Bryce Henson

Hey Leader 🙌

This week’s leadership lesson?

Extreme ownership.

Everything is your responsibility.

Even when it’s not your fault.

I drove this home at the 10X Intensive Workshop I taught with Bedros Keuilian and Jay Redman last Saturday. 

A room full of ambitious entrepreneurs, 2 of whom want to own a FitBody. 

Hungry. 

Locked in.

I shared something raw, personal, and true.

Nine years of sobriety from alcohol. 

And while Harvard addiction expert Dr. Sarah Wakeman says 60% of alcoholism is genetic, and child trauma triggers another 20%, guess what?

That still doesn’t let me off the hook.

It wasn’t my fault.

But it’s still my responsibility.

That’s the leadership code and my leadership lesson today.

When your business hits the wall.

When your team drops the ball.

When chaos shows up uninvited.

Don’t point. Don’t excuse. Don’t wait.

Own it.

Because leaders don’t get the luxury of blame.

They get the burden and the blessing of responsibility.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility, even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You, Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power, use it.

Hey Leader 🙌

In 1645, the world’s most feared samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, wrote The Dokkōdō, 21 principles to live and lead by.

He penned these on his deathbed with no fluff. 

Just truth forged through blood, battles, and discipline.

Today, these laws serve as timeless leadership principles for those who dare to step above the noise and lead with moral authority.

Here are three standouts I coach my top leaders with:

1. “Accept everything just the way it is.”

This isn’t surrender, it’s power. Stop wishing the market was easier, your team was different, or the economy more forgiving. Accept reality fast, then adapt even faster.

2. “Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.”

Your gut will lie to you. Your feelings will fade. Your leadership must be built on clarity, not moods. Decide from principles, not pressure, and then go all in!

3. “Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.”

Translation? Take full ownership. Respect mentors, coaches, and divine guidance. But your business, your culture, and your results? That’s on you.

Musashi lived with radical discipline. He built mastery by saying no to distraction, ego, and comfort. That’s the real work of leadership.

So this week, I challenge you:

Pick one principle from The Dokkōdō.

Live it.

Lead from it.

Teach it to your team.

Because in the world of business, just like battle, your leadership principles are your edge.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader 🙌

Jocko Willink nailed it in Dichotomy of Leadership:

Great leaders must operate from 30,000 feet, seeing what others can’t. 

The trends, the vision, the next strategic strike.

But the best ones?

They know when to descend. 

Boots on the ground. 

Eye to eye with their people.

That dichotomy was front and center this past weekend in Georgia.

On the surface, I was there with my media team to capture content and grow our brand.

But the real mission?

Connection.

I shook hands with our rock star owners, Joey and Courtney, hugged our coaches/clients, and listened, really listened, to the wins and struggles of the people building Fit Body from the front lines.

As CEO, my calendar pulls me sky high.

But true leadership isn’t built only at 30,000 feet.

It’s built in conversations, in proximity, in presence.

That’s the lesson today:

You’ve got to live in both worlds. 

Because strategy without connection becomes arrogance, and connection without strategy becomes chaos.

The dirty boots give you the truth. 

The aerial view gives you direction.

You need both.

So here’s the question:

Are you too high up to feel your team’s pulse?

Or too deep in the weeds to steer the ship?

Adjust accordingly.

Because leadership lives in the tension.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader 🙌

Let’s talk about the final lever in the Phoenix Transformation: Leveraging the adversity. 

This is the moment your story stops being about you and starts being about the people you’re called to lead.

For me, it started with pain.

20 years ago, I got embarrassed about my fitness. I was called out for having “islands for nipples” at a pool party, trying to impress some girls.

Now it’s trivial and even funny. 

But in the moment, it wrecked me and also fueled me. It lit the fire for what I now call my anti-mission: a self-centered pursuit to never be out of shape again.

But here’s the thing about transformation: if you stick with it, the mission matures.

After pulling the first four levers of transformation, forging the body, reflecting, and reframing, something shifts.

The pain that once crushed me?

It became my advantage.

More than that, it becomes fuel for others.

That’s what Lever 5 is all about. It’s the pivot from personal victory to collective impact. From “how do I fix me?” to “how can I help them?”

You leverage it when you lead others on the same path that once brought you to your knees.

Through coaching, business, and bold leadership.

Because here’s the truth: the real win isn’t just overcoming adversity, it’s building a legacy that helps others overcome theirs.

If you’re still sitting on your story, afraid to share it, let this be your sign:

Your past was the price of admission.

Your future is the reward.

And your impact?

That’s the mission now: To inspire fitness and change lives every day.

This is how you leverage!

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

PS Stay tuned as the book will be released in early 2026, and details to come!

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.

Hey Leader 🙌

Here’s a hard truth that will either set you free or keep you stuck:

Adversity is not your enemy; your interpretation of it is.

This week’s Leadership Lesson is about reframing adversity. 

I’m borrowing this from a man who faced hell on earth and lived to tell the story, the late Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning.

He said the last human freedom is the ability to choose your response. That includes the stories you tell yourself when things go sideways.

Let me be blunt. 

Most leaders waste time resisting adversity. 

Great leaders reframe it.

The bad hire.

The lost sale.

The partner who bailed.

The rock-bottom moment you never saw coming.

Every one of those moments can become a leadership lever if you ask three critical questions:

How did this benefit me?

What superpower did I gain?

How am I now better because of this?

Do that, and you’ll stop seeing adversity as a roadblock and start mining it for meaning.

Because there’s always gold in the ashes.

So, like the 4th lever of the Phoenix Transformation teaches: reframe it.

Make it a powerful week.

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

The 5 Immutable Rules of Leadership

1. Take Extreme Ownership: Everything is your responsibility—even when it’s not your fault.
2. Put Your Oxygen Mask On First: Lead yourself before leading others.
3. Wield Influence Through Moral Authority: People follow who you are, not what you say.
4. It’s Not About You—Never Was, Never Will Be: Elevate others, build legacy.
5. Turn Adversity Into Advantage: Pain is your power—use it.