The Foundational Coaching Vault

“Put your mask on first!” 

 There are two sides to every coin. Today, I sit down with Dawny Hill as she offers clarity and levity to this ever-elusive coin of rest. This is our last episode inside The Vault for a season. I’m honored that Dawny’s voice is the one that will challenge, comfort, inspire, and linger long after the last spoken words fade. To those who have listened in over the past two...

This is the last Power of Framing before I enter a sabbatical for a period. I trust this season offers you rest as you continue to build a virtuous life, team, and culture around you. Virtue is always caught before it’s taught. Rest is always received, not achieved.

The pregnant pause. The fullness of time. Patience. Today's virtue holds the key to unlocking transformation. I'm honored to share the story and insight of my brother and fellow Marine Corps officer, Ryan Tice. This conversation is shaped by leadership under pressure, grief and endurance, faith refined through suffering, and the slow, often unseen work of transformation when the process feels endl...

The weight of the wait. This week, we step into patience. This is our 40th virtue inside The Vault, and 40 holds significance. The fullness of time required before transformation takes form. I invite you to explore why patience is often the final proving ground of faith, not its absence. This is not an episode for those in a hurry. It is for those standing in the space between promise and fulfillm...

“Prudence is the capacity to sense consequences and their impact, and then choose in a way that protects what is most sacred.” This week, I sit down with my cousin, Saragine De Amorim, for a conversation spanning from Brazil to Norway that is as tender as it is piercing. This is not a conversation about fear or timidity.
It is about discerning when to hold on, when to loosen your grip, and when pr...

More often than not, I find that prudence is provocative.
It gets the people going. What voice is attacking what’s been entrusted to only you, and how do you find it, fix it, and finish it? In this week’s framing question and story, we revisit a moment where prudence demanded decisive action, not silence, and explore why wisdom sometimes requires us to confront the voices that threaten our purpose...

In this first episode of Back 2 GoOD for 2026, Fred and I sit with what it looks like to model faith in the space between, when the future is still unclear, and when fear and doubt try to have the loudest voices. Regardless of your worldview, your faith is being formed and passed down as a byproduct of your actions in the home, workplace, and circle of chosen people. From parenting and prayer to c...

Welcome to the first episode of Off the Hinges for 2026. I have the profound joy and honor of sitting down with my mother, Sandy Marano. We talk about faith through the lens of family, grief, gratitude, and the quiet strength required to love well through life’s hardest seasons. This conversation is about legacy. About voice. About what is passed down when words are lived long before they are spok...

In this first Power of Framing episode for 2026, I invite you to grapple with how you frame the virtue of Faith. Perhaps faith is not certainty, control, or having all the answers. Maybe it’s choosing whose voice you trust, whose steps you follow, and whether proximity to them shapes how you live and decide. Through a simple story with my daughters and an ancient story of obedience before evidence...

What if the way you frame a problem is the whole problem in and of itself? In the final Off the Hinges episode of 2025, I’m joined by my dear friend Maida Zheng. From her time as a two-year-old Bosnian war refugee to U.S. Marine Corps officer, to wife, mother, and entrepreneur, Maida’s story is a powerful reminder that curiosity and gratitude shape not only how we survive, but how we lead. This co...

In this final episode of The Power of Framing for 2025, we sit with the virtue of Problem Framing. As the year closes, I invite you to consider this: opening your hands and heart to another frame does not cost you truth; it may be what gives you the wisdom to move beyond making a point and into finally making a real difference. This episode closes with a trailer for my upcoming Off the Hinges conv...

In this final episode of Back 2 GoOD for 2025, Fred and I sit with the virtue of Selflessness. As the year comes to a close and Christmas draws near, we hope this conversation invites you to slow down, take inventory, and consider what you are carrying forward for those who come after you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you across the FC family.

“The act of selflessness requires on to forsake oneself for the benefit of others. It denotes the idea of helping others without the desire for compensation. Its components are rooted in humility, generosity, and compassion... it’s a discipline.” In our last episode before Christmas, I sit down with my brother, Matt Bride, to talk about Selflessness. This is a conversation about choosing people ov...

