I’m blessed to have beautiful six year old twin daughters and a three year old son, but when the pressures of life hit everything became so much harder.  My wife lost her dream business, my grandmother died, then suddenly my wife's uncle died, and then our daughter had health concerns, ultimately being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. All this happened amidst the most stressful period of my career where I was being asked to take on more leadership and responsibility. Within 18 months we went from blessed to broken. Through it all I tried to remain positive and hopeful, while keeping our family intact and healthy. But it was too much. For some reason it always felt like one step forward, three steps back.

The deeper I fell, the more I questioned if I was cut out for this dad thing. And the more stresses came, the harder it got at home. It got so bad I wondered if my kids would be better off without me around - even though deep in my soul being a great dad was the thing I wanted to succeed at more than anything.

That’s when I reengaged with my mentor John C Maxwell. He’d been in my life since 2011, but I jumped in with both feet and became a John Maxwell Team member and leadership trainer.

I hired a coach, began talking to other dads, and researched support for dads. Surprisingly, there wasn’t much.

As I worked to overcome the pain of my past and reconcile it with my current reality, I saw many dads going through similar struggles. This process clarified what made the single biggest difference in showing up at our best for those who matter most. What I learned led me to create Connected Dads.