The frontline — grocery clerks, delivery drivers, servers, theme park operators — is 80% of the global workforce. That's roughly 2.7 billion people who keep everything running and almost never get seen. And until this year, there had never been a book written for the people who support them.

JD Dillon wrote it. In this episode, Baryons CPO, Brooks Canavesi and Baryons CEO, Mike Hruska talk with JD — author of The Frontline Enablement Playbook, founder of LearnGeek and Every Shift Counts, and a Disney, AMC, Kaplan, and Axonify alum who started out managing movie theaters and theme parks.

We get into the night he lost Splash Mountain for four and a half hours, the trainer who changed his life (and doesn't remember him), why “I appreciate you” beats “thank you,” what AI quietly gives and takes away from how we work, why frontline managers may be the most important people in any company, and why feeling supported might be the truest definition of flourishing there is.

📕 Get The Frontline Enablement Playbook: https://a.co/d/0fTOXEmd
More from JD: jddillon.com  ·  frontlineplaybook.com  ·  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jddillon/ 

(00:00) Welcome  
(03:01) The Splash Mountain meltdown  
(07:46) Writing a 650-page book with 50 co-authors  
(12:08) Tommy, the best trainer in 25 years  
(24:14) Community that drives performance  
(36:15) Who fills JD's bucket?  
(41:23) A movement for the invisible 80%  
(56:50) AI, overload & the em-dash  
(1:11:12) Why frontline managers matter most  
(1:36:20) The virtuous trust cycle  
(1:42:23) What flourishing means to JD  
(1:47:24) The listener challenge

The New F Word is presented by Baryons — your Flourishing Partner. Start free at baryons.com.

This week's challenge: find one person whose work usually goes unseen — and tell them “I appreciate you.” 

Baryons is your Flourishing Partner. You call, it listens, and together you design what's next. Science-backed. Patent Pending. Start for free with your Baryon today at Baryons.com 

Nate Smith has been a bricklayer, a youth-camp cabin builder, a World Vision hunger-awareness speaker, a business development hunter who landed the Mob Museum branding from a radio story, and a junior diplomat who helped end the Cold War (he has receipts). Now he runs strategy at Gray Matter, a manufacturing innovation firm — and he thinks the career isn't the point.

In this conversation, Brooks sits down with a 25-year friend and colleague to trace the invisible line that runs through a life that looks, on paper, like six different careers. What emerges is something quieter and more interesting: a philosophy of legacy as logistics, curiosity as a career strategy, and "leaving the place better than you found it" as the whole game.

We cover:
• Why Nate traded two buckets of mortar for a Mac-training gig at his dad's design firm (and how that changed everything)
• The Paul Rand lineage — growing up with the godfather of modern graphic design as his father's mentor
• Getting a Soviet tennis coach to fix his backhand in five minutes, then losing 6-0, 6-1 to a 12-year-old in front of a stadium
• What World Vision and the 30-Hour Famine taught him about meaning, mattering, and working for a cause instead of applause
• Hearing about the Mob Museum on NPR, calling Las Vegas that afternoon, and beating 40 firms to win the branding
• Using AI to rewrite songs he recorded on a four-track 36 years ago — and writing his wife a 25th anniversary song called "Love You By The Numbers"
• The psycho-spy thriller novel he's writing with Claude about Bitcoin as a Soviet weapon
• Why his dream isn't a better title — it's being a better dad, husband, and neighbor
• The 40-foot pine tree in his yard that became a neighborhood Christmas tradition

This is The New F Word — where F stands for Flourishing. Real talk about living well with warmth, curiosity, and just enough irreverence to keep it human.

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CONNECT WITH NATE SMITH
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathangsmith/
Email (for music, novels, or non-work chats): [email protected] 
Gray Matter: https://graymattersystems.com/

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PRESENTED BY BARYONS
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If this episode got you thinking about legacy, relationships, or what gets passed down, that's one of the many uses of your Baryon. Baryons is the first AI Flourishing Partner, built to help you think through the things that matter. Start free at baryons.com.

