The Company of Dads Podcast

Interview with Carrie Schwab Pomerantz / Expert in Family FinancesHOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANCarrie Schwab Pomerantz is an absolute expert in family finance. She has served two White House administrations. She advised the Council on Financial Literacy under President George W. Bush, and was later appointed by President Barack Obama to the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability. She knows first hand that investing fads never work. When she asked her dad, legendary mutual fund pioneer, Charles Schwab, what to invest in, he didn’t give her a hot stock tip: he told her to diversify her portfolio and to keep saving. All good money decisions start with a conversation. Listen to her talk about why passing on good values around money is the most important thing you can do.---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Interview with Dana Suskind / Surgeon, Author, Child Development ExpertHOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANDana Suskind is an acclaimed pediatric surgeon at the University of Chicago and the author of “Parent Nation: Unlocking Every Child’s Potential, Fulfilling Society’s Promise.” What’s a parent nation? It’s a group that values and supports the labor and love of raising the next generation, particularly in the early years. The health and well-being of those children is very much dependent on what parents can do. But is it all on Lead Dads – or Lead Moms to figure it out? Or does society have a role to play? When things aren’t going right have we failed? Listen to Dr. Suskind talk about a different way to view parenting and learn how to create real change in a post-pandemic world where work and family are intertwined.---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Interview with Jay Lauf / Thinker on the Future of Work, Reformed Daily CommuterHOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANJay Lauf is the co-founder and president of Charter, a news site going deep on the future of work. He’s had a great career in magazines and media. He was the chairman and publisher of Quartz, the publisher of The Atlantic and the publisher of Wired. But for 20 years, the constant was his daily commute: he was veteran of Metro North, the train that took him from Fairfield, Conn, to New York City. It was a two-plus hour commute just one way. It got so bad that he preferred flying far away to sitting on that train to go into the office. Covid changed all that. At home with his wife and two daughters, he found the joys of being a LeadDad, getting time back after years of commuting. It changed his view on work and parenting. He’s never going back to the daily commute. But more broadly, he’s using that experience to influence the conversation on what work will look like going forward. Listen to what we should do be productive and happy people and workers.---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Interview with Jill Castle / Expert on Feeding Kids For Maximum Health and HappinessHOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANParenting is some combination of exhausting and exhilarating. Making healthy meals can fall into the exhausting category. And it’s complicated: if Daddy is drinking a rum punch and attacking a basket of fried seafood, can he really tell his kids to skip the Shirley Temples and chicken fingers? Jill Castle, childhood nutrition expert and founder of The Nourished Child, has some answers. She worked at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital before starting her own practice. She’s also a mother of four – and here’s where theory met practice: it wasn’t always easy for her to get her own children to eat. They’re all adults now, so she figured it out. But listen to her journey as a professional and a parent – it’s instructive for all of us.---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Interview with Jeffrey Forte / National Advocate for Families / Special Ed AttorneyHOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANJeff Forte is special education attorney in Connecticut and advocate for parents and children. He runs one of the few law practices in the state dedicated entirely to helping families navigate the state’s special education laws to insure their children get an appropriate education. Sometimes this means negotiating with a school district to get more services for a child who may be struggling with reading or math; other times it means suing that district to pay for that child to be placed into a school that suits his or her educational and behavioral needs better. One thing that is essential, Jeff says, is for Dads and Moms to both be there in the educational negotiations. Without a united front, kids end often up with less than they require. Listen to his reasons for Dads participating more in their children’s education and becoming their advocate in school.---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Interview with Stephanie Coontz / Expert on Contemporary Families and MarriageHOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANHow have husbands and wives balanced working, parenting and being together throughout history? Stephanie Coontz, the director of research and public education at the Council on Contemporary Families, says it’s generally not how most of think about it today. If anything, the past 50 or 60 years are an historical aberration – since it used to be more egalitarian. So now, employers assume when women become mothers they will be less committed to the job and therefore they’re more reluctant to promote them, while men who become fathers will be more committed – so those who want to take parental leave get penalized as not being a good worker. Listen to her discuss how working moms and Lead Dads can reset those expectations and allow a better working environment to come out of the pandemic.---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Interview with Chris Bell / Musician, Lead Dad of Two, Guitar MasterHOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANA New Hampshire guy originally, Chris Bell has called Austin, Texas, home for almost two decades. A classically trained musician, he used to teach but now he is, what he calls, a ‘stunt guitarist’! He and his wife knew each other since they were kids but they reconnected 20 years ago. He’s the Lead Dad to their two boys. Most recently, he’s made a reputation for himself as a ‘luthier’ – a word I’ve been dying to use in an introduction. And he’s got some serious thoughts on the challenges of being a Lead Dad when you have a passion that conflicts with family life. Listen to hear more on stunt guitaring, guitar making and a guitar guy’s guide to Lead Dadding.---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Interview with Nick Brophy / Bakery Owner, Career Supporter, Wise ManHOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANToday my guest is Nick Brophy, father of five children, ages 7 to 24. Nick played football at Princeton and the team won the Ivy League championship his junior year. Then he took a traditional path to Wall Street. He loved it and excelled at it for nearly 20 years. His wife Sarah was also enjoying a thriving career. Then they started having kids. In 2013, after adopting their third child, Nick’s wife found out she was pregnant. They were at crossroads. Nick put his hand up to be the Lead Dad and walked away from Wall Street, to the disbelief of friends. The past 9 years have taken him on a journey he hadn’t planned, one that has been rewarding but not without its challenges. Men, society still says, are supposed to be the breadwinners and nowhere is that more true than on Wall Street. Today, Nick is an owner of two bakeries, while his wife Sarah is in her dream job at Uber. Listen to hear how he’s adjusted and thrived.---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Interview with Rob Kenney / Creator of "Dad, How Do I?"HOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANRob Kenney came up for the idea for “Dad, How Do I?” during the pandemic. He wanted to provide what he calls “Dadvice,” to kids who didn’t have a dad. He knew that role personally, growing up without a father – his mom died and his dad left the family when Rob was 14. Little did he know that his first video on how to tie a tie would strike a cord. In a little over two years, he’s gone from working in sales and being a loving dad to two grown children to being a wildly popular YouTube Dad who is sought out for advice, be it how to fix a toilet or understand the rules of football. Listen to how he came to this mission of helping kids with or without fathers – and dancing to the Monday Night Football Song!---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/

Interview with JR Havlan / 8-Time Emmy Award-Winning Comedy Writer, Lead DadHOSTED BY PAUL SULLIVANA funny thing happened on the way to J.R. Havlan using his college degree to get a job on Wall Street: the stock market crash of 1987. With every offer evaporating, he did the next logical thing and went into comedy. While he surely would have been the funniest guy at the water cooler, he also was legit, All-Pro funny. After doing the rounds at New York’s comedy clubs – and faxing, yes, faxing, jokes into shows – he landed a writing gig on The Daily Show, when Craig Kilborn was the \host. Then a guy named Jon Stewart came along and the show took off. J.R., who has won eight Emmy Awards (but who’s counting), spent 18 years there. He had other writing jobs afterwards, including at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, but as his kids became school aged, he opted to write for himself so he could be the Lead Dad to his son and daughter. This also allows his wife to go all in on her career in school nutrition. Listen to JR’s tips on shrugging off PTA slights, immersing himself in his kids schools and creating shelf space in a Manhattan apartment for his Emmys.---Get our free newsletter covering all things fatherhood delivered straight to your inbox: https://thecompanyofdads.com/thedad/