63rd letter from Mihai

Tue 28 Oct, 2025 Colmar, France

Hey Reader,

Yesterday we had a visit from one of our friends from the In the Woods group.
We’ve built a small community of parents and kids, families who share similar values, love traveling, and feel at home outdoors. It’s our little extended family.

The visit was joyful but also unexpected.
They were supposed to fly to Canada for a snowboarding season in Whistler. The father is Canadian, the mother is French, and their three-year-old has both passports.
At the airport they learned their daughter needed an extra visa. They couldn’t board.

The father took the flight with the luggage.
The mother and daughter stayed behind to figure it out.

It broke my heart a bit. They had prepared for months and still the plan fell apart in one morning.
​It reminded me how unpredictable the world can be, how fragile our systems are.​
And maybe because of that, it feels even more important to build what cannot be taken away: family, trust, and shared values.

That is what I’m trying to do here.
Through Rooted Dad, I’m documenting how I build a foundation I can rely on. I hope these letters help you do the same.

Lately I finished a book that spoke to this. That Will Never Work by Mark Randolph, the co-founder of Netflix.
The title came from his wife’s words every time he shared a new idea. And yet, this one worked.
What impressed me most wasn’t the company’s success but the fact that he built it while staying married to the same woman and close to his kids.
That feels like the real win.

I started noting what I could bring from his story into family life.

He wrote that no plan survives a collision with reality.
That fits home life too. You can write all the family mission statements you want, but they only matter when tested in real moments, in the late nights and messy mornings.

He said company culture comes from what the founders do, not what they say.
Same at home. Culture is built through rhythm, habits, and tone. Through example.

Another thing he valued was freedom and responsibility, giving people clear goals and letting them find their own way.
In families that looks like trust. You set direction, give your partner and kids space to move, and everyone feels ownership.
He called it being loosely coupled but tightly aligned. That line stayed with me.

Randolph also believed people want two things: to respect the ones they follow and to have interesting problems to solve.
I see that with kids. They want to feel useful, to contribute. Even simple things like putting clothes in the washer or sweeping the floor become ways to belong.

He said nobody knows anything. You learn by trying.
That’s true for startups and for families. You test ideas, you adjust, you learn.

It made me think about our Sunday Sync, how we sit down each week, talk about what worked and what didn’t, and reset.
It’s our small feedback loop, our way to stay connected.

There’s another principle he calls the Canada Principle, which made me smile because of our friends’ story.
It’s about focus.
They once planned to expand Netflix to Canada but decided not to. It would scatter their energy.
In family life, focus matters too. Shared values, clear priorities, fewer distractions, knowing what to say no to.

And then there’s judgment. He said if you hire people with good judgment, you don’t need tight control.
That’s true at home. When you trust your people, they rise to it. Freedom and responsibility again.

What touched me most is how he defines success:
​“Fulfilling your goals, making your dreams a reality, nourished by the love of your family.”​
Forget money or status. That’s success. I couldn’t agree more.

He also shared eight rules his father gave him at twenty-one, things like doing a bit more than you’re asked, making decisions when you have the facts, being prompt, and staying open-minded but skeptical.
He kept them taped to his mirror.
I like that image, simple and visible values you read while brushing your teeth. Maybe we all need our own version of that.

For me, this letter is a reminder to keep testing, pruning, trusting, and staying playful.
To keep building a rhythm my family, and maybe yours, can lean on when the world feels uncertain.

Success, to me, is the same as his.
To make your dreams real, nourished by the love of your family.

What do you think?

​

One dad figuring it out, same as you.
​

P.S. If you want a deeper dive into my world and to stay more connected, I’m writing short weekday notes called Cold Showers.
They’re simple reminders to come back to yourself before the day takes over.
You can read them for a week for free and see how they feel.

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See more of my work at rooteddad.com

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