166. Unlocking Stoicism to Drive Success with Bryce Henson

💭 How can stoicism drive success?

Bryce Henson is the CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp, the fastest growing boot camp organization in the world. From a challenging childhood to leading one of the most influential fitness franchises, Bryce reveals how embracing stoicism and self-leadership can forge success against all odds. This episode is packed with insights for anyone looking to harness the true power of personal accountability in both their personal and professional lives.

Bryce shares his approach to preparing for setbacks while maintaining an unwavering optimistic outlook—a balance that has enabled him to steer his business through turbulent times with confidence and foresight. This episode equips you with practical strategies to manage the unexpected and emerge victorious, providing the stoic armor needed to navigate the unpredictable terrain of leadership and personal growth.

🎧 Tune in to discover how stoicism can be a powerful tool in driving success and leading a fulfilling life.

🌐 Connect with Bryce:
• Website: https://brycehenson.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realbrycehenson/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realbrycehenson/
• Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/fitbodybootcamp/
• Listen to the Fitness CEO Podcast: https://brycehenson.com/podcast/

Book Mentioned:
• Relentless book by Tim Grover

Transcript

Mick Spiers: 0:00

The world is faced with many problems. And often, Leadership is the problem. But it's also true to say that leadership is the solution. leadership starts with self and having the right mindset. In today's episode of The Leadership Project, we're joined by Bryce Henson, the CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp. Bryce is going to share his life story about how he turned his life around by embracing the art of stoicism, and developing a mindset of courage, discipline, consistency, and resilience. There's going to be something in this episode for all of us. So sit back, learn a few things, and enjoy the show. Hey, everyone, and welcome back to The Leadership Project. I'm greatly honored today to be joined by Bryce Henson. Bryce is the CEO of Fit Body Boot Camps, the fastest growing boot camp organization in the world. That's not what we're going to talk about today. He's also a leadership expert, who has a particular passion around the topic of stoicism. So that's what we're going to talk about today we're going to talk about stoicism. Sometimes it is something that's misunderstood sometimes with that negative connotation. And we'll explore a little bit of that today. But when you get to the heart of it, it's something powerful that all of us as leaders can look at learn from an embrace. So really looking forward to unpacking this great topic today, Bryce, without any further ado, I'd love it if you would say hello to the audience. And I'd love to know a little bit more about your background that led you into what you do today, including your passion for leadership.

Bryce Henson: 1:42

Oh, I love that. Mick, Thank you so much for having me on the call today, very excited to connect with you and serve your audience in the leadership is always the problem. And it's always a solution. I absolutely love it. And I love the fact that you're also a leadership expert and consultant. So we're going to have a really great engaging conversation around that topic. And I guess my story starts, I grew up, I'm American, as you probably can hear, if you're listening to an audio, and I grew up in the eastern part of the US in a city called Atlanta, Georgia, I lived there for the first 10 years. And it was a very volatile upbringing. And the reason for that was my father was a drug addict addicted gambling and an alcoholic, which is not the trifecta that's typically conducive for a good family upbringing. And as you would imagine a lot of volatility until finally, thankfully, by the grace of God, my mother escaped with my two siblings and I, and we got out of Dodge, and really moved to a different life. And interestingly enough, that was really when my first realization of the power of leadership and really my first responsibility to lead my siblings in that particular transition. So that was really the the foundation of me and my youth. Now, you know, continuing on, we moved about 800 miles north for the better part of about 10 years. And thankfully, if it wasn't for my grandmother, we would have probably been in a shelter in the streets or even worse. So she took us in, and we lived there for the better part of 10 years, and very humbling for first world standards, we used to run out of money before she went on a month, you know, fear anxiety, and that was not a very fun situation to go through. So I realized at a young age, that if I wanted to, you know, have an impact on myself and really make a mark in the world, I need to be self reliant, I need to figure out things for myself lead myself, first and foremost. So I didn't, I started working at the ripe old age of 11, when I got my first job, and that really continued at 17 jobs. By the time I graduated from university, I donated blood plasma to get myself self through school. And when I graduated from university is when I first got my first internship in the sales arena, which is a form of leadership. And that put me to Southern California, which really launched my career, we can really dialogue and more about that, I guess, as the conversation continues.

Mick Spiers: 3:46

Yeah, I'd love to unpack a few things that you've already said, Bryce. First of all, I love that leadership is the problem, but leadership is also the solution. Definitely resonate with that. And then you you're talking about starting with leading self, there were two things that really stuck out for me, you in your introduction there. Tell me what, how old were you when you're escaped from your father? If I can ask?

Bryce Henson: 4:09

Yeah, of course eight years old. So very, very young. I think I was heading into third grade and you know, very volatile and chaotic situation and very challenging in many ways. But I don't share that as a boohoo story. In fact, it actually made me so much stronger and more capable and make I couldn't look you in the eye and say I would have been able to achieve the levels of success I have without that really foundational experience.

Mick Spiers: 4:32

You use the term leading your siblings and that was what caught my attention as well. So tell me in those early days so you're in a very toxic and I'm really sorry that you went through that I'm sure you're stronger from going through it but I'm still sorry that you went through it. You went from this toxic environment to you being in the spotlight, leading your siblings. What did you learn about that?

