The Company of Dads

Are you a Lead Dad aka the go-to parent? I'm Paul Sullivan and I created The Company of Dads to bring together dads like me across the country. It’s a role I know well. While I was a New York Times columnist for the 13 years, I also had a second job that I loved but kept secret: I was the Lead Dad for our three daughters – but don’t call me Mr. Mom. Earlier this year, I launched The Company of Dads to bring together Lead Dads whether they worked full time, part time or devoted all of their times to their family. I also wanted to show working moms that there could be help and create awareness within companies to change their parenting policies. Join our community today to connect with other Dad's like us & learn more about how to make the most out of your role. https://lnkd.in/eUEmy5jj

Marc Hoffman - founder of the Hoffman Educational Group and Strong Start Early Care & Education - has taken the learning struggles and misunderstandings from his early years in education, and uses them to help others with similar learning challenges. Check out this amazing episode now: https://lnkd.in/esi2ja-W #LeadDad #adhd #dyslexia #Education

Happy Labor Day! Today, we celebrate and thank all of our amazing employees for their hard work and dedication. An exceptional shoutout to the incredible moms and Lead Dads who go above and beyond, balancing work and family with such grace and commitment. We appreciate everything you do! #LaborDay #companyofdads

Question: Has a parenting-related emergency ever coincided with an important work responsibility? Skip Cherryholmes discusses the key components for handeling the inevitable and then unplannable. Check out more Full Disclosure topics on our website! https://lnkd.in/g6XKpVWi #LeadDad #FullDisclosure #Parenting #Emergency

“Can I do this? What’s the responsibility? Is it going to change my life?” Those were questions that Donnie Desanti, our Lead Dad of the Week from Hoboken, N.J., asked himself before his first son was born. But they are as universal as any set of questions a working dad might ponder. Bringing that honesty to parenthood and marriage has been crucial for Donnie, founder of Project Healthy Dad, which helps busy fathers get in better shape. He’s been married for a decade and has sons age 8 and 5. While his own father was a great model – what he calls “a straight edge Italian dad, always there, supporting us, always at our games, but we never went much deeper” – he wanted to go deeper as a dad. “I wanted to be open with my kids and have those deeper discussions,” he said. “I wanted to figure out those hard things in life. I always wanted to be there with my kids.” He's made health a central part of his life and works to inspire other dads to join him. (His father died before his first son was born.) “We focus on three pillars,” he said. “Nutrition and food habits, exercise and movement and stress and mindset.” His wife Katie works more traditional hours, so Donnie said it made sense for him to step into the Lead Dad role. It was an inauspicious start. “My wife was off maternity leave, and it was my first real day home with my son,” he remembered. “He was crying. There was just no flow to the day.” It was a lesson he now shares with other dads in his Slim Down Challenge. “You’ve got to be able to control what you can control,” he said. “Some days you’ve got it. Some times you’re off balance. The big thing is just being present, staying in the now and just focus on right now.” It’s good advice for any parent. Welcome, Donnie, to The Company of Dads. #LeadDad #HealthyDad #Fatherhood

“The amount of influence you have over your children can be ethically manipulated based on the amount of time you share with your child and the amount of time you don’t share with your child.” Neal Conlon talks about very real challenges he has experienced with his children, and reflecting on the "why" for other dads. Catch up on the latest episode of the podcast now! https://lnkd.in/ezZj6Kg8 Omnis Rising #LeadDad #Parenting #SpendingTimeTogether

Question: How do you create work-from-home boundaries without completely shutting your family out? Skip Cherryholmes discusses the struggle of working from home and helping your family understand that you need your work space and time. See the Full Disclosure Library on our website for more great topics! https://lnkd.in/g6XKpVWi #LeadDad #fulldisclosure #RemoteWork #WorkFromHome

Representing Lead Dad in the White House? Here are a few points from Paul about Doug Emhoff and the great Lead Dad qualities he brings to the forefront!

We are so excited to see Paul Sullivan joining everyone with The Care Gap (by Mother Honestly) LinkedIn Live tomorrow! You won’t want to miss it! Event Details: * Date and Time: August 22nd, 12:30 pm (EST) Duration: 30-60 minutes * Platform: LinkedIn Live (The Care Gap (by Mother Honestly) * Please see the Link: https://lnkd.in/gpAqpZ9s Instructions: * Please join the Live 10 minutes before the scheduled time. * The Link has been shared above * Ensure you have a stable internet connection and are in a quiet, well-lit location.

Dads carrying a flower-printed messenger bag filled with diapers, bottles, towels, blankets and a pacifier or two? We’ve all been there. Adam Harr, a father of two boys and a girl, was fed up with poorly designed, ridiculous looking diaper bags, so he said no more. He didn’t walk away from his parental responsibilities of, literally, shouldering part of the load. Instead, he created a line of diaper bags (and more) for men who want to be involved but comfortable dads. Adam, our Lead Dad of the Week from Seattle, created Fifty Fifty Gear with two friends after he was laid off from a startup in 2021. The idea was to create bags that dads would be excited for. “It started with the idea that dads were doing more.” He drew on knowledge running Amazon’s baby registry division when he was a new dad in 2015. “I was very frustrated that there were not products out there, specifically a bag that I would be excited to buy and use every day,” Adam said. “If it was out there, it was on Amazon, and I saw it. I bought this dude dad bag and it was terrible. I felt like wearing a giant military backpack was a bit much. I would have totally bought a great diaper bag built for dads.” He recently started working as a senior product director at Capital One (What’s in your wallet, er, diaper bag???) He remains 100 percent committed to 50/50 – both the bags and his role as a Lead Dad. His wife is a clinical psychotherapist who can’t cancel appointments when a child gets sick. “I have leaned into the fact that my wife’s career is not flexible, so I need to be more flexible,” he said. “What I’ve come to accept is that it’s going to create a period of time when I have to do work during the day and at night or in some ways it can be professionally limiting. This phase is fleeting. So, I’ve come to terms with that tradeoff.” And a cool 50/50 bag doesn’t hurt. “No one would notice if you were rocking this bag on the train,” he said. “It’s also a great hiking bag. And it’s a great diaper bag. I had to rock a zebra printed bag with gold zippers for years. It wasn’t very comfortable. It had bad straps. And it showed that overall parenting products don’t consider the role dads play.” Welcome, Adam, to The Company of Dads – and thanks for offering a 15 percent discount to any Lead Dads buying some gear. Just enter code “leaddad15” at checkout. https://lnkd.in/e7snqrce