The Mount Everest We Climb for Our Dads

Why We Keep Striving for Fathers Who Won’t Be Impressed

Are we all simply trying to please our fathers?

Is that the deepest driving force beneath so much of what we do?

If we could let go of our father’s opinion — the bad and the good — would we finally be free?

I think the answer is yes, and I’ve had a front-row seat to watching this play out.

For over a decade, I’ve worked in administrative leadership.

Most of my colleagues have been Boomer men and women, usually about twenty years older than me — white, PhD-credentialed professionals, children of university-educated parents.

I come from a different starting line: first-generation university graduate, child of two immigrants from northern India who never had the educational opportunities they afforded me. I started in an entry-level job and worked my way to the executive tier.

Along the way, I formed deep friendships with people whose upbringing was worlds apart from mine. And here’s what shocked me: their fathers aren’t impressed with them either.

These are people at the top of their fields, yet…