The Modern Man Podcast

For the man who's been told the statistic. Dre Nuzum woke from a coma with 32 injuries. How to build mental resilience. Dre Nuzum was a working stuntman chasing a Marvel Live audition when a flip over a moving car went wrong on the eighth run. He woke up ten days later in a medically induced coma: 32 injuries, a leg shattered in seven pieces, nine months before he could walk on his own. A full-length podcast conversation for men who are winning at work and losing everywhere else, with frameworks you can run this week. Dre lays out the comeback that took him from two crutches to zero in a 4AM gym, why his whole life was built to overcome that moment, how he went from the wheelchair statistic to skydiving in 26 states, and the motto behind it: train heavy, live light. Ted brings the research on voluntary fear exposure and the overload principle, plus the habit system that turns a goal into a calendar. Both men are MNLY athletes and HYROX racers. Plus: the foster-system kid told he'd never make it, the coach who said "go play tennis," and what you say when the doctor says "it's still broke." Chapters  00:00 He shattered his leg in 7 pieces  00:58 Foster system to D1 football  02:23 You can get paid to flip  03:58 The 8th jump over the car  05:58 Coma, 32 injuries, the iPod flashback  07:24 4AM on crutches for 6 months  08:26 Woe is me or never give up  12:03 Ted's hospital comeback  15:22 Run the play. Then skydiving  20:38 Why intentional danger builds resilience  25:39 The darkest month  29:11 Habits that rebuild an identity  31:08 Train heavy, live light  33:38 HYROX: show muscles vs go muscles  41:54 What's next for Dre  44:20 The thing that changed how he sees the world  45:18 Ted's 8 takeaways If you're rebuilding something and you want men around you doing the same, the Noble Knights is where this conversation continues: themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights Connect with Dre Nuzum: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dre.nuzum.2025 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dredheaddreproductions4002 Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drenuzum Website: https://www.aimcoachingprogram.com/ Partners of the show: MNLY · Men's health, blood work, testosterone. Dre and Ted both train with the MNLY team. Code MODERNMAN: 10% off, first blood test free. https://www.gonutre.com/ Nutre · Code MODERNMAN for 40% off your first order.  Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools of Time Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook   ⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️ https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights    🫱🏿‍🫲🏾CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🫱🏿‍🫲🏾 Visit our website: themodernmanshow.com Follow us on Twitter: TheModernMan8  Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man #modernmanpodcast #mentalresilience #comebackstory #stuntman #skydiving #hyrox #menshealth  

"A salary is a drug they give you to forget your dreams." Steve Rolle — Army officer, $100 million builder, author of The Future You Choose — joins Ted Phaeton on The Modern Man Podcast to break down how capable men end up stuck in jobs they chose, and the four-part filter for building something that actually sets you free. Steve grew up one of seven kids on one income in the DC area — he remembers his dad emptying his piggy bank for bread and cheese, and the church food drive showing up at his own door. He left for California, trained as an Army officer, house-hacked his way to seed capital, built a side hustle to $30K a month while holding a day job, turned down a $6M acquisition with a $6M earnout, and still owns the business. In this conversation: why poor kids split into two risk tolerances, small calculated bets vs. one big bet, why your day job is your investor, the four dependencies that keep men stuck (and the question — what happened between you choosing the job and being stuck in it?), the "good enough" trap and the moment Steve almost took it, the four-part filter for any business idea (product / margin / distribution / customer acquisition), why most men who escape the 9-5 build a bigger cage, the four engines that get you out of your own business, and the question every man should sit with: at what point do your problems become your fault? Plus Ted's story — asking for a day off for a birthday party, being told no, and realizing what that meant.   