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Bryce Henson

Language of Leadership: The Power in Powerlessness 150 150 Bryce Henson

Language of Leadership: The Power in Powerlessness

This past week, I re-engaged with something deeply personal—working the 12 Steps with a new sponsor. 

And I started with Step 1:

“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.”

Now, don’t get it twisted. Step 1 isn’t about giving up.

It’s about giving in—to truth.

It’s the recognition that willpower, grit, and hustle—while powerful—can’t solve every problem. Especially when the problem is you.

That’s a lesson leaders tend to resist. 

We’re wired to take charge. Fix things. Muscle through. 

But there’s a darker side to that wiring: control.

And when you cling too tightly, you don’t just grip the wheel—you white-knuckle your way into burnout, poor decisions, and a disconnected team.

Step 1 taught me this: Surrender isn’t weakness—it’s the starting point of strength.

Great leadership requires humility.

It requires saying, “This isn’t working.”

It requires space for feedback, honest inventory, and realignment.

So this week, I’m challenging you to take inventory.

  • What’s become unmanageable in your life or business?
  • Where are you muscling through when you should be stepping back?
  • What would it look like to surrender the illusion of control—so you can finally lead with clarity, curiosity, and compassion?

Leaders go first. And sometimes, the first step is stepping aside from ego.

There’s power in powerlessness—if you’re brave enough to admit it.

[AIYA] What Man Needs Is Not A Tensionless State 150 150 Bryce Henson

[AIYA] What Man Needs Is Not A Tensionless State

Happy Monday! 🙌

Let’s cut through the noise to kick off your week.

The truth?

Everyone struggles.

Everyone battles demons you don’t see.

Even the people you think are “winning” right now.

The problem isn’t the struggle. The problem is how we see the struggle.

Perspective isn’t just helpful—it’s everything.

And no one framed this better than Viktor Frankl, Holocaust survivor and author of Man’s Search for Meaning:

“What man actually needs is not a tensionless state but rather the striving and struggling for some goal worthy of him.”

Read that again.

This came from a man who lived for years in hell on Earth!

It hits, doesn’t it?

Most people want comfort. Ease. A tension-free life.

But here’s the brutal truth: comfort doesn’t create character. 

Struggle does.

That uncomfortable stretch you’re feeling? The challenge that keeps you up at night?

That’s not the enemy—it’s the proving ground.

The tension is the tool that forges resilience, purpose, and meaning.

But only if you shift your lens.

Because the struggle only destroys you if you label it wrong.

If instead, you frame it as the path to a goal worthy of you—it transforms.

So this week, I want to remind you:

Your pain isn’t pointless. Your stress isn’t a setback.

It’s the path to power—if you’re willing to give it purpose.

Turn your tension into fuel.

Because in this life, striving for something worthy is the only real freedom.

Adversity is Your Advantage,

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body

PS: Click HERE to Learn Why So Many Men Feel Stuck—and the Blueprint to Break Free | Fr. Michael Butler

Language of Leadership: Don’t Just Spot the Fire—Bring the Water 150 150 Bryce Henson

Language of Leadership: Don’t Just Spot the Fire—Bring the Water

There are two types of people in every organization:

  • Problem Communicators
  • Problem Solvers

Problem communicators show up with drama. They spotlight what’s broken. They sound smart doing it and even mean well most of the time.

But they stop short of value.

The other?

Real leaders don’t just raise the red flag—they raise solutions.

Early in my journey, I made this mistake. I thought calling out issues made me proactive—until my first mentor, Eric, set me straight:

“Bryce, leaders don’t get paid to point at problems. They get paid to solve them.”

Since then, I’ve lived by this rule:

Never bring a problem without at least 2-3 proposed solutions.

Now, I train my team the same way.

Whenever someone escalates something, I respond with:

“Cool. What are your top 2-3 solutions to fix it?”

That’s how you create a solution-minded culture.

