be present around my kids, I lean into whatever my mind is focused on,” he said. “And when I can be present with them, I make the most of it. But at the end of the day, I always make sure my kids know that I love them very much.”
Craig is the new commissioner of the LPGA. Professional women’s golf has great stars and tons of interest from girls and young women who want to emulate their heroes. But it lacks commensurate funding and has a schedule that sends players traversing the globe.
I’m rooting for Craig to keep moving the LPGA forward – as a fan and a girl golf dad. I’m confident that Lead Dad focus will be an asset.
Side note: when the former LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan, who I got to know, moved her family from New Jersey to Florida, her husband pivoted his law career and became the Lead Dad in their family, as she traveled the world. It can be done!