Bryce Henson: 4:51

Yeah, a lot to unpack there. I learned that you can still be afraid you can still be scared but still do the right thing. And I'll never forget, when we escaped, I was living in, like I said, in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, which is in the southeast United States near Florida. And then seemingly overnight, we were moved to the state of Michigan, which is about 12 hour drive north near New York. And we were family. My grandma's. I mentioned earlier, she took us in, but they were really strangers, because my self and siblings, you know, had very limited connection and connection points there. So very, very soon, I think the few days after we were thrown into, you know, our grammar school, and I'll never forget, the bus driver almost dropped us off to to wrong schools, because we just didn't even know we were in this new, you know, environment. But we finally got to the right school, I was nervous, I was scared. So was my little kid brother, who was two years younger than me at the time. And you know, we walked in, and I'll never forget, I was overwhelmed and scared myself. But the biggest sense of responsibility hit me. And while I was scared, I also looked at my kid brother, who's two years younger than me, and I could just look and sense the fear in his eyes as well. So I thought, You know what, I have to do the right thing, I'm responsible for him, I need to make sure that he's taken care of. And the first thing I did is I went up to the principal's room, tried to find his class, ended up walking to his class asked for the teacher. Once his teacher came in, I introduced myself, I told him, this is my little brother, and I asked what time I need to pick him up in the afternoon. And that was that that was my first, you know, essence of really taking responsibility leading not only myself and my brother, my sibling, and also making sure that he was taken care of, and knowing that, you know, hey, I need to get back at this certain time to make sure that he is sorted for the day. So that was one of the first early experiences that I remember realizing that, hey, I had different environment, you know, things were confusing, very, I didn't understand too much at the time, and a lot of nerves and anxiety. But just because you're scared and super nervous, doesn't mean you can't take action for the better by yourself and the betterment in my case, my family in this particular situations. So hopefully, that shed some light.

Mick Spiers: 6:50

Yeah, it's really good, Bryce. And there's a few words that are popping into my head as you're talk. And the first word is courage. Courage is the ability to step in and take action, despite the fear. The second word is screaming out the responsibility. And you taking those actions and realizing that there's others relying on you as well, you were leading self, but you're also role modeling behaviors and taking responsibility for your little brother, an amazing, very early step into leadership right there. Then if I come back to your story again, then you said your first career was in sales, and you had a comparison of sales to leadership. Tell me more about that. Yeah, great question. Well, I've looked at leadership from a few different frameworks. But really, I buy into John Maxwell's vision of leadership, which is influence. And really, leadership is nothing more, nothing less from my perspective and influence. And that's why I think my framework of leadership is, first and foremost, you need to lead yourself, you need to influence yourself, first and foremost, then you can influence your family, and then you can influence your business or your empire. And it's that that order is mission critical. And I look at sales, really, sales is also influenced as well. And typically, when I think of sales, I think of persuading or influencing someone either to take an action or purchase something. And that's really what leadership as well, so my first, you know, 10 years of my career, I was in sales, I was, you know, selling and persuading someone to transact with my organization to exchange their credit card for the value that I would be able to provide. And that was a form of salesmanship. And that was a form of influence and persuasion. And that was really how I got my start my career and fast forward once I graduated from that, and, you know, ended up within the organization that I now oversee, now my role I'm not transacting conversations and exchanging a credit card information for, you know, service, like I used to, I'm now leading my sales director, my sales team to do that. But really, what I'm selling is a vision, I'm selling influence, I'm selling a direction that we need to go and really getting buy in, I think that's a really important aspect of, you know, being a leader, because we all know those leaders that lead you know, from a dictator type, you know, perspective, and that can work very short term, but long term, there's no influence, no buy in there. So when I think of, you know, sales, when I think of persuasion, when I think of leadership, I think of influence. And, you know, there are different aspects of influence and persuasion. But that's the reason that I correlate the two. Yeah, great, Bryce. Well, let me share back with you some things that are really resonating with me with the words that you're saying. So this word influence very powerful. Our definition of leadership here at The Leadership Project is to inspire people into meaningful action around a worthy cause. Because they want to do it, not because they were told to do it, but because they want to do it because they believe in the cause. And this word influence now let's unpack that a little bit more and coming back to the words that you've been using. We believe that there's three dimensions of leadership that your lead self, to lead your team or lead others and then you lead the business, which is where you've transitioned in your career, but it starts with self. If you don't believe yourself, it's very hard to influence or inspire others to believe. How does that resonate with you?

Bryce Henson: 9:54

Oh, it's so much so and, and this is why I'm so passionate about the industry that I serve, which isthe fitness industry, you know, being the chief executive officer for Fit Body Boot Camp, because yes, you know, fitness, we all know the benefits of that it makes you look better, it makes you feel better. It makes you a better citizen and model says into the world. But you know, first and foremost, it creates discipline, it creates you the ability to take control of your own destiny and lead yourself. So from a fitness foundation, I think that really it's a tenant, it's a tactic, it's a core strategy in the ability to lead yourself. And that's why I am so passionate, not only from a leadership lens, but also to from a fitness lens. And I've been able to, you know, merge the two in my career, which you know, are very, very much synergistically are intertwined.

Mick Spiers: 10:38

Yeah, definitely see the connection there between leading self and looking after yourself and fitness, nutrition, all of those things as an example of leading self before you lead others. I like that a lot. Tell me more about how you made that transition in your life. Where was there a specific moment where you went, alright, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to create this incredible boot camp organization. Where was that moment?

