Quarterback DadCast | Intentional Fatherhood & Leadership at Home

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A lot of dads say they want to be “better leaders at home” but very few can explain what that actually looks like on a random Tuesday night. That’s why this conversation with Sean Patton hit so hard. Sean is a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran, host of the No Limit Leadership podcast, and an executive coach, but here we focus on the identity shift that comes with becoming a father later in life and the kind of growth it demands from you first. We start with a simple gratitude habit that forces presence, then quickly get into the real stuff: provider pressure, marriage strain, and how easy it is to disappear into work while telling yourself you’re helping.

Sean opens up about being raised by a single mom, learning compassion and empathy early, and carrying unprocessed sadness from not having a dad around. We talk about how those childhood gaps can become fuel for intentional fatherhood, and how travel, military service, and time overseas can deepen your view of shared human needs. If you care about emotional intelligence, character, curiosity, and raising resilient kids, you’ll find a lot to steal for your own home.

Then we get practical. Sean explains how he and his wife build alignment with clear family values and a monthly “family board meeting” approach: an agenda, acknowledgments, honest feedback, budgets, and new commitments without keeping score like opponents. It’s leadership development applied to parenting and marriage communication, and it’s the kind of structure that can change a household’s culture fast.

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You can learn a lot about a leader by how they talk about their family when nobody is keeping score. Today, I sit down with Coach Mike Burns, Boise State men’s basketball assistant head coach and longtime “defensive beast,” to get past the résumé and into what actually builds a life: gratitude, work ethic, marriage, and raising kids who are ready for the real world.

Mike shares the story of meeting his wife Mary in Las Vegas, the long wait that turned into the gift of twins, and what it looks like to support Bodie and Kylie as they carve out their own paths in college, wellness leadership, communications, and a possible future in medicine. If you care about parenting teens, launching kids, or staying close when they leave home, you will hear a lot that feels familiar.

From there, we dig into the values Mike learned growing up with a UPS truck-driving dad and a mom who anchored the household with consistency and care. We talk about fairness, love, and discipline, and why the best coaches and the best parents find a way to motivate and elevate without humiliating. Mike also walks through his nontraditional journey into coaching, from chasing opportunities with the Seattle Mariners to working as a concert promoter, then building a coaching career step by step through relationships and relentless effort.

If you are looking for a fatherhood podcast that blends sports leadership with real-life parenting tools, this conversation delivers practical takeaways on resilience, adversity, identity beyond athletics, and leading your home like a true quarterback. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more dads can find the show.

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One careless sentence can live in your kid’s head for a week, even when you “didn’t mean it like that.” That’s where this conversation takes off, because former NFL tight end and Super Bowl champion Ben Utecht has learned that leadership at home isn’t about volume or authority, it’s about clarity, humility, and presence.

Ben shares what it’s like being a proud girl dad to four daughters and how he tries to lead with four simple principles: listening, learning, language, and love. We talk about why “values” don’t stick unless you practice them, how beliefs drive behavior in families the same way they drive culture in teams and companies, and why vulnerability isn’t oversharing but a skill you can develop. Ben pulls lessons from the Peyton Manning huddle where every word had a purpose, then translates that into everyday parenting and marriage so dads can communicate without leaving landmines behind.

We also go deeper on identity and performance, from Tony Dungy’s servant leadership to the pressure kids feel in sports, school, and dating. Ben explains how he sets a higher standard by how he treats his wife, how he apologizes, and how he coaches his daughters to see athletics as part of who they are, not the core. If you care about fatherhood, emotional intelligence, family values, and building a championship culture at home, you’ll leave with practical tools you can use tonight at the dinner table.

If this conversation helps you, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a dad who wants to lead his home with more intention.

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Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts!  Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes! 

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Thank you, Mark Krajnik for making today's episode possible!

Today, we welcome a powerful guest to the podcast.  He built the kind of life most people only see from the outside: elite sports access, massive deals, and the feeling that money can solve almost anything. Then it nearly all collapsed. I sit down with David Meltzer to talk about what happens to your identity, your faith, and your family leadership when the scoreboard flips, and you have to rebuild from the ground up. 

