The Modern Man Podcast

He was terminated twice. He filed for divorce. He gained 60 pounds and drank on the highs AND the lows. Then May 5, 2018, he walked out of an AA meeting and hasn't touched alcohol since.
 
Nick Jonsson is a licensed specialized counselor, best-selling author of Executive Loneliness (the book coined a term that now has its own dedicated Wikipedia page), leads one of Asia's largest networks of senior executives, is a TEDx speaker on sleep, and an Ironman triathlete who splits time between Sweden and Asia. He's also the father of a 17-year-old son and a working husband.
 
In this conversation, Nick and Ted go deep on the drift that destroys high-performing men — the anxious-overachiever wound that made them successful in the first place, the 68% of executives who have nobody to confide in (per Harvard Business Review), the corporate stigma that keeps men silent even when they know better, the KLM Tenerife disaster that shows what fear of speaking up actually costs, and Nick's 5-Step framework from Executive Loneliness for the man ready to come back.
 
Plus the through-line Nick applies to triathlon, executive coaching, marriage, sleep, and time — the "principles that work in this work in all areas of life" reframe that turned a mediocre triathlete into an Ironman PR-setter and a man 60 pounds lighter with 30 years of marriage ahead of him.
 
If you're a high-performing man between 25 and 55 with more contacts than you have people to actually call — this one's for you.
 
Key insights from this episode:
The anxious-overachiever wound that made you successful (and why healing it doesn't kill your edge)

Why 68% of senior executives have nobody to confide in — and why 84% won't even tell HR

Multiple purposes, not one — the "keep steady in the middle" reframe from 12-step recovery

The KLM Tenerife disaster — what fear of speaking up actually costs

Nick's 5-Step framework from Executive Loneliness

Take Stock. Who Can You Talk To. Get Healthy. (Plus what comes next.)

Sober since May 5, 2018 — the exposure sequence that changed everything

Sleep half an hour more, break your Ironman PR (Nick's TEDx origin)

Removing the TV from the bedroom — and other things Nick surrendered

Own your shit — Nick's final answer, the biggest transformation of his life

 
Chapters:
00:00 The confession — terminated twice, 60 pounds, drinking on emotions 
01:00 Welcome brother — Ted's intro 
01:26 What keeps high-performing men isolated? 
02:06 The anxious-overachiever wound 
03:04 The wound that made you successful (and the fear of healing it) 
05:44 Multiple purposes vs. one why 
07:20 Keep steady in the middle 
08:35 The Harvard 68% stat 
09:58 Nick's own survey (30% / 75% / 84%) 
11:00 If you break a leg you see a doctor. If you break your emotions, you hide. 
11:43 Therapy as maintenance, not crisis 
13:21 Stigma, the corporate ladder, and resilience 
15:22 Real-world consequences of vulnerability 
18:10 The KLM Tenerife disaster 
20:19 Chernobyl, night shift, and mistakes made from silence 
22:13 Step 1 — Take Stock 
23:31 Step 2 — Who Can You Talk To 
25:19 The May 5, 2018 exposure sequence (wife, doctor, friend) 
27:00 The tribe found — the urge lifted 
27:49 The primal fear of rejection 29:14 The three people you'd call at 2 a.m. 
30:30 Build safe spaces in the good times 
31:32 Being discerning with who you offload to 
32:56 The through-line — from recovery to triathlon 
34:23 Applying the same principles to everything 
35:00 Signing up for a triathlon tribe (coach, cycling club, swim academy, running club) 
36:14 The sleep experiment — 30 days of half an hour more 
37:00 The TEDx that came from sleeping more 
37:34 Ted on the sleep struggle 
39:48 Discipline, accountability, and "just keep going" 
41:19 The Ironman as a mini-life 
41:50 Ted on Hyrox 
44:06 How Nick manages time (paid to remove the bedroom TV) 
44:45 Say a lot of no. Hit many birds with one stone. 
45:30 Cycling with his 17-year-old son 
47:09 Where to find Nick and Executive Loneliness 
48:36 Own your shit — the biggest transformation 
49:53 Outro and Ted's recap



🤝 Connect with Nick Jonsson:
Website: www.nickjonsson.com
Facebook: @jonhannah.berryhill3
Instagram: @jonssonnick
LinkedIn:  @nick-jonsson
YouTube: @NickJonsson
Book: Executive Loneliness — Amazon (Kindle, paperback, Audible): 
https://www.amazon.com/Executive-Loneliness-Overcoming-Isolation-Depression-ebook/dp/B091B1Y3WZ
Wikipedia page: Executive Loneliness (dedicated page on the term Nick coined):  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Loneliness
TEDx: "Nick Jonsson sleep on TEDx"



👉 About The Modern Man: The Modern Man is here to provide the structural discipline required for men to scale their impact while enforcing a strict sovereign life.
Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools of Time
 
Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook
 
⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️
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🤝CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🤝
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Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow 
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man
 
#modernmanpodcast #nobleknights #executiveloneliness #nickjonsson #anxiousoverachiever #mensmentalhealth #sobriety #masculineleadership #ironmantriathlete #ownyourshit #highperformer #fatherhood

I was having affairs on my wife. We filed for divorce. I woke up one night and God was showing me what I was about to wreck.
 