Bryce Henson: 11:03

Yeah, well, interestingly enough, I'm the CEO of the brand, but I'm not the founder. And I'll give you the backstory there in a second. But what really transmission me into the fitness industry as I shared my story, you know, as I put myself to university, when I was 21 years young, I got an internship in the sales industry, which then turned into a full time position, which brought me out to Los Angeles, California, we were talking offline about, you know, how great California the palm trees, the blue skies, the nice weather, certainly all those things can be true. But one thing that LA Los Angeles specifically can be as well, when you're 21 years young, when you're 3000 miles from home, when you lack professional skills, when you lack a network, it can also be the plastic capital of the world. And there I was, you know, not fit, didn't have confidence didn't have the enthusiasm that I do. Now, I just didn't really have fitness in my life. And I live that way. For a couple years, I had more dark days than good if I'm being really honest with you, Mick and your audience. But then a fortuitous situation happened that really light bulb moment that you you know, just were inquiring about came when one of my best friends from college, his name was Adam, and he's my first fitness mentor. And Adam had the six pack abs, the glistening muscles, all the girls loved him. I certainly looked up to that. And as it turns out, he was able to move out to Southern California, we decided to live together for a couple years. So I finally mustered up enough courage after a few months and said, Hey, Adam, can you teach me a little bit about this fitness game, and he turned to me said Bryce, I thought you'd never ask. But if we're going to do this, we're going to do it. And I need your commitment for 90 days, that you're gonna train what I want you to train, you're going to eat what I want you to eat. And after 90 days, if you're like, hey, this isn't for me, then all good, at least, you didn't waste your time, you didn't waste my time. And you know, that's also a leadership weapon, a weapon of influence, I should say, a sales tool, if you will, commitment and consistency. It's an incredible sales tool, when you're working with a client to be able to get them to commit to something, the end goal to better themselves. And when they commit to that, it increases the probability of them sticking through, and I'm so glad that he made me commit to him, because let's face it, when I first started my first real fitness regimen, I'd wake up in the morning and my muscles were sore, I didn't have the ambition to go, especially after the first couple of weeks of the newness faded away, but I kept on at it and put one foot in front of the other and tapped on his coaching and guidance. And really, I trained with him for a period of two years, but hyper focus over six months, and I dropped about 20 pounds of body fat, which I want to say is around 10 kilograms, to put on 20 pounds of lean muscle. And way more than that, though, it changed my life. It gave me more energy, more clarity, more enthusiasm. In fact, I was in the sales career, as I mentioned, I went from the least performing sales rep in the company all the way to the highest performing sales rep in the company within a 12 month clip. And the only thing that changed, it wasn't my skills, sales script, it wasn't my level of persuasion, it was my ability to have confidence and conviction because of fitness. And that was really the, I guess, catalyst in the light bulb moment that really made me you know, stumped, jump into the fitness industry and really, you know, start the next aspect of my career.

Mick Spiers: 13:58

There's two words that I want to unpack a little bit. The first one just briefly is the confidence, I can see that and we get into this confidence competence cycle where the more we get competent, the more we get confident, the more we get competent. And before you know it, we're rolling down the road. And the interesting thing with you is then with the confidence you're getting from your physical fitness at this point, it starts to have an impact on the rest of your life, so on your business success, etc. So and coming. Now we come back to the word influence again, of course, if everyone knows that when someone's confident, it has an impact on those around you as well. The second word I want to unpack is this word commitment. And I can see an analogy here between the fitness world and the business world, right. So I think we all know that if someone's going to commit to a new fitness regime, a new nutrition plan, whatever the case may be, it's only as good as the commitment if the person doesn't show up on day two if they don't show up on day eight if they don't show up on day 15 In, it's not going to work. Same thing in the business world, if you've got a business strategy that trying to implement a business transformation that you're trying to influence and inspire the team around, if they don't show up, and when I say show up, I mean, show up there, put their whole energy into it on day to day eight, day 15, month nine, year three, it's not going to work. So what's the key ingredient to getting someone's commitment, Bryce?

Unknown: 15:27

Ooh, well, I think first and foremost, you have to be a servant leader. And going back to the top of leadership, because you have to understand, it's not about you, it never has never will be when you're working with a client. It's about what their dreams are, what their ambitions are, where they want to go. So the biggest secret sauce was when I talked with Adam, and he was, you know, asking me some questions about okay, well, I want to be fit. I told him my goal, I wanted to lean out, I want to build lean muscle. But more so than anything, I want to confidence, I want to be able to, you know, connect and have good good chats with, you know, females and feel good about myself in a work setting and all this and once he understood my end goal, then he could take my desired goal, my desired outcome, and then create that commitment and then increase my ability to commit so then I can stay consistent with that commitment. And here in the States, one of the best college football coaches, arguably the best college football coach of all time, Mr. Nick Saban, one thing that he always talks about in terms of training his athletes, he's like, I love it, when my new freshman recruit athlete tells me they want to make it to the NFL, because when they tell me they want to make it to the NFL, they want to play in the National Football League. That means they have big dreams, they have big goals, they have big aspirations, and I can really get them committed to my program. And once I get them committed, then they can stay consistent in terms of, you know, putting in the reps, putting the sets, making sure that they're, you know, showing up full force every single day. So for me, it's about beginning with the end in mind, it's about really understanding the client, the person I'm trying to serve, getting their goals in hand. And this can happen from a coaching perspective, from a fitness perspective, it also happens from a leadership perspective, too. And you're leading your team. Okay, yeah, you have your company vision and goal. But really, what you're trying to do is you're trying to align your company's goal and mission with the individual mission and goal of your team. And if you can create that alignment, you can create that commitment. And then you'll get the consistency, which is an ally of leadership. It's an ally and fitness. So I love that. Love it as well, Bryce. You've nailed it, I believe. So there's two things I was hearing there. One, you spoke about vision before. But what we're hearing now it's the individuals connection to that vision. They have to believe too, right? So and John Maxwell does talk about this, if you're able to articulate with deep clarity, your vision for the world and your values and your beliefs, you'll surround yourself with people that believe in what you believe. But it's their connection to that vision where they see themselves connected to that vision that something magic starts to appear. And then the second part is this cascading of purpose. So the company might have a big purpose. But if you ignore the individual's personal why it's at your peril. So it's the ability to align someone's personal why to the, let's say, the corporate why or the collective why of the group, then we start getting purpose alignment, then we start seeing amazing progress. But the opposite is true. If someone's personal, why is ignored, they don't connect to the why of the group, they don't show up on day two. And I think this is true in any fitness program. And I think we're starting to head towards our topic of the day around stoicism and we'll start building on it, it's when things don't go right. If someone's got a really strong why they'll keep going. Alright, so if they're on a fitness regime, and they've missed three gym sessions, or whatever, their resilience to be able to go but I this is important to me. And here's why I know my why I know why I'm doing this, they show up on day four, even though they missed the three sessions in between, they'll show up again and go again. And it's that ability to get back on the bike is actually the key here. And if someone doesn't have a strong why they'll go, alright, I blew it. And off they go. They go back and they might have a hamburger and before you know it, they go and I I've blown my diet. Now they have seven hamburgers because they think that they've blown up so because they don't have that strong connection to why so what are your thoughts have a connection to vision, but then also the alignment of a personal why towards the group or the collective why? I love this, Mick, You certainly have led people in your career clearly because there's an incredible analogy and synergy when we're talking about fitness here. But it's the same with leadership as well. It's really about determining that person's why and you have to have a strong way from your organizational lens. And, you know, secret sauce is to mirror that to your point with an individual. And that's easier said than done. But I think that's really the important job from a leader in your organization. As a leader, you need to always be casting vision where you're going as an organization, what outcome you're trying to achieve. And when you cast a vision that what happens is then your teammates okay will either align they'll get on board or they'll realize that hey, this is actually not the vision that I'm aligned with. And that's okay too, you'd much rather, you know, have that insight early and often, then, you know, work with someone for a long period of time. And then unfortunately, frustration can mount resentment can amount. And that's a recipe for long term disaster. So you as a leader, if you're listening this right now, it's really, really important to continue to cast your vision. So that way your organization understands where you're going, but why you're going there, what it's going to need to take to get there. And then again, you know, from a leadership lens, making sure that you have a finger on the pulse that you're pouring into your team, that you're creating space for your team, really to understand where they're coming from. So that way you can make that match. That's the vision. And again, going back to the initial point, even if it's not a match, that's okay, by leaning into the friction by having you know, tough conversations, even if it is not in alignment you much rather know now versus your teammate, just kind of, you know, stroll along with your organization and kind of silently check out you know, long before they actually really check out which is really, you know, could be a disaster for your organization.