We start with gratitude and the simplest definition of “winning” as a dad: healthy kids who are happy, who love you, and who appreciate you. From there, David shares a raw 4 A.M. parenting moment that exposed how fast fear turns into anger and how easily a father can accidentally interfere with the very success he’s trying to create. We also dig into why kids don’t absorb lectures but absolutely absorb behavior, especially through the teen years and the shift from idolization to humanization. 

David gets practical on what to teach kids now: reading to sharpen curiosity and spot what’s real, using AI because knowledge is a commodity, and learning face-to-face selling skills because human connection still moves the world. He breaks down “non-negotiable time” as the antidote to chasing balance, plus a clear view of forgiveness and kindness that protects your energy and strengthens your self-image. 

David also offers a signed copy of his book to our listeners. If you take something from this conversation, subscribe, share it with a dad who needs it, and leave a review so more families can find the Quarterback Dadcast.

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Today's guest is someone I've had the pleasure of knowing for many years, and today I get to learn more about him!  We welcome Soliant CEO Graig Paglieri.

Our conversation starts out with a random moment of noticing a laundromat that turns into a surprisingly powerful reminder: our lives can feel heavy, but we’re often doing better than we let ourselves remember. That’s where we start, with gratitude, perspective, and the real emotions that hit when you’re staring down big transitions like becoming an empty nester. We also pause to talk about loss, and how it has a way of snapping us back to what matters most in parenting, marriage, and leadership.

From there, Graig and I go deep on the values that shape a man long before he becomes a CEO or a dad. Greg grew up surrounded by teachers, coaches, community service, and the kind of quiet sacrifice you only understand later. We connect those early lessons to his decision to join the Marine Corps and what military leadership teaches about staying calm in chaos, managing stress, and not overreacting when the “fog” rolls in. If you’re trying to become a better father, a stronger husband, or a steadier leader at work, those lessons translate fast.

We also get practical about work-life balance, time prioritization, and the trap of always trying to “fix” things for our kids and our spouse. Listening is a skill, not a personality trait, and we talk about how asking permission to coach can change the tone in your house. We wrap up with purpose-driven work and Graig’s role at Soliant, supporting special education staffing and healthcare staffing, including teletherapy and hard-to-fill specialist roles that impact families across the country.

If this conversation helps you slow down and lead your home with more intent, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more dads can find it.

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Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts!  Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes! 

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If you’ve ever told yourself “I can’t step away from work,” this conversation will hit a nerve in the best way. I’m joined by Scott Donald from Winnipeg, a sales leader and founder of SBD Growth, but we spend most of our time on something bigger than sales: how a dad learns to lead his home with presence, patience, and follow-through.

We start with gratitude and the weird, tender transition toward an empty nest. From there we use golf and hockey as real-life metaphors for parenting mindset and resilience. Do you see the water or the pin? Do you expect the miss, or do you commit to the shot. That same mental habit shows up in how our kids handle pressure, mistakes, and confidence, and how we as parents respond when emotions run hot.

Scott also shares what shaped him early: moving through tough family seasons, leaning on grandparents, and learning values the old-fashioned way at the dinner table and over cribbage. We talk about slowing down before you speed up, why fundamentals matter, and why “keep your head down and follow through” is advice that applies to marriage, work, and raising kids.

We go straight at work life balance and the workaholic identity, because time is always a choice. If you want a clear takeaway to carry into your week, Scott nails it: be present, be patient, be persistent. If you get value from this one, subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a dad who needs a push to choose his people over his inbox.

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Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts!  Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes! 

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Your kid leaves for college, and the garage gets quieter, but your mind gets louder. I sit down with Zach Hensley, VP& GM for the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field, to talk about what that transition really feels like as a dad: pride, loss, and a deep need to stay connected without gripping too tight. Zach shares the joy of watching his daughter return to the soccer field at Gonzaga after a meniscus tear, plus the everyday laughs and big experiences he’s grateful to have with his 17-year-old son. 

We also get real about the pressure families carry in youth sports and the college recruiting process. Zach walks through what it’s like to email dozens of schools, plan visits, weigh Division I intensity, and still protect your kid’s happiness and identity. From injury recovery to turning 50 and rethinking health, the theme stays the same: show up, stay steady, and focus on the moments that won’t come back. 

Zach’s upbringing shaped his leadership style, too, from being raised by a hardworking single mom to learning responsibility early in restaurant jobs. We talk about patience, the trap of trying to solve all our kids’ problems, and why curiosity and better questions often do more than advice. If you’re looking for fatherhood guidance, parenting teens insights, and leadership lessons for the home, this one delivers. Subscribe, share with a dad friend, and leave a review if it helps you lead your household with more calm and connection.

