I recently went one-on-one with Bryce Henson, CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth? 

Bryce: I come from humble beginnings for 1st world standards. My father was addicted to drugs, alcohol, and gambling. He then abandoned my family when I was 8 years old which was a blessing disguised as a tragedy. Before this, I spent some time in a trailer park in rural Georgia with him amid his addiction before we left. Thankfully, my mother got us out of the volatile situation, and we landed with my grandmother in Detroit, Michigan for the rest of my childhood. We had a roof over our heads but used to run out of money as my mom did her best to get herself on her feet. I worked 17 jobs from age 11 by the time I put myself through college by donating blood plasma amongst other side hustles. I got an internship which turned into a full-time sales job in Los Angeles when I graduated from college in early 2005. In the transition, I had more dark days than good upon my arrival for the first couple of years until I found fitness. Fortuitously, my best friend from college and first personal trainer moved out west. We lived together for 2 years. He supported me on a fitness transformation in 2007 where I dropped 20lbs of fat, put on 20lbs of muscle, and changed my life. This was the foundation that would change the course of my life. My sales career began to pop off but then eventually led me to become a Certified Personal Trainer after I was inspired to help others with fitness. I found my future business partner Bedros Keuilian and his fitness Franchise called Fit Body Boot Camp and secured a location in 2012. This turned into me launching 5 locations within 5 years. In the process, I brought my family on board (wife, mother, sister, brother) to support us as we grew our income and impact. With the success and my growing relationship, Bedros took note. He wanted more owner presence in the brand and made me a Vice President offer in 2018 which led to the CEO position in 2021.

Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?

Bryce: You must have a vision to scale. You need to build a high-performing team who can execute being you cannot scale an empire alone. You must acquire the skillset to lead others. Leadership is the problem and answer in scaling. Leadership development is the most important skill set for growing and scaling your business.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader?

Bryce: Humble, hungry, and smart would be a great way to describe an effective leader. Leadership is a skill set. At its core, it's taking people on a journey. A leader must be able to manage change. Communication is an ally of leadership and the ability to have a servant's heart is imperative for effective leadership. But more than all this, an effective leader walks his/her talk. In other words, applies “moral authority” to his/her leadership. 

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Bryce: My framework for leadership is to lead yourself, lead your family, and then lead your empire. The order is paramount. Leadership is a long-term selfless game, but it’s selfish at the start. You must put your oxygen mask on first by taking care of yourself, keeping fit, and investing in personal growth. Gaining more perspective through travel is another key factor in growing leadership skills. After all, travel provides perspective. Perspective is leadership. Leadership is perspective. Once you conquer self-mastery, then you can lead others. 

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

Bryce: You must invest in self-mastery as a leader. If you cannot lead yourself, you cannot lead others. Bottom line. Discipline is a key ingredient in this formula. In fact, you can only lead others to the level of discipline you can lead yourself. Therefore, you must seek out things that will challenge you, build your character, and develop discipline. Discipline is like a muscle it can either grow or experience atrophy with time.

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?

Bryce: Leadership is influence. When building, leading, and managing teams, you must influence to be successful. The best way to do this? Take inventory of your character defects. Where do you fall short? Then systematically strengthen your character with intentionality shoring up these defects with focus and accountability one by one. When you do, you build a person you and others admire. Building a human that others admire is the foundation of influence.

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing, and branding?

Bryce: Each of the skills of sales, marketing, and branding revolve around “influence and persuasion” as the foundation. This is where they align. That said, there are slight differences in application to each of the 3 topics. As a leader, your job is to recruit and develop subject matter experts who are more talented than you at their craft. Your job is to listen, empower your leaders to make decisions, and lead through situational authority. This means providing the space & authority to the person who is closest to and has the most knowledge of the decision is the best practice for executing all three.

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of health and fitness?

Bryce: Momentum is real. You can start small, but you must start. If you are grossly out of shape, don’t kid yourself that you are going to go from 0 to hero overnight. Create a plan that compounds with time. Maybe you commit to 2x per week at the gym for the first 2 months, then scale to 3x. Maybe you eliminate 1 fast food meal per month until you develop the disciplined muscle to eat 80% clean meals. Taking a step ladder approach is the best tip for long-term fitness success. It will help create momentum, and with momentum, you will find success.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Bryce: The advice wasn’t given but it was experienced through my experience with my father in my youth. The experience of being abandoned was a tough pill to swallow at an early age, but it was the medicine I needed. It showed me that no one is coming on a white horse to save you. You must save yourself. And the time is now. In other words, you alone are responsible for your life and your success, no matter the circumstance. You are responsible. No one else is. This experiential lesson/advice shaped my life and has been the foundation for my success.

Adam: Is there anything else you would like to share?

Bryce: I’ve been in the leadership space for 20 years. I’ve led the sales of $175M in my career. I have learned a lot about leadership through trial and error. And humbling myself, lots of error at that. But that’s part of the growth process. You live, you learn, you make mistakes, and you learn again. This is how progress and leadership are developed.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one-on-one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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