Mick Spiers: 20:57

I love this term that you've used early. And often, I think that's also a mistake that we make in the business world. And we can say in our personal life as well, is setting the vision once and thinking it's Oh, it's done. Now we've done the vision, we did the workshop, we took everything away for an off site, we created a vision, oh, it's done. And you do it once a year or even worse once every five years. But you said early and often. And it's that repeated, hey, remember why we're doing this. If you remember, every day while you're doing it, you're gonna keep doing it, which then leads me to this word consistency. And we've been dancing around it a little bit. Tell me more about the power of consistency, it's clear in your message that this is part of it.

Unknown: 21:36

I think, you know, strong leadership, strong fitness, it all requires, you know, consistency. And it's not about the man who shows up in full force full energy one day at a seven, and then you know, comes in, you know, half assing the rest of the week. Yeah, I mean, that's good for the one day, but that's long term detrimental to your organization success. So for me, and granted, growing up on teams, I saw this, you know, when I'm practicing and soccer and lacrosse and football, when I grew up, what I realized to be true, it's the guy that's really hard to be is the one who consistently shows up day in and day out puts in the work, even if they don't feel like it. And I would actually even you know, take a teammate that maybe isn't as talented as your rockstar teammate who can execute at a level 10 Only some of the time, I'd rather take someone on my team that shows up in eight that consistently shows up on an eight every single day because you know what you're gonna get. And when you're building a big vision, when you're building a company, when you're attacking a big vision and mission together, you need that consistency, you need that predictability, that's really what's made the difference in my life for my the teams that I lead. And in typically speaking, when I do look for teammates, I look for consistency way more than you're the highest performer in the room.

Mick Spiers: 22:46

That's an interesting one, I want to explore something there, we do have a tendency to search for quick results, whether it's in, in business or in fitness, the person that wants to lose 20 pounds in the next month, you know, things like we have this tendency to search quick results, but it's actually the more consistent results that add up to a much bigger change over time. How do we break this, let's say pursuit of quick results, wanting an instant result versus looking at the long term goals?

Unknown: 23:17

Two things come to mind. Number one, it's awareness. Because many times people are just not aware. And you're right. It's just ingrained in human nature. And specifically, being in the fitness industry. You know, there's a lot of marketing that goes out, get six pack abs in six weeks, you know, and that short term fix, which really draws people from a human nature perspective, but really long term isn't the best strategy to keep someone on your program long term. So having an awareness, the fact that anything in life worth value, typically speaking does not come with a quick fix, you're gonna have to put in the reps, you're gonna have to put in the sets, you're gonna have to stay consistent for the long term, I think is really, really important. Also, just having a good understanding of how you're wired, you know, you know, self confidence and self trust, and you know, as a person, do you trust yourself to, you know, continue on, you know, whatever you're seeking out, I think it's really important. And the last thing that comes to mind is coaching and a guide. And I know, you know, your organization, you're an incredible leadership coach. And for me, you know, throughout the years, anything that I've achieved success with, whether it's fitness, whether it's sales, now with leadership, I've always been able to hire a coach, because for me, a coach is a guide, just think about it, you know, if you and I are deciding what we're going to take a trip to Eastern Europe, we're going to go to Spain, and neither of us speak Spanish, it would probably be a good idea that you know, when we go to Spain that we recruit a local tour guide who speaks English, our language, but that also is from Spain, who can speak the language, who knows, you know, the ins and outs of Madrid and Barcelona, all the cities that we're going to explore and when you have a guy that has institutional in depth knowledge of where you wanna go, typically speaking, you time collapse, you increase your results, and you ultimately can you know, stay the test of time because you have, you know, success and the tail winds at your back. So for me, you know, as I look at This, I think awareness is really, really important to have a good understanding of you know how you operate as a person. So that way you can understand whether you're going to be susceptible to certain things or not. And then making sure that you know, anything worth living in life, to make sure that you attach yourself to a guide to a coach who's been there, who's done what you want to do. And that's going to dramatically increase the probability of success. So for me, those are two really quick ways to streamline your ability to stay consistent long term.

