REBL Dads Blog

Publishers Weekly's BookLife calls REBL Dad "practical counsel" that draws parallels between professional success and fatherhood — here's what the review said, and what it means for the REBL framework.

Leadership at home and leadership at work run on the same signals — what you actually pay attention to, who you actually trust, and who you actually call when it breaks. The leader pillar is about making sure those signals say what you want them to say, in both places. The Practices What Your Calendar Tells Your Team — the four signals your team reads, and a 30-minute audit to close the say-do gap. The First-Call Rule — when it goes sideways, who do you actually call? Most fo

Balanced doesn't mean an even split between work and home — that math never survives a real week. It means the systems that keep your body, your decisions, and your headspace intact enough to show up for both. Here's the toolkit. The Practices The Founder-Father Workout Minimum — a 3-day training floor that survives travel, kids, and bad quarters. Faith as Infrastructure — the non-religious, research-backed case for a spiritual practice, plus a 12-minute daily framework. The

An entrepreneur dad's business doesn't clock out, and neither does the pressure it puts on everything else. The entrepreneur pillar is about running the business like it deserves to be run, without letting it quietly run your family. Here's what that actually looks like. The Practices What Is an Entrepreneur Dad? — a real definition, built from 100+ conversations, not a hashtag. The Real Struggles Entrepreneur Dads Face — the six that come up constantly, and the one honest co

Being a responsible father as a founder means the risk you take on at work doesn't get to be invisible at home. It shows up as a clear agreement with your spouse, an honest explanation to your kids, and a schedule that holds even when the business doesn't cooperate. Here's what that looks like in practice. The Practices Marriage Check-Ins That Don't Feel Like Therapy — a 30-minute weekly template so small friction never compounds into a quarterly blowup. The Bedtime Negotiati

Inside a REBL Dads Gathering on Necker Island Once a year, a small group of entrepreneurial and executive fathers leaves the business and the household behind for four days on Richard Branson's Necker Island. No agendas, no titles at the door — just a mastermind format built for men who are used to leading and rarely get to be led, or simply heard. Here's what came back with them. Voices From the Island Adam Rossi: found the group pushed him to raise his own bar, not just adm

When Derek & Adam sat down to ask Richard Branson to write the foreword for REBL Dad, they didn't ask for advice on scaling companies. They asked a different question: "What advice do you have for dadpreneurs?" Branson's answer, in the book's opening pages, describes the job about as well as anyone has in print: "A dadpreneur who is raising a family while raising a company (and another, and another) at the same time." That's about as close as anyone gets to a real definition

Three years ago I caught myself doing the math on what my hour was worth mid-diaper change, not proud of it, and the number I landed on made me put my son down a little too fast so I could go "save" twenty minutes I'd already lost thinking about it instead of just finishing the diaper. "Struggles entrepreneur dads face" is a search a lot of guys run and land on almost nothing specific for. You get generic "work-life balance" advice written for anyone with a job, or generic "f

Adam, co-author of the REBL Dad book, describes the exact moment perfectly. His son walks into his office and asks, "Papa, do you want to go surfing with me?" and, as Adam puts it, "my brain splits in three directions" — go, because he won't ask forever; work, because this is how you provide; or just sit there, too drained to do either. I've had my own version of that moment more times than I can count, and so has almost every founder dad I know. That's the part generic advic

Three 45-minute sessions a week plus one walk. The founder-father workout minimum is the defensible training floor that survives travel, kids, and bad quarters.

Kids run four predictable bedtime stalling tactics every night. Learn what each one really wants and the Last Call framework that ends the 8pm fight for good.

A 5-day board prep cadence for founder-fathers: lock numbers Monday, story Tuesday, draft Wednesday, walk Thursday, stop Friday at 6pm. Weekend stays yours.

Decision fatigue makes founder-fathers worse parents by 6pm. Run this 5-step audit to find where your willpower leaks and protect your best hours at home.

Most founders price their time wrong. Here's the 30-minute founder hourly rate calculation that shows what to delegate—and what only you can do.

A spiritual practice for founders isn't soft - it's infrastructure. The non-religious, research-backed case plus a 12-minute daily framework to start now.

Your calendar is the most honest leadership document you publish. The four signals your team reads, and a 30-minute audit to close the say-do gap now.

The 30-minute weekly marriage check-in template founder-fathers keep—Connect, Clear, Calendar—so small friction never compounds into a quarterly blowup.

You hired a friend, the role outgrew them, and now you're stuck. How to fire a friend without losing the friendship—the Clean Cut framework, step by step.

Your most bought-in teammate might sleep next to you. When a spouse out-believes your team, it's either your best asset or a hidden problem. Here's the test.

When it all goes wrong, who do you call? Most founders have 800 contacts and no first call. The 3-test rule for naming the one person who has no stake.