Chapters: 00:00 A salary is a drug 00:59 Welcome — Steve Rolle  01:47 The piggy bank — realizing we were poor 04:51 Two risk tolerances come out of poverty  07:54 Poker tournaments, house-hacking, and the five-year divide  10:30 Why "back against the wall" usually fails  11:52 Small calculated bets — how the masses actually win  13:10 Ted: risk is a budget line / the bird on the branch  15:20 Freedom, not money — and why 9-5 vs. business is the wrong question  16:52 "What happened between choosing the job and being stuck in it?"  17:38 The happiest employees are always interviewing  20:00 Reverse-engineer your way out of dependency 21:12 YOUR DAY JOB IS YOUR INVESTOR  24:17 The lie ambitious men tell themselves  25:30 Where did you lose the dream?  26:20 "A salary is a drug they give you to forget your dreams"  26:40 Steve took a day job at $30K/month — and almost stayed  29:20 The $6M + $6M offer he turned down  30:47 The right question for when to quit  32:50 Ted's birthday-party "no"  34:32 "You forgot you were a slave"  36:27 Don't build a bigger cage  36:48 THE FOUR-PART FILTER  38:22 The four engines  41:07 Money, technology, people — the three levers  42:37 Give away the important stuff  44:00 Build the process → hire the people → get out of the way  45:40 Never sell — compound interest  46:51 Lightning: when did the business need you too much?  47:55 Lightning: protecting the family  49:04 Lightning: what he does Saturday morning  51:11 "At what point do your problems become your fault?"  52:48 Ted's recap   🤝 Connect with Steve Rolle:  Web: steverolle.com Book: The Future You Choose  (Amazon) Social: @rollewithsteve   👉🏿  About The Modern Man: The Modern Man is here to provide the structural discipline required for men to scale their impact while enforcing a strict sovereign life.   Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools of Time   Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook   ⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️ https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights    🫱🏿‍🫲🏾CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🫱🏿‍🫲🏾 Visit our website: themodernmanshow.com Follow us on Twitter: TheModernMan8  Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man  

Chris Voss's book made Ted Phaeton $25,000 on a single contract — so he got the FBI's former lead international kidnapping negotiator on The Modern Man Podcast to find out why the same tactics that work on bank robbers work on bosses, clients, and wives. Never Split the Difference author Chris Voss breaks down tactical empathy, the neuroscience of feeling understood, and why "win-win" is a lie that costs you. Voss spent 24 years with the FBI, led international kidnapping negotiations, and now runs The Black Swan Group. In this conversation he walks through the oxytocin mechanism behind connection (feel understood → more honest → less demanding), the two mental switches to flip before a hard conversation (curiosity and gratitude), the late-night FM DJ voice and the Chase Manhattan Bank standoff where it got a gunman to say "I trust you" in ninety seconds, why compromise guarantees both sides are unhappy, the Christmas-tree story that shows what to do instead, why empathy is a man's tool and Rick Rubin is its living definition, the hijack moments that kill listening ("I understand" and "Feel, Felt, Found"), "that's right" vs. "you're right," why "no" makes people feel safe, and why a collaborative negotiation pays off for years after the deal closes. Plus: Ted's full $25K negotiation story, the general manager who came out to shake his hand, and Chris on girl-dad shotgun etiquette. Chapters: 00:00 The $25,000 receipt  01:11 Welcome — Chris Voss  01:14 Ted's contract story  02:20 Why hostage tactics work in the boardroom — the oxytocin mechanism  04:40 "The need to feel understood is as important as the need to be loved"  06:32 Tactical empathy when you're tired, hurt, and annoyed  08:42 Damasio — emotion first, logic second ("that's the cornerstone")  09:54 Two switches before a hard conversation: curiosity and gratitude  10:46 Sean Stevenson — "This is happening for me, not to me"  11:30 THE LATE-NIGHT FM DJ VOICE  12:58 Chase Manhattan Bank — "I trust you" in 90 seconds  16:29 "I'm coachable" — the second set of ears  19:11 WHY WIN-WIN IS A LIE  21:12 "Why don't we compromise? That way we'll both be unhappy."  