#TheNewFWord #Flourishing #Baryons #NateSmith #CareerJourney #Legacy #Storytelling #AIandCreativity #Manufacturing #Mentorship #Podcast #BrooksCanavesi

Baryons is your Flourishing Partner. You call, it listens, and together you design what's next. Science-backed. Patent Pending. Start for free with your Baryon today at Baryons.com 

He sold glue bookmarks for fruit roll-ups in the fifth grade. Today he builds expedition vehicles that help people disappear off-grid—and come back more alive than ever.

Pavel Bosovik, founder and CEO of 27 North, joins Brooks Canavesi to explore what happens when movement becomes medicine. From growing up on food stamps to building a company that helps people find freedom on the road, Pavel’s story is about way more than vehicles—it’s about what happens when you stop running on autopilot and start running toward surprise.

In this episode:

• The fifth-grade side hustle that sparked everything

• Why a spilled thermos of coffee can total a six-figure RV

• What Pavel learned from the couple who needed two adventure vans

• Why he sends customers to his competitors—and why they always come back

• The 24-hour disconnect problem (and why we should all be alarmed)

• Pavel’s 3 dreams for 27 North: a unicorn idea, a love story, and true happiness

• Baryons’ 20-step guide from driveway camping to mountaintop legend

Your Flourishing Partner is ready when you are. Try Baryons for free at baryons.com.

🚀 Connect with Pavel & 27North:
Website: http://the27north.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-bosovik/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/the27north/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/the27north
YT: https://www.youtube.com/c/EverestConversions
TIk: https://www.tiktok.com/@the27north?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
X: https://x.com/the27north?s=20

Baryons is your Flourishing Partner. You call, it listens, and together you design what's next. Science-backed. Patent Pending. Start for free with your Baryon today at Baryons.com 

Dr. Cali Estes got sober at 23 on a yoga mat—not in a meeting, not in a treatment center. A friend dared her to survive a hot yoga class, and an instructor in recovery taught her to breathe through trauma before anyone was calling it "breath work."

What followed was 27 years of building a radically different model for recovery. She founded The Addictions Academy (75,000+ students across 40 countries), created "Sober on Demand," and trained nearly everyone on A&E’s Intervention. She works with celebrities, executives, and fighters—personality-matching each client with the right practitioner because the relationship matters more than the method.

But the real story? While building all of this, Cali’s own husband was in catastrophic relapse. Fourteen car crashes. Five overdoses. When he passed in 2023, she chose silence. Now she’s in Manhattan Beach, filming a movie, and stepping into full visibility on her own terms.

We talk about the 50 squats rule, why your brain picks the convertible over climbing the mountain, how to actually help a loved one who’s struggling, and what flourishing means when you’ve earned it the hard way.

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Connect with Dr. Cali Estes:

• caliestes.com

• soberondemand.com

• theaddictionsacademy.com

• Podcast: Unpause Your Life

• @DrCaliEstes on social

Books: I Married a Junkie (1 & 2), Airport Antics, The Black Book (coming soon)

Movie: The Black Book (in production with BMG)

———

The New F Word is presented by Baryons,  your AI-powered Flourishing Partner. Try for free at baryons.com. 

Baryons is your Flourishing Partner. You call, it listens, and together you design what's next. Science-backed. Patent Pending. Start for free with your Baryon today at Baryons.com 

What happens when the journey to help your child flourish reveals that you've been surviving—not thriving—your whole life?

Yush Sztalkoper spent 20 years masking in high-pressure corporate environments before her son's twice-exceptional diagnosis held up a mirror she couldn't ignore. That recognition became the foundation for everything she's building now.

Today, Yush is the founder of NeuroSpark+, a strategic advisory helping leaders understand what she calls "human capacity under acceleration"—the invisible strain that shows up in neurodivergent people first, but eventually breaks everyone.

In this conversation, we explore:

- The "mirror moment" when parenting reveals your own neurodivergence
- Why environments—not people—are often the problem
- The SHIFT Path framework for moving from surviving to thriving
- Why 70% of AI adoption fails (hint: it's a human capacity problem)
- The Horizon Trap and why we keep deferring happiness
- What flourishing actually means when you stop performing for broken systems

This one goes deep. Yush doesn't hold back—and the result is one of the most honest conversations we've had on this show.