Jonathan Berryhill left home at 15 with no foundation under him. He found structure in the Army infantry, adrenaline in law enforcement narcotics and undercover work, and then success across real estate, healthcare, and government contracting — multiple seven- and eight-figure businesses. He's been married 30 years to his high school sweetheart. He has seven children and three grandchildren. He's the author of Warrior to Wealth and leads three real estate brokerages with 50+ agents — having gone from first licensed at 43 to seven figures in commissions in five years.
 
But the story that defines him isn't any of those. It's the marriage he almost wrecked, the man he had to become, and the 5 Pillars he built every day after on — Identity, Discipline, Execution, Ownership, Legacy.
 
In this conversation, Jonathan and Ted go deep on the drift that destroys male veterans and operators, the question that exposes it (what are the top three things you want to be best at, and where's your time at?), the contrarian operator reframe Jonathan uses with his team (pick your hard — broke is hard, successful is hard, pick), the 5-Pillar playbook from the book, and the loss of his best friend at 45 that re-anchored everything.
 
If you're a man between 25 and 55 carrying a marriage, a business, a family — and you can feel the drift but can't name it — this one's for you.
 
Key insights from this episode: 
Why losing your military identity is a leading cause of post-service drift

The diagnostic question every drifting man needs to answer

Pick your hard: broke is hard, successful is hard, you don't get to skip both

The 5 Pillars: Identity, Discipline, Execution, Ownership, Legacy

"You cannot be a victim and a victor at the same time. Pick one."

Why visualization beat motivation for Jonathan's college football and real estate runs

The CrossFit-of-real-estate move: starting over at 43 (and what it built)

Why faith is uncomfortable (and that's the point)

The night his best friend died — and what changed in him

 
Chapters:
00:00 The 2 a.m. confession 
00:40 – Introduction: Meet Jonathan Barry Hill 
03:28 – Growing Up Without a Foundation
07:18 – The Army: Discipline, Structure & Purpose
11:40 – Law Enforcement and the Silent Drift
15:42 – Losing His Marriage & Finding God
20:35 – What Causes Men to Drift?
24:55 – The One Question Every Man Should Ask Himself
29:12 – Walking On to College Football at 25
35:18 – Becoming the Warrior Within
40:45 – From Premed to Entrepreneurship
46:20 – Building Multiple Successful Businesses
51:38 – Why Comfort Is the Enemy of Growth
57:04 – Starting Over at 43 in Real Estate
1:02:28 – Visualization & Identity-Based Success
1:07:44 – The Five Pillars of Warrior to Wealth
1:14:12 – Victim or Victor: Pick One
1:20:06 – Legacy: Building More Than Wealth
1:25:18 – Why the Last Man Standing Often Wins
1:30:05 – Seasons of Battle & Personal Loss
1:36:48 – Faith, Prayer & Living With Purpose
1:43:10 – The Wisdom of Proverbs
1:47:35 – Advice for Men Who Feel Stuck
1:53:22 – Everyone Is Fighting Something
1:56:10 – Final Lessons & Key Takeaways 
 
 Berryhill's Links:
Website: jonberryhill.com
Facebook:@jonhannah.berryhill3 
Instagram:  @jon.berryhill
LinkedIn:  jonathan-berryhill
Threads@jon.berryhill
Agent Blueprint Playbook: JonBerryhill: Agent Blueprint Playbook
 
👉 About The Modern Man: The Modern Man is here to provide the structural discipline required for men to scale their impact while enforcing a strict sovereign life.  Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools of Time
Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook
⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️
https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights 
 
🤝CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🤝
Visit our website: themodernmanshow.com
Follow us on Twitter: TheModernMan8 
Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow 
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man

You're not going to lose your job to AI. You'll lose it to somebody who understands it.
Chris Sowa has been inside the boardrooms where the AI conversation is theater. Senior tech executive at Accenture, IBM, and Oracle. Co-founder of Redacture, an AI security startup. He's also a Wim Hof Method instructor who walks into the Atlantic Ocean before most men are awake. He's a father of two sons. He buried a daughter almost five years ago.
In this conversation, Chris and Ted walk through the gap between how AI gets talked about publicly and what actually happens inside enterprise — why most executives are clueless, why 75% of AI tools are wide open to prompt injection, why most enterprise AI pilots are million-dollar resume builders that never scale, and why this is a golden window for the small-to-mid business owner that won't last.
 Then it goes deeper — into the operating philosophy Chris carries from his ice swims and his loss: if you can't lead yourself under pressure, you won't lead anything else.
If you're a man between 25 and 55 carrying a business, a family, and a quiet sense that you're about to get left behind — this one's for you.
 
