the Brave Man Project podcast
Conversations with men you won’t hear anywhere else.
Not because the stories are dramatic. Because they’re true. And most men don’t tell the truth—not even to themselves.
Stuck. Unseen. Performing roles that had nothing to do with who they actually were. Some lost everything. Some never lost a thing—and still felt hollow.
They found their way through. Not out. Through. They’re not here to inspire you.
They’re here to tell the truth about what it actually took.
They walk the path. They offer their footsteps
The question is whether you’re ready to look down and see yourself in them.
who it is for
Are you performing? Or are you wearing a mask?
Either way, you’re invisible.
Successful. Capable. Popular. You’re the one everyone counts on, yet you feel hollow. You’re the life of the party, and the loneliest man in the room.
Stuck. Unseen. Performing roles you excel in, but that bring no joy.
Running at 80%. The remainder is bewilderment.
This work can only be done alone. And talking with other men.
This is also for the woman trying to understand the man on the other side of the table.
For the partner or the family watching a man they love slowly disappear behind the performance.
If you’re listening and already thinking of someone, you’re probably right.
Send it.
the mirror
Each guest has a moment where you see your life reflected.
A heart attack from ignoring all the signs. A husband losing his wife and his identity. A man who thinks “this is enough” and does walk away.
The man who’s watched friends take their lives. And is considering taking his own.
Each of these reflections may be you.
You’ll recognise something. That’s the point.
the guests
Some have written thirty-four books. Some will never write one. Some have built empires. Some have lost them.
What they have in common is this: they’ll sit down and tell the truth about it.
Philosophers rethinking what it means to be alive. Men who chose life when everything pointed the other way.
Occasionally, a woman. Because sometimes it takes one to say what men won’t.
You are in the room with them. Leaning in. Forgetting it’s a podcast.
There’s no performance for the microphone. Just a trail of footsteps for you to follow.
what it asks
Lend me your ear.
Put the kettle on. Go for a walk. Sit in your car after you’ve parked because you need to hear the end. Headphones in the gym.
See yourself in their stories. Imagine yourself where these men are now.
The best stories are the ones men are most afraid to tell.
These men tell them anyway.
I built this so you don’t have to fall that far to find out what you’re truly made of.
Barely 40 and very well paid, Tom Morgan was sitting on a Manhattan trading floor when his whole being became bathed in love. Then a voice started in his head, and it didn’t stop for two years.Sound Bites“I had what I can only describe as a spiritual awakening or psychotic break depending on your biases.”“I… Read...
David Chambers asks a head of risk what he does, and the man sits up and talks with total confidence. Then David asks about his relationship, and the chair rolls back. Sound Bites “It’s decided by the person often who is speaking, who lacks safety.” “We call them vulnerabilities to the system because it’s how… Read...
A boy setting out his classmates’ books asks his teacher where his own book is. Azul Terronez nearly lies, then admits he’s afraid, and the boy hands him back his own advice. Sound Bites “Hiding from yourself is the game.” “Well, you tell us, it’s okay to be afraid to just do it anyways.” “It… Read...
Corey’s psychologist gave him a picture for his childhood: wet concrete, and everyone who walked past pressing in a footprint that set hard and stayed. He coaches boys’ football now, and he reckons that if he can pull one footprint back out over a six-month season, that is a win. Sound Bites “When you’re young,… Read...
Cliff sat with his daughter, working through the tick boxes on her assessment form. She’s that, so am I. She’s that, so am I. He booked his own assessment not long after. Sound Bites – “It’s like being in an aeroplane. If the masks come down, you put it over yourself first, then you help… Read...
Half three in the morning, fifteen years into working nightclub doors, Ivan stopped saying “members only” and told an angry man the truth instead. He says it landed like a punch in the face — and the bloke came back a fortnight later and shook his hand. Sound Bites “Tough guys don’t like to be… Read...
They call it high-functioning. It just means you can’t see the cost. He’s had some days when he couldn’t speak at all, and his mother sat beside him reading Nietzsche aloud until something switched back on. This is a conversation about what it costs to look like you are coping. Sound Bites “There is a… Read...
Pasco – I Went to Mexico to Expose Corruption and Came Back to Fix Myself Pasco sold everything, flew to Central America with a backpack full of camera kit, and set out to break a corruption story that would make his name. Somewhere in Mexico, he realised the story was about him — and that… Read...
Matt Evans — Six Years Sober and Still Not Settling for Average There’s a photograph of Matt taken a few weeks before his arrest. He’s in the kitchen with his kids. He is smiling. You can see it is half-arsed. 6 years later, he has built a life the old him could not have imagined,… Read...
Do you know any fairy tales about ugly princesses? A 14-year-old girl in the burns unit, scarred for life, asks Kasper for a story about an ugly princess. He didn’t know one. So he made one up on the spot — and kept going back for sixteen years. “Stories convey more than numbers.” “Speak your… Read...
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