One where ownership replaces blame.

Where thinking replaces complaining.

Where action replaces excuses.

Leadership isn’t about describing the fire.

It’s about grabbing the hose.

So here’s your move this week:

🔹 Don’t just communicate—contribute.

🔹 Don’t just diagnose—deliver.

🔹 Don’t just point—solve.

Because talk is cheap.

But solutions?

Those drive results, command respect, and build legacies.

[AIYA] A Reminder of Perspective and Resilience 150 150 Bryce Henson

[AIYA] A Reminder of Perspective and Resilience

Happy Monday!

I came across this perspective shifter a few weeks ago and thought of you:

Imagine for a moment you were born in the year 1900.

By the time you turn 14, World War I breaks out, and it ends when you’re 18, leaving over 22 million dead 💣.

Barely a breath later, at 20, you survive the Spanish Flu pandemic, which claims 50 million lives globally 🦠. 

At 29, you face the Great Depression, triggered by the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange—bringing mass unemployment, hunger, and global economic despair 📉.

By 33, Nazism rose to power.

At 39, you’re thrust into the horrors of World War II, which rages until you’re 45, taking 60 million lives with it ⚰️.

When you turn 52, the Korean War begins.

At 64, the Vietnam War erupts and lasts until you’re 75.

Now, picture someone born in 1985, who might think their grandparents “don’t understand” how hard life can be. 

What they may not realize is that those same grandparents survived war, famine, disease, and chaos on a scale we can hardly imagine.

That, my friend, is what we call temporal arrogance—judging the past without understanding its pain.

It’s also a display of the Dunning-Kruger effect—a psychological bias where those with less experience overestimate their understanding, while those who’ve lived through the fire often stay humble and quiet in their wisdom 🔥.

So here’s the message:

Perspective is power 💡.

And the next time you face hardship, pause and reflect on what others have endured—and overcome. 

Let it remind you of your own resilience.

You come from a legacy of survivors.

Now it’s your time to lead with that same strength.

Adversity is Your Advantage,

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body 

PS: Click HERE How Don Saladino’s Mindset Built a Celebrity Fitness Empire – And How You Can Too!

Language of Leadership: What a Flight Attendant Taught Me About Influence 150 150 Bryce Henson

Language of Leadership: What a Flight Attendant Taught Me About Influence

“E aí! Beleza?”

That’s how I greeted the flight attendant as I boarded my flight to Portugal with my brother Barrett.

She paused, then asked in Portuguese, “Are you Brazilian?”

I smiled and replied—in Brazilian Portuguese—“Nope, I’m American.”

She raised an eyebrow.

I added, “But I lived in Brazil for two years.”

“Ahhh,” she said, “that explains it. You sound Brazilian.”

Now, on the surface, that was a compliment.

But underneath?

It was a masterclass in leadership.

Here’s the Lesson: Your environment shapes your identity faster than you think.

With one sentence, she picked up that I wasn’t from Portugal.

Why?

Because Brazilians and Portuguese speak the same language, but they sound totally different.

Same words. Different cadence. Different energy. Different culture.

It’s just like how American English doesn’t sound like Scottish English.

(Side note: Brazilian sounds much prettier.)

I digress, but here’s the deeper insight:

Language, leadership, confidence—none of it comes from what you know.

It comes from what you absorb.

From whom you around.

From what you hear on repeat.

From what you see modeled every day.

When I lived in Brazil, I didn’t learn the language in a classroom.

I learned it in conversations. At dinner tables. On the street. Through repetition.

Repetition creates rhythm. Rhythm creates identity.

And that’s exactly how leadership works.

If you want to…

  • Think bigger → hang out with visionaries
  • Get stronger → train with the fit
  • Lead deeper → surround yourself with leaders
  • Build wealth → break bread with those who’ve built it

You will repeat your environment.

That’s the rule. And there are no exceptions.