Key insights from this episode:
The gap between AI talk and AI reality inside enterprise

Why 75% of AI tools are open to prompt injection (what Meta admitted)



The $1M AI pilot to "save" two offshore employees earning $10K (and why it never scaled)

Why 70% of medium-sized companies are still clueless about AI
"You won't lose your job to AI. You'll lose it to someone who understands AI."

The golden window: months, not years

How Chris's daughter's death rewired his sense of urgency

The Wim Hof method as leadership training



Chapters:
00:00 You won't lose your job to AI 
01:00 Welcome brother — Ted's intro 
01:55 The ice swim and Wim Hof method 
03:49 The gap between AI talk and enterprise reality 
04:30 "Officially we don't" — what executives say vs. what employees do 
05:55 The democratization of strategy intel 
07:07 Two reactions to AI: dread vs. hog-wild 
09:30 The 75% prompt injection stat 
12:25 The $20 million data layer most companies don't need 
13:24 Settings, deletion, and what to do about open Comet 
16:13 One programmer doing the work of ten 
18:20 Should employees use the same LLM? Frameworks vs. tools 
20:50 Why Chris tells ChatGPT to be skeptical 
23:12 Why less than 30% of enterprise AI initiatives scale 
24:46 The $1M pilot to save $20K in offshore wages 
27:04 The plumber analogy — fixing a clogged pipe before adding pressure 
28:32 What leaders three levels away from the work don't see 
30:50 "You won't lose your job to AI. You'll lose it to someone who understands AI." 
32:01 The internet boom comparison 
33:50 Why this is a golden window (and won't last) 
35:55 Why the data center economics will change 
39:29 The conversation Chris has with his sons about AI 
42:46 Redacture and the AI safety play 
46:27 Where to find Chris and Redacture 
48:15 The day Chris's daughter died 
49:40 Outro and Ted's recap
 
Sowa's Links:
Website: https://www.redacture.com
Instagram:  @so_wa_cold
Email: chris.sowa@redacture.com
 
👉 About The Modern Man: The Modern Man is here to provide the structural discipline required for men to scale their impact while enforcing a strict sovereign life.
Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools of Time
Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook
 
⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️
https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights 
 
 🤝CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🤝
Visit our website: themodernmanshow.com
Follow us on Twitter: TheModernMan8 
Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow 
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man

One day six men are going to carry your casket. Do you have those six men identified now?
 
Joe Moffett has logged over 45,000 peak-performance coaching calls. He holds a master's in performance psychology, spent nearly a decade with Tony Robbins, served five years in the Marine Corps, and is now Chief Development Officer at Millionaire Man Cave. In December of 2024 he buried his father, and he was the only man out of the six pallbearers who truly knew him.
 
In this conversation, Joe and Ted go deep on why strong men isolate when the weight hits, the difference between isolation and solitude, the 3 brothers every man needs (truth teller, confidant, ride or die), the 6 pillars Joe and his community use to build a man's life, why discipline beats conviction every time, and the single most dangerous three-word sentence in a man's vocabulary.
 
If you're between 25 and 55 and you've been carrying something quietly — this one's for you.
 
Key insights from this episode:
 
Why men isolate when the weight hits (and what the enemy wants from it)

Solitude vs. Isolation — one is intentional, one is bathing in the problem

The 3 brothers every man needs: truth teller, confidant, ride or die

The 6 pillars: faith, fitness, family, friendship, finances, fight

The casket question — who are your six?

Why discipline outlasts conviction every time

"I got this" — the three most dangerous words in a man's vocabulary

Where are you planted, and where are you becoming a master?

