The Impossible Tradeoff Ambitious Dad Feel Everyday.

You’re trying to do something that didn’t exist a generation ago:

• Be ambitious at work
• Be emotionally present at home
• And not lose yourself in the process

And most days… it feels like something is slipping.

You come home exhausted with part of you still at work… one small moment away from a reaction you didn’t plan.

You’re doing a lot, but quietly wondering if you’re doing what actually matters.

And somehow… this has become normal.

And because of this a harder set of questions starts to emerge:

• Am I giving my best where it matters most?
• Why does presence come easier in one arena than the other?
• Am I passing down the parts of me I’m still learning to heal?

The Patterns That Shape Your Leadership Don’t Start at Work

Most leadership advice focuses on what happens at work. And even then it focuses on behavior.

What to say. How to manage.
Which habits to build.

But behavior breaks down when we're tired.

When things aren’t going our way.

And those moments don’t happen in meetings.

They happen at home.

So the real issue isn’t our behavior.

It’s the patterns you fall back on when you don’t have anything left.

I call that version of us Default Dad.

The one who shows up when you’re stretched and running on fumes.
You're more reactive than you want to be and less present than you intended.

And that same pattern shows up at work.

• In how quickly you jump in instead of listening
• In how much control you hold onto
• In how present you actually are with your team
• In how you respond when things go sideways

You just manage it better there.

But when you start shifting those patterns at home you’re not just becoming a better dad.

You’re changing how you show up under pressure.

 So the work you do there carries over everywhere.

Not because you try harder.

Because you’ve changed the patterns you fall back on.

That’s exactly what this workshop is designed to help you do.

3 practical shifts you can make at home:

What Dads I Work With Are Saying:

"It was the perfect space I needed, when I most needed it. The people that also said yes were amazing and helped me in ways that are difficult to put to words." 

- Ramphis Castro, Investor, Philanthropist, AI Engineer

"Making time and space for this work… has been one of the best investments of my life."

- Chase Friedman, Founder, Vanquish Media Group

“110% worth it. It gave me a structured space to be vulnerable and actually work on becoming a better dad. There’s nothing else like it!”

- Greg Beckwith, Chief-of-Staff, Kimberly Clark

How This Changes You

Once you see the patterns at home you can’t unsee it.

And if you decide to dive into the deeper work, this becomes the foundation for something much bigger:

• Leading at work and at home from the same set of values
• Feeling present without constantly fighting your own mind
• Responding under pressure in a way you’re always proud of
• Becoming the kind of dad your kids don’t just love… but feel

And it all begins with a first step, together with other dads.

Why Do This Work With Me, Jeff Hittner:

I’m a leadership expert, executive coach, and founder of Ambitious Dads.

Over the past 25 years, I've coached CEOs on three continents and built leadership programs for organizations across the globe. I also founded IBM’s global Corporate Social Responsibility consulting practice, and developed the curriculum for the Bard MBA in Sustainability where I was the leadership professor. 

And a decade ago, I discovered I couldn’t become a biological father, something I had dreamed about my entire life.

Fast forward to today, I’m the proud dad of two incredible boys. That journey taught me this: when we’re willing to let go of the stories we’ve clung to the longest, we create space to imagine something better, something truer.

And over the past few years, through more than 200 interviews with fathers, one pattern keeps showing up:

We’ve spent years learning how to lead at work...
but almost no time learning how to lead at home.

That’s the gap this work is designed to close.

Because when you learn to lead where it’s hardest…
you become a better leader everywhere.