Mick Spiers: 25:27

Couple of things are bouncing in my head, as you're talking there is that you know, life is full of shortcuts that turned out to be the long journey. And then the second one is having the guide on the journey that knows the path to success, and, in the end, accelerate your results but give you sustainable results, not just the quick wins. I really liked that. And I do encourage people if you don't have a coach in your life, for whatever reason, whatever you're trying to achieve, having a coach can help you build that awareness, but also help you understand the journey that you're on. Now Bryce, we've accidentally, if you like, trod on the outsides of this topic of stoicism for a few times now in our conversation, I want to go deeper into it now, What does stoicism mean to you?

Unknown: 26:09

It's a philosophy, it's a way to think and it's an ally of leadership. For me, when I think of stoicism, I think about understanding that there's going to be challenges, there's going to be adversity that comes in your life that is just part of the human condition. But it's not about the challenge that you go through, it's about the opportunity to make you stronger, to make you better to advance you to really create a challenge that's going to change you in a positive way. When I think of the stoic way of thinking. That's where I think of taking all the challenges and adversity in your life which you know, human nature, we're all susceptible to and making that your advantage, turning your message, your message, turning your adversity into the solution. So for me, that's the simple framework that I look at from a stoic perspective. The other thing when I look at stoicism, and this is you know, we are talking offline, it can have sometimes a dark connotation, which I can understand. But if you can see through that one of the things that stoicism talks about is this tagline of Memento Mori and momentum or his Latin, and the phrase is loosely translated to remember that you're going to die. And while that can sound dark and sound, sound grim, and there'll be some truth to that the reality situation is death is a fate that we all are going to experience at one day in human nature, we just operate our lives, sometimes so complacently thinking that we have forever. And the fact of the matter is we don't so one of the things I've learned is actually the late Steve Jobs, one of his last, you know, kind of keynotes to Apple talked about, you know, reminding that yourself that you're going to die. And one of the things he shared in his story was, you know, the big life decisions that he's embarked on. Because a lot of times we get, you know, trapped in the minutia, we think these decisions that we make on a daily basis, that are you know, are gonna be really impactful. And some are, but a lot of them are not. But the big decisions, the big fork in the roads in your life, that you have to make a big decision. Bring your death in front of you think to yourself, you know, Bryson, I'm talking to myself, when I'm at when I'm 90 When I'm 100. Hopefully live a healthy life. I'm on my deathbed, when I look back at my life, is this going to be met? Is this going to really matter? What decision would I liked? Or should I like to make am I going to live with regret? And for me, when I bring my death close to my face and close to my reality, by practicing the stoic philosophy of Memento Mori, somehow it just gives me so much more clarity on making the decisions that I need to make that's gonna be a long term, consistently long term decision bringing back the concept of consistency.

Mick Spiers: 28:29

As morbid as it is that it is confronting to think about that you hear about some recent work around this concept that you have 4000 weekends, how do you want to spend those 4000 weekends, it's like, you know, it is kind of confronting, but it also can be empowering to well, let's live in the moment, let's make the most of what we have in front of us. So that was one thing I took from that Bryce. And then the second one was this word around the challenges. And in life, and this is in business or your personal life, it could be a fitness goal, or it could be something you're trying to achieve in your business. If you think that everything's gonna go perfectly, you kidding yourself, and you're not going to be ready for the roadblocks and obstacles and challenges that life throws at you. So let me use a fitness one and then a business one for a second and then throw back to you. So the fitness one is, you're going to go to celebrations, you're going to go to birthday parties, and you're going to need to make smart choices at those birthday parties. It's part of life and you should enjoy those by the way, but are you going to be ready for it? Or are you just going to expect that you're going to have perfect nutrition and fitness every day your life? If you expect perfection, you're gonna set yourself up for failure. And the same thing in business if you at the start of the year map out. Okay, here is our 365 day plan for year and it's gonna go perfect. You kidding yourself? And if you haven't thought about the obstacles and the challenges that are going to get thrown at you, you're not going to be ready for them. How does that sit with you?

Bryce Henson: 29:56

I mean, that's foundationally to stoicism, and I I'm picking up what you're laying down 100% I think it's human nature for wishful thinking. And I know this to be true, you know, working with new franchise partners all the time, you know, every single new franchise partner, they're excited, they're ready to go. And they're very successful long term. That's the beautiful part. But initially, they typically over estimate what they can do in one year. And they underestimate what they can do in five years. I think that really plays on MC to your point about, you know, human nature that condition. Many times people don't think of the worst case scenarios, don't think of the obstacles, the challenges, the detours, they're going to have to encounter. And if you don't plan for that, okay, you're really setting yourself up for hardship, because it's really, really hard to overcome something, or at least exponentially harder. And if you plan for it to begin with, so one of the things of the core tenets of stoicism is not only reflecting your death, but let's reflect on what are the worst case scenarios here? What are potentially, you know, how are potentially this situation could go awry, let's plan for that. But let's hope for the best but let's plan for the worst. So that's really foundational and stoicism, and one of the other tenants that I didn't really hit on when I first started dialoguing about it, that I really, really love and latch on to and it goes back to personal responsibility goes back to leadership at its core, which I really think, you know, the difference maker between a strong leader and someone who's not is the ability to have a feeling of responsibility. And when you have a sense of responsibility, that can be very heavy on one hand, the burden of leadership, it's heavy, but it's also to your point earlier, it's very empowering as well. So you have to have understanding that you have responsibility for yourself, no one is coming to save you, you must save yourself. And the time is now. And that's my tagline on my podcast, because that is so true. stoicism is accepting personal responsibility as about understanding that you need to plan for the worst hope for the best, but plan for the worst. And you need to understand that no one is coming to save you, you have to take personal responsibility. And that is the best way to live a life well lived.