🔗 Connect with Yush:
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yushsztalkoper

🔗 Your Flourishing Partner is ready when you are:
Start free at baryons.com

Host: Brooks Canavesi, Chief Product Officer @ Baryons
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What does living well mean to you? That's The New F Word.

Baryons is your Flourishing Partner. You call, it listens, and together you design what's next. Science-backed. Patent Pending. Start for free with your Baryon today at Baryons.com 

What does it truly mean to live a creative life? In this episode, We sit down with Dave Gray—author, visual thinker, and founder of XPLANE—to explore the art of flourishing through creativity.

Dave shares insights on how writing books became his way of learning, why unlearning is essential for growth, and how to navigate the emotional rollercoaster of creative work. We dive deep into liminal thinking, financial stability as a foundation for creativity, and what it really means to live well.

In This Episode:
- The journey of writing and learning through teaching
- Defining what a creative life really looks like
- The nature of creative projects and embracing uncertainty
- Navigating slumps in creativity
- Financial freedom as a foundation for creative expression
- Liminal thinking and the power of unlearning
- The trade-offs of creative work
- What it means to live well

Key Quotes:
"You can create a life as a doctor or a lawyer."
"The creative life isn't always a happy one."
"Start by loving what you do."

About Dave Gray:
Dave Gray is the founder of XPLANE, a design consultancy, and author of "Liminal Thinking," "The Connected Company," and "Gamestorming." He's a pioneer in visual thinking and organizational design.
Join his community and newsletter here: https://schoolofthepossible.com

Connect with Baryons:
Website: https://baryons.com
Instagram: @mybaryon

Start flourishing today for free at Baryons.com

Baryons is your Flourishing Partner. You call, it listens, and together you design what's next. Science-backed. Patent Pending. Start for free with your Baryon today at Baryons.com 

Ryan Krinjeck is the rare kind of leader who lives two lives at once — a technologist at the edge of AI innovation, and a lifelong musician whose creativity keeps him sane, steady, and human.

In this episode of The New F Word, we talk about:

The “sanity factor” that keeps Ryan grounded

How music solves hard problems in the background

Teaching kids to trust themselves and chase passion

What hockey reveals about leadership and confidence

The difference between urgency and emergency

How to make decisions your future self will respect

And at the heart of it:
What does it actually mean to live well?

If you want to understand your own workplace energy, stress patterns, and how drained you may be operating, take the 3-minute Human Energy Index here:

https://baryons.typeform.com/to/KSB94iHA 

Because if you understand your own energy,
you understand your team’s energy too.

Baryons is your Flourishing Partner. You call, it listens, and together you design what's next. Science-backed. Patent Pending. Start for free with your Baryon today at Baryons.com 

Professional Dare Devil Gabby Cloutier joins The New F Word Podcast to explain how daring to step outside of comfort zone, look weird, fall down, and get up are key parts to how she lives well. Learn how to be a little bit more daring yourself with this interview. Get your free Flourishing Partner at Baryons.com 

Baryons is your Flourishing Partner. You call, it listens, and together you design what's next. Science-backed. Patent Pending. Start for free with your Baryon today at Baryons.com 

In this debut episode of The New F Word Podcast, Forbes Shannon and Aaron Bare sit down to unpack the real meaning of living well—from shedding attachments and trusting life’s unfolding to redefining success through the lens of mental wealth. They talk love, laughter, ego, and the power of subtraction in a world obsessed with more.

Through personal stories, philosophy, and humor, Forbes and Aaron explore how flourishing turns awareness into a daily art form—and why it might just be the new F word worth saying out loud.

Hosted by Forbes Shannon & Aaron Bare
Presented by Baryons — your Flourishing Partner. Talk to your Baryon free at baryons.com 

Baryons is your Flourishing Partner. You call, it listens, and together you design what's next. Science-backed. Patent Pending. Start for free with your Baryon today at Baryons.com