Mojo for the Modern Man

Plunging into the deep end, executive coach and men’s work leader Jake Fishbein opens Act 2 rising powerfully to a question about vulnerability and  realness. We touch on romantic and platonic love, and stepping out of our comfort zones to enjoy richer, deeper, more real conversations. Willing to have your heart broken? Jake’s response is, of course, an enthusiastic “yes.”  And he shares the impor...

A New Yorker hailing (originally) from Santa Fe, New Mexico, executive coach and men’s group leader Jake Fishbein shares his younger days as a Montessori student and explorer of the land.  He talks about his early connection to that land, and how New York is… different. And walking on the concrete of the city rather than in connection with the Earth is where different begins.  Jake unpacks some lo...

Jim Young returns to the mic to share the goods on his new book, Expansive Intimacy: How “Tough Guys” Defeat Burn Out  My first question: “What led to this book being?” Jim’s response: “The simple answer is seven years.” Jim shares how his drive to achieve and deliver for others led to him hitting the wall (hard) and breaking down.  We plunge into the important, challenging work that vulnerability...

  Raj Sisodia opens Act 2 reflecting on Mother Energy.  From there, we riff on the foundations of Shakti Leadership , move on to one of the “great callings of our time,” cite cultural shifts at Microsoft under the leadership of Satya Nadella, and pay a short visit to Everybody Matters and CEO Bob Chapman’s life- and leadership- changing epiphanies. Raj takes us to South America to set the scene fo...

Raj Sisodia is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, award-winning professor and thought leader, and a man on a heart-fueled mission of organizational healing and responsibility. To say Raj’s life experience is far ranging is somewhat like saying outer space is “big.” Born in India into the Rajput subset of the Warrior caste in a system he describes as feudal, Raj moved to s...

Megan Jo Wilson is a force of nature by just about any measure.  She’s not only a brilliant singer and coach – she also applies her formidable heart and creativity to helping entrepreneurs get their helping work out into the world.  After running several iterations of "Rockstar Camp for Women," Megan Jo broke the mold in 2019, bringing a group of men through her “yes, you will sing on st...

Christopher Veal , author, speaker, coach, and combat veteran (Marines), begins today’s discussion about his new book, The Whole Man: Evolving Masculinity, with a critical dissection of masculinity in our recent history. There are, as Christopher muses, two versions of masculinity in the 21st century - healthy and unhealthy - and he admits that his greatest call to exploring this topic was his own...

Joseph Bernstein opens Act 2 expanding on healthy edginess and the vital nature of fierce love.  We dive into a moment on the importance of truth and boundaries in relationships, sharing stories about the relationships around us that are built on foundations of complexity. Joseph takes a moment to riff on experience, emotional maturity, and emotional repair, noting that “Uncomfortable conversation...

Joseph Bernstein shares images of growing up in the “80’s and 90’s” suburbs of Washington DC, where he experienced a diverse population of folks from around the world but, as he says, without much diversity of thought and values. Life in his childhood home was, on one hand, supportive, comfortable, and he knew he was loved… On the other hand, the atmosphere was rife with “emotional violence” betwe...

Pellegrino Riccardi opens Act 2 discussing the therapeutic nature of writing - and giving a shout-out to the supportive editing and publishing team for their help with his recent book, Drowning Quietly - Memoir of a Man's Shortcomings . “It was cathartic, of course,” he says, citing the work of Brene Brown and adding, “secrecy… it’s the rocket fuel of shame!”  He touches on how healing grows...

Author, speaker and communications trainer Pellegrino Riccardi opens Act 1 reflecting on growing up as a child of Italian immigrants in the UK; “You know, once I left the door of the house I was in the UK… When I went back in the house again, I was back in Italy.”  He shares the contrasts between his rugged Italian “hillbilly” roots and the relatively polite English schools in which he was educate...

Shana James , author, speaker, podcaster, and men’s coach, opens today’s episode describing the genesis of her lifelong quest for understanding the human condition–both psychologically and spiritually.  As an inquisitive kid, Shana found herself frustrated by the lack of answers for her curious questions.  She asked herself, “What are people not telling me?” She recalls that even in her earliest d...