Mick Spiers: 31:53

I'll come back to the personal responsibility thing in a moment because that's where some of the negative creeps in or some of the perception creeps in around stoicism. We'll come back to that in a moment, coming back to the challenges and you know, hope for the best plan for the worst. How do we make sure that doesn't go into a negative spiral Bryce, right. So if I get my team together, and we do have a really open and honest conversation about everything that could go wrong, if we're not careful, we end up in a spiral where going, Oh, this is never gonna work right to how do we stop? Like if we don't have the conversation about the challenges that will be at our peril, because we won't be ready for the challenges when they come. But if we get into a negative spiral, we'll start going, Oh, woe is me. And this is never gonna work. And how do we reframe? Or how do we tip it over to make sure that we're acknowledging the challenges, but then having positive action instead of inaction?

Bryce Henson: 32:51

Well, my friend, Mick, this is why leadership is so challenging. It's hard because there's a dichotomy to it, there's a balance to it, you're absolutely right. You know, if you're only thinking of the worst case scenario, you can get very pessimistic and realize they this is not a pursuit worth pursuing. And maybe it certainly can be. So there's always a balance at play. This is also why I love leadership. I love teamwork. So I'll use an example of my leadership team. At Fit Body headquarters here in Los Angeles, California. We oversee you know international franchise, as you mentioned, fastest growing indoor fitness bootcamp franchise in the planet, we have hundreds of locations throughout North America. And you know, as we support my leadership team, and my entire team support all of our franchise partners, there's always a lot of new initiatives and new things that we're pushing out. And I think the value of the team is so important. So me, I'm the visionary the team, I'm the CEO of the team. And this actually go even goes back to personality styles. If you've ever heard of the framework disk that in terms of personality assessment, I'm IDII, So typically speaking, I'm dominant and interactive. So I think of big visions have pie in the sky dreams. And usually I look at things with a rosy colored lens. On the flip side, my leadership team is stacked with teammates that i see are conscientious and conscientious people, they typically are ones that are looking for danger, looking for the pitfalls. So you typically speaking, whenever I'm presenting a vision of where we want to go, as a company, I already know factory installed with my team, that my team, they're going to come ready to poke holes in it, they're going to become looking for danger. And if left to my own devices, I'd have to have more introspection more even more awareness than I do now, to really plan against that. Thankfully, in fortuitously, I have a really strong team, I have really engaging understanding of their personalities in mind. So I need to look at the pitfalls I need to plan for those. But typically speaking, my team supports me in that. So when we're in a boardroom, we're making big decisions. We're planning things out, I'm going to lead with the vision, the excitement, where we're going to go and I'm going to be humble enough and have enough awareness to know that three or four my leadership team, they're going to come ready to poke holes and instead of getting defensive over that, instead of getting frustrated that which I've been guilty of so many times make that I'm you know, share the vision. I'm ready Pete for people to you No break down the wall. And then there's concern. There's pessimism there. What I've realized maybe it's not me, it's not the vision, they have good areas for concern. It's just about taking a deep breath, realizing, okay, let's address those concerns. let's poke some holes in it, then figure out, Okay, do we want to move forward or not? So for me, that's the value of teamwork and having, you know, individuals in your team, in my case that are high conscientious that naturally default into seeing potentially the worst case scenario, and then you align and then you move forward.

Mick Spiers: 35:28

That's really powerful for us. And by the way, great self awareness and your human being. And so my, we all have our foibles. Right, so that's really cool. So yeah, having this balance in your team of those that are very visionary and want to get on with things and those that are a little bit more conscientious and can poke holes in the plan, like you said, but that ability to poke the hole in the plan actually helps you make the plan stronger, because then you can be ready for those challenges. And oh, yeah, I didn't think of that, Oh, what if we did this kind of thing? But then we get to a point of choice. And you said, are we going to go ahead with this or not? The point of choice is, what are we going to do about it? Right? So if you have these conversations about what we can't do and why it won't work? Well, what can we do? And how can we make it work? Right? So the point of choice is, then where it comes down to? Are you going to capitulate? Or are you going to pivot and progress? How does that sit with you?

Unknown: 36:21

It does, and that is the challenge of leadership, it's exploring all the options, but at the end of the day, you know, it's a decision needs to be made. So it's really important to go through the process to share the vision and get excited to poke holes in it to your point earlier. And man, Mick, we are just kindred spirits. One of the things I always say about my leadership team is I come with a vision and they make it better. And a lot of times they make it better, because they see holes in it. And they say, Yeah, Bryce, you're on the right track. But there's one or two adjustments here. To avoid this pitfall, this will make it exponentially better. So I really, really, really resonated with what you just said there. But that's the power of leadership and teamwork. And you need to do the due diligence, you need to cast the vision need to explore all the opportunities. But at the end of the day, once the discussion once that brainstorm is done, a decision needs to be made. And that's the power of leadership. And you know, the worst thing you could do is just sit there analysis by paralysis, the best thing you can do is make the best decision. The second best thing is to make the wrong decision, because then you can quickly get feedback and adjust course, and that's usually the lens of leadership that I looked through.

Mick Spiers: 37:20

Love it. And it embodies this thought that we're smarter together, we can co create something that's much better than any of our individuals can create. So regardless of how smart you are, as the leader or how smart you think you are, you're smarter together, and you will co create a better plan. If you're truly listening to those around you, okay, really, really powerful. And then it comes down to those points of choice where you decide to progress and your pivot from what can we do to what can we do? And then off we go. Now, I want to get back to personal responsibility. Let's get into the negative for a moment here, Bryce. So one of the things around stoicism and personal responsibility, and no one's responsible for you except for you, etc etc,where it can go a little bit astray if you like, is this thought that stoicism means that you just need to toughen up that you need to or you just need to be more stoic. You just need to be more resilient sayings that someone doesn't necessarily help them. And in fact, what it can do is lead to the thought where they don't feel like they can stick up their hand and ask for help, where they feel that sticking up their hand and asking for help is a sign of weakness. So I'm a fan of stoicism. But this is where it can get a little bit complicated where people interpret stoicism that Oh, it's my personal responsibility. I'm in this by myself, I need to fix it myself, I just need to be tougher means that they don't ask for help. How do we address that?

