Book excerpt: Leader of the Pack is the story of a man who, like many men, had been going through his life apparently content and positively clueless, who found himself tethered to a tornado as his marriage descended into violence and madness. Surviving courts and cops and chaos and a crazy-challenging-business, he unexpectedly ended up the only parent of five small children--ranging in age from only 18 months to 8 years old-at a time when most men didn't even know how to change a diaper. It is my story.In it, I detail the transformation I underwent from sole breadwinner to sole parent, from a beaten abused shell of a man to the strong, confident and spiritual person I am today; a nationally recognized spokesman for single dads and entrepreneurs.Though the facts of my story may be different than some, the feelings are the same for single father's everywhere. We are frustrated. We're no longer just the backup parent; the ringer sent in when Mom isn't available - though that was all we had ever been trained for when it came to parenting. It's not that we don't love our children. We do, but that and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks.A quarter of all American households are headed by men who find themselves or choose to be single dads. We need to own that position, be proud of it, figure out the best way to make it work and above all, add our voice to a swelling chorus of support for our brothers who find themselves in our same shoes.We must learn to parent like a dad and that does not mean being only half of a team. In my life, and in the lives of millions of men today, we are the parent. Where there were two, now there is one and we must be enough.Lives depend on it?our kid's lives.