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Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts!  Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes! 

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Cancer at 24 will either harden you or wake you up. When Mike Ferriter gets the call that he has testicular cancer, the “healthy young athlete” story disappears overnight, and gratitude stops being a nice idea and becomes a survival skill. We talk through what that season teaches him about time, empathy, and the quiet truth that everyone around you is fighting something, whether you can see it or not.

We also get into the foundations that shape Mike’s approach to fatherhood: growing up in Montana in a big, close family, learning discipline without fear, and hearing two words as a sixth grader that still hold up today: integrity and adversity. We connect those values to real parenting, like how we talk to our kids about failure, how we build resilience without coddling, and why being present sometimes looks like getting on the floor and playing even when you are tired.

Then we pivot to work and identity. Mike shares the fog of coaching life, the crossroads moment after a successful season, and why he chooses a new path at Central Washington University as Associate Director of Development supporting scholarships and student-athletes through fundraising. If you are a dad questioning your career, your availability at home, or what you want your legacy to be, this conversation offers a grounded way to think about it. 

If you enjoy thoughtful fatherhood stories and practical leadership at home, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more dads can find the show.

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Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts!  Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes! 

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Thank you, Shannon Steadman, for making today's episode possible!!!

Your kids won’t remember your job title, but they’ll remember whether you were there. That’s the heartbeat of this conversation with Josh Iadarola, a dad who has lived the hard parts of fatherhood and kept showing up anyway.

We start with gratitude and get honest about mental health, anxiety, and the quiet pressure so many dads carry. Josh shares what he’s most grateful for as a father, why mental well-being deserves as much attention as physical health, and how vulnerability can become a strength instead of a liability. We also talk about the values he learned growing up in a tight family routine: consistency, discipline, respect, and a work ethic modeled through sacrifice.

Then we go deeper into divorce, co-parenting, and the grit required to stay present when life gets complicated. Josh opens up about the commitment he made to his son, the emotional reality of Sunday drop-offs, and what it means to create a positive home even when you’re hurting. From there, we shift into blended family life and “bonus kids,” what helped him build trust quickly, and why he sees a bigger family as more love, not more problems. Along the way, we hit practical leadership lessons for the home: respond instead of react, apologize when you miss, and parent each child as an individual with their own needs.

We also spotlight Josh’s professional world at CoWorx Staffing Services and how they think about staffing, retention, safety, and employee engagement through a service-first model. If you’re a working dad trying to lead with humility, curiosity, and steadiness, you’ll get plenty to take back to your own household. Subscribe, share this with another dad who needs it, and please leave a review so more families can find these conversations.

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Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts!  Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes! 

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A dad can do a lot of things “right” and still miss the point. This conversation with Dave Welty hit me because he doesn’t talk about fatherhood like a performance; he talks about it like a practice: show up, mean what you say, and take a breath when your kid is having a rough day. 

Dave Welty is the CEO and founder of Avier Wealth Advisors, a long-running wealth advisory firm in Bellevue, Washington.  However, what stood out most was his honesty about the moments that shaped him as a parent, from growing up with serious financial stress to learning, in real time, how to connect with two sons who are wired completely differently.

We dig into what it looks like to support a kid without trying to control the story. Dave shares how his younger son, adopted from Guatemala, found joy and identity through live music, and how a simple daily routine during COVID turned into real trust and confidence. We also talk about youth sports and the pressure cooker it can become for families, including the moment Dave’s son called him out for sideline coaching. Instead of doubling down, Dave listened and changed, and that shift is a blueprint for any parent trying to lead with humility.

You’ll also hear Dave’s perspective on resilience and values: why your word matters, why presence matters more than perfection, and why opportunity is not evenly distributed. We even get into the leadership side of his work, including building a more diverse team on purpose and creating an environment where clients can feel seen and safe. 

If you care about fatherhood, parenting mindset, adoption, youth sports parenting, and leadership at home, this one stays with you. Subscribe to The Quarterback Dadcast, share this with a parent who needs it, and leave a review so more dads can find the show.

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Please don't forget to leave us a review wherever you consume your podcasts!  Please help us get more dads to listen weekly and become the ultimate leader of their homes!