These were the shouts from my daughter in November 2021!! She wanted me to play with her, and I took three shouts with increasing volume to get my attention.
Wow, in my head, I said to myself, “this is not what I signed up for when starting a business”. I knew it would be hard work, but I had lost focus on what was truly driving me.
Having spent the last eight years in corporate coaching, listening to senior executives and business owners talk about their lack of relationship with their families affected them.
Now, I was in the same place.
From the outside, these guys had it all: houses, cars, children in private schools and all the trimmings of success (or what we think success looks like).
For the last 20 years, I have been coaching people to improve their performance. I understood their challenges and worked with them to develop, getting them to their outcome.
My question was:
Can I build and run a business and be the best dad possible?
I needed to step back, reassess and understand the challenge. I did that; I interviewed 75-plus business dads to understand what was happening. I developed the business
Dad pathway from research using my experience and knowledge of elite-level performance and business.
You've put your heart and soul into your company, working long hours, sleepless nights, and endless meetings. You've sacrificed so much for the sake of your business, and you're proud of what you've accomplished.
But there's one thing that keeps gnawing at the back of your mind: your children. They're growing up fast, and you don't want to miss out on their childhood. You want to be there for them, to see them grow and flourish, but at the same time, you can't neglect your business.
The struggle is real. Being a dad is tough, and running a business is no walk in the park. But being a business dad?
That's a whole different ballgame.
You constantly feel torn between two worlds: the world of your business and the world of family. You're always on call, always connected, always juggling a million things at once. And it can be overwhelming.
But here's the thing: it doesn't have to be this way. You can be a successful business owner and a loving, engaged dad.
You can have both, and you don't have to sacrifice one for the other.
Are you tired of neglecting your family?
I was struggling to maintain focus and found myself stuck in a cycle of procrastination and doubt in my day-to-day professional life, which often overspilled into family life too. I felt that often I was simply not present either at work or at home. Working with Lee has given me the tools to think with clarity and create a process-based decision-making strategy. The results have bought tremendous productivity in my work life and full, rewarding engagement with my family.
You need to be willing to do the work – the business dads pathway and peer group can only take you so far.
The question is, are you willing to do the work outside the business dads pathway?
The business dads pathway is the starting point to change; it is not the answer to your problems.
We are all individuals; the business dads pathway is designed to give you the tools and allow you to ask the right questions.