22:18 The Christmas-tree story — dig into motivation  26:13 Empathy is not sympathy — the quicksand rule  27:40 Rick Rubin — the living definition of empathy  29:40 Empathy is a man's tool — the Rock of Gibraltar  30:04 Girl-dad shotgun etiquette  30:52 The Savvy Whisperer  32:48 LISTENING IS COMPREHENSION — the hijack moments  34:15 "Feel, Felt, Found" is a hijack  37:04 "THAT'S RIGHT" vs. "YOU'RE RIGHT"  40:03 "Do you want to be right or do you want to be married?"  40:47 WHY "NO" MAKES PEOPLE FEEL SAFE  42:20 Tim Ross — switching from yes-momentum to no  45:56 Ted said no three times 48:04 Collaboration, not manipulation — intention has a smell  51:16 The Art and Science of Tactical Empathy 2026 — Nov 3 + certifications 54:39 The heaviest question 55:55 Ted's recap   🤝 Connect with Chris Voss: Book: Never Split the Difference Course: The Art and Science of Tactical Empathy 2026 — live online, starts November 3 (first-ever certification track) Website: blackswanltd.com Instagram: @blackswangroupltd @thefbinegotiator Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools of Time Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook ⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️ https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights  🫱🏿‍🫲🏾CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🫱🏿‍🫲🏾 Visit our website: themodernmanshow.com Follow us on Twitter: TheModernMan8  Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man  

My uncle left Haiti with nothing but faith. Bishop Daniel Phaeton — "Papi Daniel" to everyone who loves him — joins his nephew Ted Phaeton on The Modern Man Podcast for the most personal episode in the show's history. A man who built a life, a marriage of 58 years, and a ministry in America, and who now spends what he has building a free school for impoverished children in El Salvador.   Papi Daniel came to America from Haiti as a young man with an engineering dream and a wife expecting their first child in a Chicago winter — so he joined the Army during the Vietnam era to provide. He was baptized in Belton, Texas by a pastor who is still his pastor today. He pastored for 20 years. In 2020, a blood clot lodged between the chambers of his heart, his lungs 80% blocked, and he gave a surgeon permission to perform a procedure that could save him or kill him — awake. He walked out on the Tuesday after Easter. Everything he says in this episode comes after that.   In this conversation: growing up shaped by necessities vs. a generation shaped by opportunities, being well-to-do in principles when you're not well-to-do in money, why "who you are is what you share," building from reality instead of hope, why life is an equilibrium and not a balance scale (and how to set your margin), obligations vs. priorities for fathers, the handwritten-note challenge (Ted doesn't pass), loving your wife "for you" vs. loving her as Christ loves, learning to be a pedestal, the courage to stop hiding, "I just stopped being stupid," why he's building in El Salvador and not Haiti, and the promise he made about every breath.   Chapters: 00:00 Well-to-Do in Principles 01:36 Welcome — Papi Daniel 02:11 Necessities vs. Opportunities 04:28 Who You Are Is What You Share 07:01 Providing Through Hardship 08:39 Where Faith Began 11:29 Leaving Haiti 13:02 Dreams vs. Reality 15:38 Grandma's Piano Story 18:45 Build on Reality, Not Hope 23:38 Finding Balance in Life 27:36 Obligations vs. Priorities 30:01 The Handwritten Note 32:55 The Army and Christ 34:59 Facing the Enemy 38:21 Hiding From God 40:40 The Courage to Stop Hiding 42:44 Ted Connects the Lessons 45:00 Learning to Love Selflessly 46:35 Learn to Be a Pedestal 48:40 Applying God's Word 52:20 I Just Stopped Being Stupid 53:09 Uncle or Pastor? 