Sep 3, 2020
Today’s guest is Johnny Chen, founder, and CEO of Sail.
Sail is a coaching community that empowers men to be more
vulnerable. The focus of their platform is the “Peloton of
the mind” specifically for men.
Sail currently offers several 4-week coaching programs designed
specifically for men. These programs are comprised of four,
90-minute sessions on specific topics such as leadership,
relationships, emotional intelligence, etc. The groups are
comprised of 10 like-minded men who are seeking
self-improvement. These programs are a mix of teaching,
coaching, and coach-led practice around certain skill sets.
It’s a safe space for men to open up learn to share and be
vulnerable.
Johnny talks to us in this episode about how they help men learn to
focus on training their mental and emotional muscles with a focus
on active learning backed by the guidance of a coach and a
community of like-minded peers.
Links mentioned in the show: Sail Website, Johnny on LinkedIn,
Johnny on
Twitter, Sail on
Twitter,
Join the Sail Men’s Slack Community Here
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE TALKED
ABOUT:
- Johnny shares his personal story about why and how he found his
way into the mental health space as an entrepreneur. Johnny set out
to build a platform that helps men that changes the narrative
around men’s mental health.
- We talked about how in America, men have been conditioned to
suppress their feelings, “boys don’t cry” and we need to “man up.”
The result is that men are 4x more likely to commit suicide, 3x
more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs, and 99% of school shooters
are men.
- We compared the physical fitness revolution to the brewing
mental health revolution. We talked about how people spend time
working on their physical health, even in the absence of a physical
health diagnosis. We need to get men to the place where they
seek to work on their mental health, in the absence of a
diagnosis.
- Johnny talks about who his typical customer is. The profile he
described is a male, between 25 and 54 who are hyper focused on
improving their lives already. Johnny calls these people
“self-optimizers”. They are likely already doing some kind of
meditation or yoga, and they may participate in CrossFit or run
marathons or some other personal performance challenge
activity.
- We talked about how we get people who either do not want help,
or don’t know that they need help to self-optimize around their
mental health. We talked about societal pressures,
behavioral norms and how we are conditioned as men to think we can
do everything ourselves and we do not need help. Sail is
positioning itself to help men get comfortable asking for help even
when they are already doing “well.”
- Sail products / services:
- Coaching Programs – Currently offer several
4-week coaching programs. These programs are comprised of four,
90-minute sessions on specific topics such as leadership,
relationships, emotional intelligence, etc. The groups are
comprised of 10 like-minded men who are seeking
self-improvement. These programs are a mix of teaching,
coaching, and coach-led practice around certain skill sets.
It’s a safe space for men to open up learn to share and be
vulnerable.
- Sail Community – A free community where men
can come to connect with other men and talk about challenges they
are facing around life, career, productivity hacks, relationships,
or anything that’s on their mind.
Connect with the Stigma Podcast in the following
ways: Patreon, Website, Twitter, Facebook,
LinkedIn,
Email
Connect with host Stephen Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal Website,
Twitter, LinkedIn,
What If Ventures (Mental Health
Venture Fund)