How Parenting led to Professional Growth: Thom Singer’s Success Journey

 

 

In today’s ever-evolving conversation around gender roles and work-life balance, the idea of stay-at-home fathers is gaining traction. According to Pew Research, the number of stay-at-home dads has doubled in the past two decades. In a society where career often takes precedence over caregiving, more fathers are rethinking their roles in the family. In this episode, we are honing in on the balance of parenting and career growth.

How can prioritizing time with children during their formative years influence both personal and professional lives?

In this episode of Grand Dads, host Tad Druart sits down with Thom Singer, a renowned public speaker and tech leader, to explore his non-traditional path as a stay-at-home dad. Tom shares his journey of stepping back from a burgeoning career to care for his firstborn daughter, the life-changing experiences that followed, and how these choices shaped his future as both a father and a professional.

Key Takeaways from the Episode: Parenting and Career Growth

  • Transforming Parenthood Paradigms: Thom recounts his decision to become a stay-at-home dad, a choice driven by family priorities and his wife’s unexpected career opportunity. His experience challenges traditional gender roles and highlights the long-term benefits of spending more time with his children.
  • Building Lasting Bonds: By dedicating himself to full-time fatherhood during his daughter’s early years, Thom developed a close and lasting bond with her, which laid the foundation for a strong father-daughter relationship throughout her life.
  • From Career Sacrifices to Rewarding Returns: Thom shares how stepping away from his career for two years didn’t harm his professional prospects. Instead, he returned to work with new perspectives and skills that enhanced his career trajectory, challenging the myth that a career break is detrimental to long-term success.

Thom Singer is an acclaimed public speaker and community connector with over two decades of experience in leadership. Before becoming a tech leader, he made the unconventional choice to be a stay-at-home dad for two years, an experience that not only shaped his family life but also bolstered his professional journey. Thom is also known for winning “The $25,000 Pyramid,” an experience he humorously recalls in connection with a dream family trip to the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Transforming Parenthood Paradigms: A Journey from Stay-at-Home Dad to Tech Leader Thom Singer reflects on his decision to leave his career to stay home with his children and how this experience enriched his personal and professional life, proving that time spent with family can have long-lasting rewards.

Recent Episodes

Career transitions rarely follow a straight line—especially for people coming out of the military. For many veterans, the challenge isn’t discipline or work ethic, but figuring out how deeply technical, high-stakes experience translates into civilian industries that speak a very different language. As more service members step into entrepreneurship, the real question becomes less about…

Every year, an estimated 17,000 Americans suffer spinal cord injuries, many of which permanently alter the course of their lives.. For former collegiate rugby player Rob Paylor, a devastating injury left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. Doctors told him he would never walk or move his hands again. But instead of accepting that fate,…

Inclusion is often reduced to policies and checklists, but its true measure shows up in everyday experiences — in whether people feel seen, supported, and able to contribute without hiding parts of who they are. When organizations move beyond compliance and toward genuine understanding, they open the door to talent, perspective, and potential that…