 
Chapters:
00:00 The Casket Question (teaser)
 01:37 What 45,000 coaching calls reveal about strong men 
01:56 Why men isolate when life gets heavy 
03:15 Solitude vs. Isolation 
05:55 "I got this" — the three most dangerous words 
07:50 The pen-weight metaphor 
09:11 The 3 brothers every man needs 
11:20 Why brotherhood is contagious 
13:00 The research — friendship and male resilience 
13:49 The 6 Pillars: Faith, Fitness, Family, Friendship, Finances, Fight 
15:30 Joe buries his father 
17:00 Why finances is the pillar most men struggle with
 20:20 Wealth and knowledge worth more than gold 
22:10 Where are you planted? The mastery question 
23:36 Discipline vs. Conviction 
25:50 The fight pillar (and life punches like Mike Tyson) 
27:14 Who's on the other side of you winning?
29:24 What most coaches get wrong 
32:35 Joe's path — Marine Corps, Tony Robbins, Millionaire Man Cave 
35:00 The transformation stories (forgiveness, reconciliation, miscarriage)
38:43 The 5 Disciplines of Friendship 
39:51 What women want from men in brotherhoods 
43:32 Where to find Joe and the brotherhood 
44:34 Joe's childhood — coming home from boot camp not knowing where he lived 
46:51 Outro and Ted's recap
 
Moffett's Links:
Website: www.masterlifebydesign.com
Facebook: @joe.moffett.96
YouTube: @thejoemoffett
Instagram: @thejoemoffett
Tiktok:https://www.tiktok.com/@thejoemoffett 
 Email: joe@millionairemancave.com
 
👉 About The Modern Man: The Modern Man is here to provide the structural discipline required for men to scale their impact while enforcing a strict sovereign life.
Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools of Time
Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook
 
⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️
https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights 
 
🤝CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🤝
Visit our website: themodernmanshow.com
Follow us on Twitter: TheModernMan8 
Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow 
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man

He built one of the largest men's fitness movements online. He still can't feel joy.
Dean Pohlman is the founder of Man Flow Yoga — a community that has helped over 100,000 men reduce pain, build functional strength, and reclaim their bodies. He's also the host of the Better Man podcast. On paper, he's the kind of high-performing man this show is built for. In this conversation, he opens up about the cost most successful men never talk about: the gap between looking like you have it figured out and actually feeling well.
We go deep on aging, mobility, the 3x/week protocol that reverses physical decline after 35, the three big misconceptions that keep strong men weak — and then deeper, into self-worth, anxiety, and what Dean calls "courageous vulnerability."
If you're a high-performing man in your 30s, 40s, or 50s — this one's for you.
 
Key insights from this episode:
The 3 misconceptions about yoga that keep strong men in pain
Why your body breaks at 40 (and the 3x/week move that reverses it)
Health span vs. lifespan: what every man should actually be training for
Why posture changes your mood, your hormones, and how others see you
The founder confession: what success doesn't fix
Courageous vulnerability and the power of shared experience
 
Chapters:
 00:00 He built yoga for 100,000+ men. He still can't feel joy. 
01:00 Welcome — what's up, brother 
02:07 How Dean stumbled into yoga (literally looking for the tailor) 
03:29 "I thought I was hot shit." Yoga humbles the college athlete. 
06:48 The longevity question — fighting off aging 
07:15 Where men "pride themselves on fitness" but get exposed 
11:35 The men at the gym who can't actually move 
15:05 The 3 biggest misconceptions men have about yoga 
18:25 Body awareness, balance, and fluidity of motion 
21:19 What this does for the business owner and the leader 
22:04 Posture, mood, hormones, and how people see you 
24:00 Without self-awareness, self-improvement does not happen 
25:37 The 12-year shift — when yoga changed Dean's life 
29:13 Increasing capacity for life (and Ted's meditation closet) 
32:45 The strange thing that happens to married men in this community 
35:50 Health span over lifespan — what actually matters 
36:48 The most common pains — and the 3x/week magic number 
38:14 The research: mobility, mood, longevity 
39:48 Fitness as the gateway drug to self-improvement 
41:30 Why Dean started the Better Man podcast 
43:21 The middle ground — beyond hyper-masculine 
44:37 Dean's confession on self-worth, joy, and Louisa from Encanto 
47:00 The anxiety admission 
49:03 Where to find Man Flow Yoga and Better Man 
50:56 The most powerful thing — courageous vulnerability
 53:27 Ted's closing reflections 
56:11 Outro — let's grow
 
🤝 Connect with Dean Pohlman
Website: manflowyoga.com
LinkedIn: dean pohlman
YouTube: @BetterManPodcastManFlowYoga
Instagram:  @bettermanpodcast
Facebook: h@dpohlman
Tiktok: @deanpohlman 
 
👉 About The Modern Man: The Modern Man is here to provide the structural discipline required for men to scale their impact while enforcing a strict sovereign life.
Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools Of Time
 
Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine:https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook
⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️
https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights 
 
🤝CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🤝
Visit our website: themodernmanshow.com
Follow us on Twitter: TheModernMan8 
Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow 
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man