Unknown: 38:46

Oh, that is an incredible question. And that's the dichotomy of the philosophy. Because you have to be able to discern when there's times where you just need to understand that you need to toughen up and you need to take responsibility. There's other times that you need to ask for help. And that's really, I guess, the silver lining the secret sauce and the dichotomy that you know, takes time and wisdom, you know, around the, the concepts. So, you know, I definitely hear you there for sure. When I look at it from that lends one of the things you've just mentioned that about, you know, having a stoic kind of attitude about, you know, things when adversity hits and that's very important. But one of the things I've also learned about stoicism is about leaning into this comfort and about, you know, processing emotion, and what you just said about like, hey, just toughen up, just, you know, take the stoic look, that can work. But really, if you don't fully process your motion, and for example, if you're frustrated if you're grieving, for example, my business partner, he just lost his mother, okay? Now if the untraditional view of stoicism was like, hey, we'll just shove those feelings away and move on with it. And that's just not the reality situation. That's not actually a good stoic thought because really stoicism embodies you to grieve like let out the emotion need you need to purge that you need to experience the emotion in full effect because once you experience it then you can release in process it then you can release And move on where the I think the the wrong connotation was stoicism occurs that hey, no matter what you just need to like stuffed those emotions down, don't deal with it and move forward and short term that can be a good strategy long term, that's a strategy that is a recipe for disaster, it will show up in your life, it will show up, you know, in passive aggressive behavior that will show up in depression, it will show up in you lashing out to people and being angry. So I think there's a time in place. And, you know, with adversity and challenges and personal responsibility, it's important to go through that, but you need to process those emotions, you know, process, the grieving unit process, all the emotions that you go through. And once you process that, then you can move on with that stoic mindset framework. So, you know, that was something that really struck a chord with me. And an observation that I've made, you know, in stoicism is something that was really empowering for me, because we've all gone through our challenges, we all go through situations that, you know, we need to grieve, we need to release the emotion, it's important to do so. So that way you can move on and you know, it kind of put a bow at going back to what you initially said, you know, it is important, it's personal responsibility, for sure. It's a strong tenant of stoicism. But sometimes, you know, being responsible means Hey, I can't do this all myself, I need to put my hand up. And that's good leadership as well. Good leadership understands that you need to move the organization forward, you need to lead yourself, you lead your family, you lead your team, there are some times we need to put your hand up and say I can't do this all along, I need your help. And that is the power of teamwork.

Mick Spiers: 41:21

Let me share two things back to you. First of all, Bryce, thank you, that was really beautiful. The first thing is compared to what we were talking about earlier, where we said that a challenge or obstacle unprocessed is just going to come back to haunt you later. Will now we've got the same thing with an emotion, right, so a unprocessed emotion, if it's just bottled up, and you know, I'm just got to be stronger. That's a short term benefit, but long term, it's going to come back to haunt you. So you do need to process these things, just like any other challenge or obstacle in your life, that was really powerful. The other thing I was thinking I want to run this idea past you is one of the tenets of stoicism also is that we shouldn't worry about the things that we can't control, we need to worry about the things that we can control. And when it comes to the situations where you feel like you're struggling, you might be going through really tough times, one of the things that you can control is asking for help. So it is in your control to go and seek a coach, seek a therapist if you need it, seek someone's help that can help you through it. That's not a sign of weakness. That's a sign of awareness and strength.

Bryce Henson: 42:29

I could not agree with you more, could not agree with you more.

Mick Spiers: 42:32

All right, brilliant, Bryce, this has been wonderful so far, I want to come back to this challenge thing as well now. So you said before, we hope for the best we plan for the worst. What does that planning for the worst look like in a positive lens for you?

Bryce Henson: 42:46

Yeah, well, you know, I think it's important to just, you know, play out the different scenarios, right. So if you're making a difference, you know, for example, we just pushed out a new initiative or can make an adjustment in terms of our process, you know, our payment structure and whatnot for the franchise system. And what we know about human nature is human nature, we all want to transform, we always want to get to a new destination, but we don't want to go to we don't have to go through the pain of change to get there. And that's just the reality of the situation. So in this particular adjustment brand wide, we pushed out long term, it's going to make the franchise way stronger way healthier, it's gonna empower our franchise partners can empower our clients long term, it is definitely the direction that we need to go to take us in another level. But short term change is hard. So we communicate this change. Of course you have some of our franchise partners are on board, let's go and some are like I don't get it like resistant to change and having all these questions etc. In concerns, right and feedback. But when from a leadership framework, when we're in the boardrooms, when we're casting vision, we're really planning these things out, it would be irresponsible of us to just to assume that we push something out, okay, we showcase and communicate the new direction we're in the new initiative, we're going his organization, it would be irresponsible from a leadership perspective, just to overlook the fact that you know, people are going to have concerns people are going to reach out to us and have questions. So to that point, you know, giving you real time you know, piece of feedback. When our leadership team was going through the changes they're going to happen in q2 this coming year, we planned out the best case scenario, but we also plan contingencies what happens when we push this communication franchise partner has concerns they have questions, what's the level of communication? How are we going to overcome those concerns? What can we do proactively to make them feel a lot better about the situation so these are all you know, conversations that we had before we made the decision before we started making communication around the event we wanted to plan on all the situations that could happen so that we were not surprised okay when we get some concerning feedback when we get someone that wants to talk to me or one of their other franchise business coaches so that's a you know, hopefully a tactical example for your audience where you know, you can showcase on planning for the best but ultimately expecting the worst.

