{"podcast":{"title":"The Dad Edge Podcast","slug":"the-dad-edge-podcast-522814","podcast_index_feed_id":522814,"rss_url":"https://gooddadproject.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://thedadedge.com/podcast/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/f/6/5/2/f652108ec70d8db2a04421dee9605cbd/Dad_Edge_Show_Art_new.jpg","author":"Larry Hagner","episode_count":1516,"summary":"The Dad Edge Podcast is a movement. It is a strong community of Fathers who all share a set of values. Larry Hagner, founder of The Dad Edge, breaks down common challenges of fatherhood, making them easy to understand and overcome. Tackling the world of Fatherhood can be a daunting task when we try to do it alone. The mission of The Dad Edge Podcast is to help you become the best, strongest, and happiest version of yourself so that you can help guide your kids to the best version of themselves. Simple as that. Everything you need and all of our resources can be found at thedadedge.com/podcast","last_synced_at":"2026-07-17T10:20:46.741003+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dad-edge-podcast-522814"},"episode":{"title":"Why Losing Everything Was the Most Clarifying Thing That Ever Happened to Him featuring Douglas Smith","slug":"why-losing-everything-was-the-most-clarifying-thing-that-ever-happened-to-him-featuring-douglas-smith","published_at":"2026-04-13T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dad-edge-podcast-522814/why-losing-everything-was-the-most-clarifying-thing-that-ever-happened-to-him-featuring-douglas-smith","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dad-edge-podcast-522814","url":"https://thedadedge.com/1464","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/gooddadproject/4.12.26_-_Douglass_Smith.mp3?dest-id=264727","summary":"In this episode, I sit down with Doug Smith — award-winning author of The Path of Rocks and Thorns, policy expert, trauma-informed leadership coach, adjunct professor, and a man who spent six years in a Texas prison cell for four counts of robbery committed in the grip of crack cocaine addiction. This is not a redemption story wrapped in a tidy bow. It's a raw, honest, and deeply human conversation about what happens when a man loses everything — and what he discovers about leadership, recovery, and fatherhood in the process. Doug walks us through what crack addiction actually feels like — the all-encompassing high and the equal and opposite fall — and what it took to rebuild a life after prison, including a bipolar disorder diagnosis, years of therapy, and a spiritual practice pieced together inside a Texas prison cell. He also shares the extraordinary leadership work he did while incarcerated, helping build a sexual assault prevention program that led to a dramatic increase in reporting and prosecution inside Texas prisons — work that continues to have an impact to this day. But the heart of this conversation is fatherhood. Doug's daughter was five when he went in. She was almost eleven when he came home. He shares the terrifying day he was released, the first reunion with his daughter, and how they reconnected through play and letters rather than words. And then he shares the hardest part — what happened when his book came out and his daughter's buried anger finally surfaced, and the hike where he sat in that anger with her without defending himself. Larry meets him there with his own story of a father who left twice — and the dinner conversation twenty years ago where forgiveness finally had room to breathe. Timeline Summary [0:00] Introduction to the Dad Edge miss…","meta_description":"In this episode, I sit down with Doug Smith — award-winning author of The Path of Rocks and Thorns, policy expert, trauma-informed leadership coach, adjun…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3391,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-dad-edge-podcast-522814/episodes/why-losing-everything-was-the-most-clarifying-thing-that-ever-happened-to-him-featuring-douglas-smith/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-dad-edge-podcast-522814/why-losing-everything-was-the-most-clarifying-thing-that-ever-happened-to-him-featuring-douglas-smith.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}