The Arena Series is a safe space for men to be authentically themselves and discover who they are, who they want to be, and the difference they can make for themselves, their families, their friends, and the world.

Our purpose is to help men learn the tools they need to trust themselves, live authentically and vulnerably, and step into the arena in their personal and professional lives.

We envision a world where it’s easy for men to ask for support, talk about their feelings, connect on a deep level with each other and the people who mean the most to them, and hold each other accountable in reaching their biggest goals and dreams.

In a time where what it means to be a man is constantly evolving, The Arena Series is the place for men to learn, grow, and become the men they’ve always wanted to be.

Why The Arena?

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

— President Theodore Roosevelt

We were inspired to call our programs The Arena Series after reading Brené Brown’s book on vulnerability, Daring Greatly. Having run men’s groups for over 15 years, vulnerability has been a consistent component of what we believe it means to be a man today. Brown’s work gave us a new name for how to talk about vulnerability and one we, as men, gravitated towards. Who doesn’t want to be a man in the arena? But the arena we talk about is much more than the arena of physical feats and sports. It’s about how we choose to show up in the world.

It’s all about vulnerability.

Vulnerability, for us, is the very act of being human. It’s not just the moments of crying in a loved one’s arms or admitting our deepest fears and uncertainties. Vulnerability is asking a friend to talk about something deeper than the Red Sox/Yankees score. It’s admitting you don’t know and asking for support. It’s sharing your favorite movie with the people you love and telling them why it means so much for them to watch it. It’s asking out the person you can’t stop thinking about and being with whatever emotions arise, whether they say yes or no. It’s listening to your favorite music with a friend. It’s making time to take care of yourself when you feel the pressure to forego your own self-care to provide for your family.

Only one thing is guaranteed when you live life in the arena: that you’ll feel alive. It doesn’t guarantee you’ll get the job you’ve always wanted, make the impact you’ve always dreamed of, or have the perfect family. But it does guarantee that you’ll feel every step along the way, that you’ll learn about yourself in unimaginable ways, and that you’ll be able to look back upon the choices you made and smile knowing you dared greatly for all of them. Imagine a world where men measured their masculinity not upon their results — which we also think are important — but by how much they were in the arena when they pursued them.