Front Row Dads with Jon Vroman

How to Stay Real in an Age of AI w/ Ryan Levesque
Ryan Levesque's new book, Return to Real, is about getting back to what is real in an age of artificial everything. This conversation is where that book meets fatherhood.
Ryan is the author of The Ask Method and the new book Return to Real: The Last Human Advantage in an Age of Artificial Everything. He is also a Front Row Dads member, and this episode is the one he recorded with Jon about the part of the book nobody put on the cover: being a better father.
 
In this episode:
Touch earth before you touch a screen, the 60-second morning habit Ryan credits to Ali Jafarian

True self vs strategic self, and why "There is no third path."

The Levesque family mantra: be curious, ask questions, seek truth

Scars vs wounds, and the difference between sharing and bleeding on people

The words Ryan yelled at his younger son, and what he did 12 days later

"We're all just boys trying to raise men."

Why Ryan's 15-year-old reading his newsletter keeps him honest

Category of One: "nobody can out-compete you at being you"

 
Ryan is leading the Category of One workshop on the VIP day at Front Row Dads Live in Austin. Details and tickets at https://frontrowdads.com/live
 
Links:
Return to Real by Ryan Levesque: https://ryanlevesque.net/return-to-real/

The Digital Contrarian, Ryan's weekly newsletter: https://ryanlevesque.net/join-the-digital-contrarian/

Front Row Dads Live: https://frontrowdads.com/live

The Front Row Dads book list: https://frontrowdads.com/podcast-books

 
Want a taste of what Front Row Dads is all about? The Brotherhood Experience is a free, one-hour online session where you meet other like-minded men who are committed to being family men with businesses, not businessmen with families. You will hear the core ethos and values behind the community, and why this brotherhood is a strategy for connecting with your kids, building a thriving marriage, and winning in business. It runs every month. Pick a time that works for you at https://frontrowdads.com/experience

Most men only know two things to do with anger: stuff it down or blow up.
Connor Beaton has a third way. This is 15 minutes of pure gold from the conversation Jon had with Connor back in 2023. Connor is the founder of ManTalks and author of Men's Work, and here he walks through the four steps he uses the moment he feels it rising, starting with what 3 a.m. and a son who wouldn't sleep did to him.
 
The four steps:
1. Know the signs in your body
2. Name it out loud
3. Say what you're actually feeling underneath it
4. Get out of your head and into your body, with your breath
 
Hear the full conversation with Connor: https://frontrowdads.com/378
 
FRD Live 2026 is December 2 to 4 in Austin, Texas. Stay to the end to hear a member describe his first one, then grab your spot: https://frontrowdads.com/live
The book list that's changed how our guys show up at home: https://frontrowdads.com/podcast-books

There is no greater leadership than the example of a life lived, says Kevin Walton. He is a father, a spiritual guide, and one of our guest leaders at FRD Live 2026.
Ali Jafarian talks with Kevin about what embodiment means, the book his mom gave him that made him say "I'm not crazy," and the dream that gave him the name Creatorhood. Then they get to how Kevin fits being a man, a father, and a teacher into one life. He looks for harmony instead of balance, and when he is away teaching for days he says he is dedicating himself to the work, not sacrificing time with his son.
 
Coming to FRD Live 2026
Kevin will be with us in person at FRD Live 2026, December 2 to 4 in Austin, Texas. Three days for family men with businesses, built around the man, the family, and the business. Find out more at https://frontrowdads.com/live
Follow Kevin: @sourceradiance on Instagram.

For years Rudi Riekstins left his faith, his marriage, and his two babies at the office door, and walked in every morning pretending to be a company man. Then he stopped pretending.
Ali Jafarian sits down with Rudi, a leadership coach, father of two, and one of our guest leaders at FRD Live 2026. They get into what your family feels when you walk in the door, the day someone wrecked his wife's car in the middle of his son's big flag football day, what his father-in-law told him before he could ask to marry his daughter, the afternoon he came downstairs and told his kids he just needed a hug, and why the whole family voted on the move to Montana.
 
COMING TO FRD LIVE 2026
Rudi will be with us in person at FRD Live 2026, December 2 to 4 in Austin, Texas. Three days for family men with businesses, built around the man, the family, and the business. Find out more at https://frontrowdads.com/live
 
Follow Rudi: @rudiriekstins on Instagram, rudiriekstins.com, and the InPowered Life Podcast.

Jon has spent ten years telling men to put family first. For the last two months he's worked dawn to dinner, some weeks seven days straight, and he thinks that's okay.
This is Walk With Jon. No studio, no script, no editing. Just Jon on an early morning walk by a pond in his neighborhood, talking to you the way he would if you were buddies and you asked him, "What's real in your world?" You'll hear wind and a few geese. That's part of it.
His answer this morning: there are seasons when a man should go all in. When the bison come through, you go hunt. Tell your family it's coming, give it an end date, and keep brothers around who will bring you home when it's over. He also thinks your kids should see it: "I think it's great for the kids to see dad go do something, to go climb that mountain."
Front Row Dads is a brotherhood of family men with businesses, not businessmen with families. Learn more at frontrowdads.com