Whose needs drive what you gift the world through your head, hands, and heart? As we explore selflessness, I don’t want to minimize my identity or my place in this world. I want to model this virtue by offering a single question and a photo in place of a story, because this picture is worth more than all of my words and the ones I fail to find. It is the heart of my response to today’s question. A...

What excuses are attacking your purpose? In this week’s episode of Back 2 GoOD, Fred and I sit with the virtue that objectively exposes us the most. Discipline is not punishment and it is not performance. It is the daily posture of a man or woman who chooses what is right long before the fruit of that choice can be seen. Drawing from our own journeys, we talk about purpose, excuses, spiritual disc...

⚠️ Content Note: This episode includes brief mentions of drug use and of a suicide attempt. Listener discretion advised for those under 17. "I have to sacrifice for what I love so that what I love doesn't become the sacrifice." Happy Thanksgiving. In honor of my brother and this week's guest, Ron, I'm sharing a day early. The fact that this man is still alive is one thing I am thankful for each da...

Discipline. What excuses are attacking your purpose? This week begins on a frozen mountainside in a blizzard and ends in the quiet struggle of choosing the right thing when nothing in me felt like it. Through these two moments, we explore where discipline truly takes root and shapes who we become.

To whom, and for what, are you accountable?
Accountability is not a hammer. It is the compass that keeps your head, hands, and heart aligned when no one is watching. In this week’s episode of Back 2 GoOD, Fred and I explore why accountability is not a taskmaster, but a relationship. We talk about who we answer to, the purpose behind the gifts and trials we steward, and how aligning our purpose wit...

This week, I’m sitting down with one of my dearest brothers and longtime friend, retired USMC 1stSgt C.J. Santimaw, for a conversation about a virtue that shapes every corner of life: accountability. We talk honestly about what it takes to hold yourself to a standard when no one’s watching, how to offer accountability without shame, and how the people we love most often become the ones who refine...

Emotional Expression. It is so much more than what we feel. It is how we reveal our foundation and deepest beliefs. In this week’s episode of Back 2 GoOD, Fred and I dive into the virtue of Emotional Expression and how aligning our intellect, emotion, and will reveals the condition of the heart and the culture we build around it. This is not about being emotional or stoic. It is about stewarding o...

This week, I sit down with my brother, Patrick Knauer, as we explore the virtue of Emotional Expression. From the Marine Corps to the barbershop, Patrick’s story is a powerful reflection on what it means to lead with honesty, empathy, and courage. From the Marine Corps to the barbershop, Patrick’s story is a powerful reflection on what it means to lead with honesty, empathy, and courage. Together,...

Emotional Expression. What story are you telling others when they see your face, hear your voice, and observe you in silence? In this episode, I frame the virtue of Emotional Expression, or practically put, the ability to share what’s real inside in a way that strengthens relationships instead of tearing them down. Through a story about my daughters learning to communicate clearly and calmly, we l...

In a world divided by headlines and sides, what does it mean to build a culture that we can be proud to live in and pass on to our next generation? In this episode, Fred and I explore the heartbeat of culture, not the kind shaped by politics or trends, but the kind formed in hearts that choose humility, identity, resilience, and teamwork. Together we wrestle with how love, forgiveness, and emotion...

In this week’s episode, I sit down with my brother and fellow Marine, Edwin Omanahernandez, to explore the virtue of Culture: how it is formed, shared, and lived out through gratitude, discipline, and love. From Venezuela to the Marine Corps, Edwin’s story reminds us that culture is not confined to where we come from but revealed in how we show up, serve, and grow. Together, we reflect on the less...

Culture. Today’s story isn’t about policies or plans to make your own culture stand out as all-knowing or all-powerful. It’s about how seeking out divergence in people can converge into shared moments that build connections stronger than any strategy. In this episode, my daughter and I explore what it means to empower culture in the everyday, at home, in leadership, and in the way we show up for o...