Because like water shaping rock…

Your environment will shape you—whether you know it or not.

So your challenge is simple:

Audit your environment.

Then choose to upgrade it.

Because if you want next-level leadership…

You need a next-level circle.

Let’s get after it.

-Coach Bryce

[AIYA] Perspective Crisis 🇺🇸 150 150 Bryce Henson

[AIYA] Perspective Crisis 🇺🇸

Happy Birthday, America 🇺🇸

I hope you had a great 4th!

I used to think I had it rough.

And maybe by American standards, I did.

My dad was an alcoholic. 

Eventually, he walked out and never came back.

We spent the next decade running out of money before we ran out of months.

And everyone around us could tell—we had less.

But everything changed in my early 20s when I left the U.S. for the first time.

I landed in Central and South America. 

That trip didn’t just open my eyes—it shattered them.

I saw poverty that made my childhood look like a privilege.

The kind of poverty where kids ran barefoot through slums. Where families of six shared one room, no clean water, no chance.

I remember standing in my first favela thinking:

“How ungrateful Mr. Henson”.

Because the truth is—what I thought was struggle wasn’t even close to what most of the world deals with every day.

And that’s when I realized:

America is the last stand.

The last place on Earth where you can speak freely—even if it’s foolish.

The only country where, like an idiot, you can burn the very flag that protects your right to do so.

That’s not oppression. 

That’s freedom.

The real problem?

We don’t have a political crisis.

We have a perspective crisis.

My great-grandparents understood this. They fled communism and came here with no money, no English—just the American Dream.

And they earned it.

Brick by brick.

Decade by decade.

Now, 41 years, 3 continents lived, 4 dozen countries visited, and a foreign language later…

I can say without hesitation:

This is the best damn country in the world.

Is it perfect? No.

But it’s the freest.

And freedom is always messy.

If you’re unsure…

If you think America’s the villain in your story…

I challenge you:

Grab a passport.

Go see the world.

See some real adversity.

Then let’s talk.

Because after all that, you just might come home with tears in your eyes like I did, singing:

“God Bless the U.S.A.”

Forever Grateful 🇺🇸🇺🇸

Adversity is Your Advantage,

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body 


PS: Click HERE  to learn the 3 Most Profitable Skills Everyone Should Learn from business partner Bedros Keuilian, who escaped Communism for the American Dream.

Leadership Lesson: King of Visibility 150 150 Bryce Henson

Leadership Lesson: King of Visibility

Last week, a good friend and teammate shot me a message:

“Bryce, you’re the king of visibility. Thank you, I really appreciate it.”

It was kind and appreciated.

But let me be clear—visibility isn’t about ego.

It’s about leadership.

Yes, my team probably cringes at how much I communicate at times.

But I’d rather overcommunicate and annoy than under-communicate and crash into an iceberg no one saw coming.

Here’s the metaphor I live by:

I’m the captain of our ship. 

I stand up top with binoculars, scanning the horizon. 

My team works hard below deck, moving us forward. 

It’s my job to communicate what’s coming early and often.

Not because I need the spotlight.

Because without visibility, teams drift. 

Frustration festers. 

And eventually, ships sink.

So here’s your leadership lesson:

We don’t live in a perfect world. 

There is no “perfect” amount of communication. 

It’s always too much or too little.

When in doubt:

Lean in. 

Communicate what’s happening.

Share the vision.

You might annoy a few people in the moment.

But they’ll thank you when they see the shore.

Today is your reminder to be the King/Queen of visibility to your team!

[AIYA] Time is Fleeting 150 150 Bryce Henson

[AIYA] Time is Fleeting

Happy Monday!

Time is fleeting.

We know this, but we forget. 

That is, until life reminds us.

For me, that reminder came a few weeks ago with the passing of my Brazilian grandmother, Vo Nely.

She was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in the 1930s to Portuguese immigrants. A fiery spirit, faithful to her rosary, Mass, and the “Papa” Pope she adored.

