The Hidden Currency of Success
Why your next breakthrough won’t come from hustle — but from who you’re walking with.
In This Issue
• Why real community is your most undervalued asset
• New podcast episode + preview of next Sunday’s guest
• Upcoming Live Deep Dive on how to build your fuel
• What I’m watching and reading right now
I’ll unpack this picture in the deep dive segment
New Podcast Episode
This Simple Trick Shows Your True Calling
I unpack the idea of IKIGAI — not just as a philosophy, but as a map for finding your edge.
Watch now →
Coming next Sunday:
A riveting conversation with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor — Harvard-trained neuroscientist and Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People (2008). Her story of witnessing her own stroke and what it revealed about the human brain will stay with you.
Opportunities
🗓 Live Deep Dive (Free for XE Subscribers)
Rocket Fuel: How to Go from Stressed to Focused, High Energy and Creative
Wednesday, July 16th | Noon CST
In My Headspace (random cool stuff)
My good friend Jack Barsky is featured on the PragerU channel, sharing the unbelievable story of his life as a KGB spy in the U.S.
It’s not fiction. It’s his real life — and it’s wild.
And if it grabs you, grab his book →
Also: If you haven’t seen F1 with Brad Pitt yet, fix that.
It’s the perfect sports movie — See it in IMAX. Trust me on this one.
Deep Dive
The Hidden Currency of Success
After a military coup in Chile, my family was among a few hundred Chilean families of exiles living thousands of miles from the country that kicked them out in Mozambique.
The local government had invited them to help rebuild the post-colonial economy. So we ended up in Maputo—far from home, but strangely not alone.
That’s where I first tasted real community.
We were tight-knit, bound by a shared language, shared past, and a desire to make life work again.
There were gatherings, parties, Sunday beach outings, weekend road trips. We kids played soccer and roamed the city freely.
No over-scheduling, no screens—just tons of time together, laughter, and belonging.
Also some getting in trouble together.
That stuck with me.
Decades later, I still build my life around community.
Not the generic “networking” kind.
I mean real friends—people with character I admire, who sharpen me, and who love me back.
In a world where most men have one or two real friends (if that), this kind of intentional relational wealth has become my secret weapon.
It gives me peace, energy, and clarity. I run ideas by them. We solve each other’s problems. We vent. We laugh hard.
Sometimes we clash.
That’s why community isn’t just a bonus in my coaching work—it’s part of the design.
Our cohorts don’t just create momentum… they build lifelong friendships. And in this age? That’s everything.
Why it matters now more than ever
We live in a society designed for isolation:
• Prosperity created privacy
• Careerism encouraged mobility
• Tech enabled convenience—but cost us connection
The US Surgeon General declared loneliness a national epidemic— as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Most men have deal friends, not real friends—people you work with, but don’t actually walk with.
It’s not just unhealthy. It’s inefficient.
Because at a certain point, skill isn’t your ceiling—relationships are.
Your most valuable collaborators, investors, mentors, even clients… they don’t just appear.
They come through trust. Through time. Through a life built on love, not transactions.
That’s the real currency.
And Jesus himself modeled it with concentric circles:
The 3. The 12. The 70.
The closer the circle, the higher the trust.
The higher the trust, the more you can become.
Coming Wednesday (Paid Subscribers Only):
Mapping Your Inner Circle
A journaling and diagnostic exercise to map your friend landscape — and identify exactly where to invest, prune, and grow.
This tool has helped clients make career pivots, avoid burnout, and rediscover support they didn’t even realize they had.
→ Subscribe now to unlock it and access all past deep dives.
Pulse Check
How I Can Help
• Coaching