Mick Spiers: 44:54

That's really good, Bryce. I think this is the key takeaway for today is thinking about challenges. gotta happen, those obstacles, those challenges are going to happen. Some you can forecast, some you can't forecast, by the way, but the more you sit down as a team and think them through, the more ready you're going to be to handle them when they come up. And I'll share a few thoughts back to your Bryce about some techniques that I use. So in a business sense, you've covered it, well, we think about the risks or the headwinds that are ahead of us, or what curveballs might be coming our way, we do our best to mitigate them in the first place to reduce the probability that we will be knocked off course. But then we have contingency plans in the event that the mitigation doesn't work. And that challenge does become realized that we know what we're gonna do about it. Now, that's all great talk, using project management, terminology and business terminology. But it can be as simple as just an if then statement, if this happens, then we're going to do this, it can be as simple as that. And let's use your other world here for a second bras. Same with diet and nutrition and fitness, right? It could be that you plan out your week, and you go, Well, I'm gonna do three hard gym sessions this week, and I'm gonna walk two mornings, whatever your plan is, and then you have a really late meeting, that means that you missed one of your gym sessions, what are you going to do? Well, you plan for it, you go well, okay, if I have a late meeting, that means I miss my gym session, then I'm gonna go for a longer walk the next morning, or whatever the case may be. But you're you're thinking about it before it happens. So that when it does happen, you've already got a pre agreed in your brain cause of action that you're going to take, whether it's in your personal life, if then, or your business life, if then how does that sit with you?

Bryce Henson: 46:36

Spoken like a true leader, my friend, that's an incredible framework. And we're number one, it's a great framework to attack that because really, what you're doing is you're planning a contingency no different than a sports coach, you know, planning out the game, and then planning contingencies, we're gonna run this play. But if this doesn't work, we're gonna adjust here. So I think it's really, really important. So I love that. And the best thing I love about it, is it just simple it's really just taking the complex making it simple. And make you know this to be true. Being a very strong leader and running a great organization is the more complexity you can add your organization that reduces the ability to execute. The opposite is also true, the more you can simplify things, and really make it crystal clear in your you know, followings mind, that's where execution increases. And that's where success increases. And that's your job as a leader to lead your team to success. So really, to put a bow on it circling back, I love that framework, because it's effective, the real leaders and coaches and you know, in business owners and CEOs plan contingencies all the time. And it's just a very simple way, a simple framework to think about, you know, how to, you know, hope for the best and plan for the best, but potentially expect the worst or at least, you know, have a contingency. If this does happen, we are going to do this love it.

Mick Spiers: 47:44

Alright, brilliant, Bryce, this has been a wonderful conversation, I'd like to wrap up a couple of things now. So the essence of what Bryce is teaching your team is that life happens, life happens, don't expect that life is all going to be chocolates and roses and your perfect strategy for your team is going to go perfectly every single day, it's just not going to happen. So the more that we can sit down and think about the challenges that might be ahead and to think about what we're going to do if those challenges happen, the more that we'll be ready for them. And the more resilient we can be, the more consistent we can be. We might have to learn and adapt and take little pivots as we go. That's life as well. But the more that we understand that, and the more that we have clarity of our vision of where we're going, we can actually deal with life's curveballs that throw us so think about that. Take this away from what Bryce is saying, the power of vision, the power of purpose, the alignment of purpose, to get people to that resilience, that at the first hurdle, they don't crumble and just give up. Then once we're in that next phase, we're planning and we're thinking about, well, what could go wrong? And if it did go wrong, what are we going to do about it? And this what if this is what makes a resilient plan and what makes a resilient team, and then it's the consistency over time, that will lead us to incredible results. So three really powerful things for you to think about that today. Thank you so much for us. I'd like to take you now to our final round. These are the same four questions that we ask all of our guests. So Bryce Henson, what's the one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you were 20?

Bryce Henson: 49:16

The better I can lead myself, the more success in my life will be.

Mick Spiers: 49:19

Yeah, really powerful and very consistent with what your life shows us. In fact, Bryce, you're the embodiment of that. What's your favorite book?

Unknown: 49:27

Relentless by Tim Grover, the author was the coach of the great Michael Jordan, late Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and it's just a message in a book about being resilient and I love it for every with every fiber of being highly recommend to your audience today.

Mick Spiers: 49:44

I love it. Okay, what's your favorite quote?

Unknown: 49:46

A rising tide raises all ships. And that's a leadership framework, because that's what I just truly believe in my soul. That's why I love leadership. I love people. When you bring people together and you work together and you align a rising share. A rising tide Forgive me raises all ships. That is by far my favorite quote from a leadership framework.

Mick Spiers: 50:05

Oh, I love it. Well done for us. And finally, people are going to be quite interested in multiple facets of your discussion today, Bryce, it could be about leadership and stoicism, it could be about a Fit Body Bootcamp. It could be about your journey of helping other entrepreneurs, build their fitness businesses, etc. How do people find you if they'd like to know more about you?

Bryce Henson: 50:27

Well, thank you so much. This has been an incredible opportunity. I really appreciate you, Mick. I would love to continue to add value to your audience. So people who listen to podcasts, guess what they listen to other podcasts? I have a podcast called the Fitness CEO podcast. So that's the best way you can connect with me is the Fitness CEO podcast and of course on social my handle is real Bryce Henson, not to be confused with fake Bryce Henson. And you can find me on social there.

Mick Spiers: 50:49

Brilliant. I love it for us. And thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for sharing your insights and wisdom. Congratulations on your personal success, by the way, and your story is very inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing this with us today and the great call to action that you've given us all. Thank you so much.

Bryce Henson: 51:06

Mick. Appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.

Mick Spiers: 51:08

You've been listening to The Leadership Project. Stay tuned for the next episode, where we're joined by CEO Coach Daphna Horowitz, Daphna shares with us her insights on the leadership gap, and the frustration of leadership. Thank you for listening to The Leadership Project that mickspiers.com A huge call out to Faris Sedek for his video editing of all of our video content. And to all of the team at TLP, Joan Gozon on Gerald Calibo and my amazing wife Sei Spiers, I could not do this show without you. Don't forget to subscribe to The Leadership Project YouTube channel where we bring you interesting videos each and every week. And you can follow us on social particularly on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Now in the meantime, please do take care. Look out for each other and join us on this journey as we learn together and lead together.