I met her in 2010. 

By then, she’d mellowed some—at least compared to the wild stories Tatiana told me from her youth.

Though she and my blood grandmother never met, never even spoke the same language, their rituals were identical—rosaries, Sunday service, quiet faith. 

When Vo Nely passed, I felt like I lost a piece of both of them.

And that’s the message today:

Life is short.

Beautiful. Brief. Gone in a blink.

As Brad Pitt’s Achilles said in the 2004 Blockbuster Troy:

The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again”.

The takeaway?

You’ll never be younger than you are right now. 

We’ll never have this moment again.

So whatever you’ve been putting off..

Don’t!

Call your loved one.

Launch the business. 

Book the trip.

Because this life.. 

It’s not a dress rehearsal.

RIP Vo Nely. ❤️

And thank you for the reminder.

Adversity is Your Advantage,

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body 

PS: Click HERE to Learn Why So Many Men Feel Stuck—and the Blueprint to Break Free | Father Michael Butler

Leadership Lesson: Travel Doesn’t Just Show You the World—It Sharpens Your Leadership 150 150 Bryce Henson

Leadership Lesson: Travel Doesn’t Just Show You the World—It Sharpens Your Leadership

I just returned from two back-to-back trips:

✔️ Co-leading our Fit Body Mastermind Workshop in Boston

✔️ Then a 7-day adventure to the Azores in Portugal

There were plenty of highlight-reel moments—those wins we love to celebrate. But I want to pull back the curtain and share the “unglamorous” part of it that no one shares on Instagram.

  • No gym
  • Red-eye flights
  • Spotty internet
  • A cold, damp Airbnb
  • Stray cats galore
  • Relentless rain

Sounds glamorous, right?

But here’s the leadership truth:

Travel like this forces you to lead yourself.

It removes comfort.

It demands adaptability.

It trains resilience.

That’s the lesson.

Leadership isn’t forged in the perfect environment. It’s sharpened in the mess.

In the unpredictable.

In the uncomfortable.

And just like business, if you’re only “in it” when conditions are ideal, you’ll break under pressure.

So I use travel as a tool.

Not for rest.

For resilience.

As Anthony Bourdain once said:

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.”

So here’s your leadership lesson and challenge today:

Where can you stretch yourself this week?

That discomfort you’re avoiding.

That’s where the growth is.

Let’s lean in.

[AIYA] Reframe it 150 150 Bryce Henson

[AIYA] Reframe it

Happy Monday!

Today, we focus on the final step of turning adversity to your advantage:

Reframe It!

This is where the magic happens.

You’ve gone through pain.

You’ve grown.

You’ve reflected.

Now you connect the dots.

Now you look back at that adversity and say:

“It didn’t break me. It built me.”

This is deeply human.

We are wired to find meaning in our suffering.

It’s why there are thousands of religions across history.

We need to explain the pain.

We need to turn chaos into purpose.

And the way we do that?

We reframe.

We don’t say, “I’m glad it happened.”

We say, “I’m grateful for what it gave me.”

We don’t say, “That wasn’t hard.”

We say, “That was hard—and it made me stronger.”

You begin to look back on your darkest days and see them differently.

You stop seeing tragedy.

You start seeing transformation.

And that is the power of this mindset.

“Adversity isn’t the obstacle. It’s the initiation.”

It’s the beginning of the best version of you.

And when you learn to embrace it, endure it, reflect on it, and reframe it…

You don’t just become stronger.

You become a leader people can trust.

You become a leader who inspires change.

You become a leader who can lead others through fire—because you’ve already walked through your own.

Adversity is Your Advantage,

Bryce Henson
CEO, Fit Body 

PS: Click HERE to my new episode where my guest Ben Elliot breaks down the 5 Tests That Separate Successful Leaders from the Rest

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Bryce Henson, CEO of FIt Body Boot Camp

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