Ed Frauenheim launches Act 2 with an exploration of pivotal moments leading to his current work.  “I got into this [work] of masculinity in workplaces through a long-term study of what makes workplaces and leadership good, if not great.”  That study led Ed to joining the research and consulting firm behind the “Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For” list, giving him keen insight into what happens...

Author and researcher Ed Frauenheim opens  Act 1 reminiscing about his past as a young boy in a suburb of Buffalo, NY, an “idyllic place” where Ed’s early - and somewhat persistent - understanding of what a man was supposed to be took form.  As a young man, Ed’s perceptions of manhood were challengingly rigid; “it’s about competition, it’s about being tough, it’s not about expressing emotion, and...

Ray Arata kicks off Act 2 with a discussion about Heart Based Leadership – a framework of emotional literacy that Ray distills down to “power of the heart.”  Our conversation quickly turns to real life comparisons between the toxic masculinity of Vladimir Putin and the heart-based Leadership Volodymyr Zelenskyy has shown throughout the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine.   We dip into privilege from a...

Ray Arata , author, DEI expert and founder of the Better Man Conference, opens Act 1 by discussing some of the most formative experiences of his life. Ray tells of a “one-two-punch” wake-up call in 1991 that helped shape him into the man he is today, when he faced divorce on two fronts; one from his wife, the other from a business partner, all in the span of weeks.  Ray reflects on the pain he exp...

Michael S. Seaver opens Act 2 with a discussion of purpose, mission and the distinction between the two. Michael makes fascinating observations about his process of self-discovery breaking away from the established patterns of his youth to become his own man. He affirms, “I am not the mental models that my parents distilled in me…” For Michael, finding his mission was a series of “iterations and p...

Michael S. Seaver opens Act 1 with stories of growing up in a small town in Michigan, where his life largely revolved around the family business. He recounts those early years, saying, “I’ll never forget those days of never feeling heard or understood for who I was or am today. I always felt emotionally abandoned.”  At 18, Michael began to realize that his place in the world was outside of Michiga...

Tony Daloisio begins Act 2 with a story of a recent experience he had at lunch with a good friend.  Presented with what could have easily become a confrontation, he describes facing a “moment of truth” and how slowing down, opening his heart choosing to empathize deepened the friendship. Tony leads us into a discussion highlighting his own work as well as that of Robert Kegan.  He weaves elegantly...

Tony Daloisio opens Act 1 with his story of life with “Mother Mary”, his brilliant and extraordinarily troubled mother.  Tony’s mother was an “obsessive, compulsive, neurotic” parent who “ruled with an iron fist,” who did everything in her power to control her environment, including her children.  Tony goes on to describe the energy of his extended family as “dangerous.”  As a relatively young tee...

Robert Muncaster opens Act 2 by sharing how, whilst facing challenges in his marriage, sitting down for coffee with another man led to stepping into men’s work.  He riffs on the importance of setting ego aside to hold space in relationships. Reflecting on how “the lesson repeats itself until the lesson is learned,” Robert highlights learning about practices of deeper communication and the importan...

For Robert Muncaster , the only requirement in a very free childhood was returning home after the streetlights came on.  He spent his first days in Ottawa, Ontario, soon moving across Canada to Vancouver, BC.  Robert shares his experience of flying down mountain trails on his bicycle, seeking challenges that included a hefty share of broken bones which proved, more than anything else, to be mere i...

We open Act 2 with David Taylor-Klaus dishing on his collegiate acting career and how, through that experience, he learned powerful keys to connection and wanting for others.  As we turn to the topic of purpose, David tells a story of returning to crew in his 30’s – and, after rowing in a winning 4-man Master’s crew, getting launched from a racing shell into water well-stocked with a nasty array o...

David Taylor-Klaus launches Act 1 describing walking one very specific tightrope of his childhood: “Dude, it was odd!  I grew up a liberal Jew in the South, 20 miles from where the Klan reconstituted in 1898!”  He points to reverberations of the 1958 Atlanta synagogue bombing that impacted his early experience in the  ‘70’s and '80's. David shares how he shocked his mother by saying “bye...

After a brief monologue on responsibility, (mine…) Alexander Inchbald opens Act 2 with a reflection on… cake.  We explore the roles of ego and how it can serve as a tool or, when it insists on grabbing the wheel, how it gets in the way of creativity.  Alexander touches on the pathways creative energy takes through the body and riffs on the role of the observer before inviting us to look at love as...