57:06 Living for Today vs. Tomorrow 1:01:37 A Vision Bigger Than Me 1:04:12 A Better Future for Haiti 1:06:39 How to Help 1:08:58 Ted Honors His Uncle 1:11:11 The Next Breath 1:14:23 The Hospital and the Promise 1:19:47 Ted's Recap   🤝 Support Papi Daniel's vision: Bethesda Apostolic Center — bethesdahope.org $40/month supports one child: education, daily lunch, and uniform. Classes begin January.   👉🏿  About The Modern Man: The Modern Man is here to provide the structural discipline required for men to scale their impact while enforcing a strict, sovereign life.   Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools of Time   Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook   ⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️ https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights    🫱🏿‍🫲🏾CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🫱🏿‍🫲🏾 Visit our website: themodernmanshow.com Follow us on Twitter: TheModernMan8  Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man  

Kevin Orosz — high-performance coach, retreat facilitator, spoken word poet, and co-author of Sex Masculinity God — went from materialist psychology grad, to full-woo cotton-cape-in-Bali era (ayahuasca, Lakota sweat lodges, peyote), and back to the middle. On The Modern Man Podcast with Ted Phaeton, he unpacks the Polarity Framework, the "whose voice is that" identity reframe, and why the answer to modern masculinity is playing with the full deck — not half. Kevin runs The Fellowship (men's community) and The Polarity Lab (for men, women, singles, and couples) and hosts The KO Show podcast. In this conversation he walks through the unapologetic generalist path (and when to be one), why every successful person hypnotizes themselves (Kobe, MJ, Bruce Lee, Hormozi — same practice), Joseph Campbell's rule for cutting your own path through the woods, the ping-pong journey from Western materialism to Eastern mysticism and back to the balanced middle, the Polarity Framework (masculine and feminine as two channels — choose your dominant pole and live from it), the inner-circuit vs outer-circuit tribal division of labor (women run the village, men run the perimeter), the E.O. Wilson trap (Paleolithic emotions + medieval institutions + god-like tech), and the bonfire moment that anchors the whole masculine experience. Plus: how to tell if you've lost your edge, why the modern comfort zone is quietly emasculating men, why lone-wolfing costs more than most men realize, how to know if you should specialize or generalize, the difference between the fear-of-rejection ceiling and the actual ceiling in your career, and the practical question every married man should be asking his wife tonight.   Chapters: 00:00 Whose Voice Is That? 01:30 Welcome to The Modern Man Podcast 03:24 The Unapologetic Generalist 05:41 Break the Rules Like an Artist 08:47 Joseph Campbell: Find Your Own Path 10:37 The Life You Haven't Lived 14:54 Reclaiming Your Edge 17:06 Whose Voice Is That? — Identity 20:18 The Power of Self-Hypnosis 22:33 Who's Controlling Your Attention? 24:26 The Spiritual Journey 26:27 East Meets West 29:23 The Polarity Framework 31:38 Choose Your Dominant Pole 33:04 Losing Your Masculine Polarity 37:21 Ted's Birthday Scavenger Hunt 39:31 Inner vs. Outer Circuit 41:50 Ancient Emotions, Modern Technology 43:14 The Body Is the Foundation 44:00 Where to Find Kevin 46:08 The Bonfire: What Men Need 47:27 Ted's Recap   🤝 Connect with Kevin Orosz: Facebook: kevinoroszlan Instagram: the fellowship brotherhood kevinjorosz LinkedIn: kevinorosz Linktree: kev_oroszlan   👉🏿  About The Modern Man: The Modern Man is here to provide the structural discipline required for men to scale their impact while enforcing a strict sovereign life.   Tools of Time Course: Master your daily structure: Tools of Time   Free eBook Here: Mastering Self-Development: Strategies of the New Masculine: https://rebrand.ly/m2ebook   ⚔️JOIN THE NOBLE KNIGHTS MASTERMIND⚔️ https://themodernmanpodcast.com/thenobleknights    🫱🏿‍🫲🏾CONNECT WITH THE MODERN MAN🫱🏿‍🫲🏾 Visit our website: themodernmanshow.com Follow us on Twitter: TheModernMan8  Follow us on Instagram: @TheModernManShow  Subscribe to our YouTube channel: The Modern Man