Welcome back to Inside personal growth. This is Greg Voisen, the host of inside personal growth. And joining us from Miami, Florida, is Tino, and it's Tino Dietrich. And Tino has, as you can see by his shirt, the Dietrich Institute. And we're going to let the listeners know a bit about you. But Good day to you. How you doing?

Constantin Dietrich
Thank you for having me. I'm I'm doing great,

Greg Voisen
as he said earlier. The backdrop there, that's Hamburg, Germany, which is it is he comes from Germany originally, but he's in Miami. And do you spend time between both places?

Constantin Dietrich
I do, I do. I travel back and forth. I would say as much as I can, and time permits, but yeah, I enjoyed both Germany and Miami. So to say,

Greg Voisen
well, it's a pleasure having you on the show, and I'm going to let the listeners know a bit about you, because you definitely have a very, I'm going to say, interesting journey and path, and we're going to direct them to your website as well. But Dietrich tino.com is one, right, and then the Dietrich Institute, but Tino, he's an award winning entrepreneur and a certified coach. He's a dynamo, really, in relationship and communication expertise. And we're going to be talking about an upcoming book that's soon to be released. So when this podcast releases, it will be out, and it is called the false kings. I think that's a great title. He's backed by over 17 years of experience with prestigious executive education from Wharton and Harvard as a visionary founder and CEO of the Dietrich interest Institute. He leads teams of experts dedicated to unlocking their greatest potential. He's been on NBC, ABC, FOX, Rolling Stone, ask men, women's health, and Newsweek, and he resonates with people worldwide. And I we're in for a great interview here, because we're going to be talking about a subject which affects, I think, the most men today. But Tino, how did you move from where you were in Germany to becoming this successful coach and becoming quite the entrepreneur who was successful in your own right, and kind of tell a little bit about your backdrop and why you think this topic of the false kings is so important for people to hear about.

Constantin Dietrich
Yeah, so my journey been. My journey has taken me around the world, and I've lived, worked and enjoyed many different countries, cultures, and I would say I was fortunate enough to live an interesting life. But what happened is, about five years ago, like so many of us, I got COVID, and my family got COVID, and everybody else got better. I just did not, and like, a piece of chewing gum under your your foot, you know, under your soul. It just wouldn't, like, you know, couldn't let get rid of it. And one day it just got really bad. I had a bad headache, so I did this telemedicine communication with Doctor, you know, you couldn't go to a doctor anymore. You know, everything was shut down, and it was hard. And he said, you know, you have to go to the urgent care center. And again, you know, that was like a real trip at that time. And I was like, oh my god, okay, so I went there. Told my wife, Hey, honey, I'll be back later, you know. So went there. They took my vials, and they sent me straight to the hospital. And I was like, oh god, oh no, you're gonna go to the emergency room, and we can't help you here. And, you know, everything was really bare minimum service anyway. So called my wife, and I said, Ah, you know, now I have to go to the hospital, but I should be back for dinner. So drove to the hospital, walked into the they had these two entrances, like normal people, COVID people. And I obviously had to go through the COVID people address. And was a was empty, you know, wasn't a lot of people there. And then they had all these chairs where, you know, you had to have that four distance empty and, yeah, you know, safety distance only, like three or four people in there. And I looked and I felt so bad, and I just collapsed right there. Oh, no, four step off the emergency room. Woke up, had all these, you know, needles and everybody running around. And the doctors told me that they have to take me to the ICU. And I said, you know, I was a little on Cloud number 24 because they gave me all this medication. And what the problem was that my blood pressure was through the roof, and they couldn't figure out why and what, and so they had to take me to the ICU. And I fell asleep again, and I woke up with the nurse and the doctor there, and doctor spoke to me, but I was like, really not, not well, and couldn't really understand what he was saying. But what I understood is, like, he handed me the phone and said, you know, the priest wants to talk to you. And I'm like, okay, whatever. Like, I didn't really understand why. And then the priest, you know, talked to me and asked me all these questions, and I found them really weird, you know, do you have a last will and this and that and and then he said, Do you want me to read your last rites? And I first, I've never been in at that point in my life, and I didn't really understand what that means. And then I said, Sure, sure. I thought he wanted to pray with me or something. And then he I listened to what he said, and I realized, like, because he was like, you know, God, and open him with open arms, and blah, blah, blah. And then it all, like, started to sink in, and I started to realize that my situation was not good. And then I hung up, and I looked at the doctor, and he said, we have to put you on an ECMO. This is not good. Do you want to call your wife or your family and say goodbye? And I said, What do you mean? And he said, We don't know if you're going to make it. And I was like, I was devastated. So they put me on that ECMO. I called my wife, I said, you know, I'm not going to be home for dinner. In fact, I may not be coming home at all. And, well, I was not good, obviously. And, but you know, you, you stuck between disbelief. Then you, know, you have the needles in your body and the machines beeping and whatnot, so you start to realize that whatever it is that you tell yourself may not be true. So the nurse left, the doctor left, and I was there and started to, you know, reflect. I said, wow, you know, it seems to be more serious than I thought. And I reflected on my life, and I realized that even though I had everything you know that, that you would describe as a good life, and I've been super fortunate, I have three wonderful kids and a gorgeous wife, I started to realize that if I would leave now, you know what? What did I leave to them? And it didn't leave a house, but not a home. You know, I felt like a failure to my wife. I felt like a failure to my kids as a father, because I realized that I hadn't, you know, fully embraced the opportunity to be the man that I always wanted to be throughout my life. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was way off. And so I started to pray, and I started to, you know, ask for the second chance to to make a first impression. And I said, if I get that, you know, I promise that I will change a few things, you know, a few core pillars in my life, and they

Greg Voisen
change a lot of things, yeah, but I think

Constantin Dietrich
that's really what it was at that time, and that really is my epiphany. So to say, well, you know,

Greg Voisen
I think many of us, I was just on with a famous breath worker from Italy, Anthony, and it's interesting, you know, our breath because, you know, look at here you are in the hospital. They're going to incubate you. It is a challenge for people with COVID to breathe. That's part of the issue, right? It's like your blood pressure is high. You're having challenges. And I think that every breath we take is such a gift, and we have to realize that, but we don't, and we don't look at this breath as an opportunity to heal, because during COVID, it's constriction, during good times, it's expansion. So it's like, Ah, what a beautiful breath I just took during COVID. You were constricted. It was like everything was constricting in around your body, and the doctors were telling you weren't going to make it. And so this growth from the constriction to the expansion to be a better person is really a lot about what your book is about. And you know, your book opens up with this power state pool about being manipulated. Because, you know, you were just talking, can I be a better man? Well, can I be a better husband? Can I be a better father? Can I be a better coach? And you say, into a rigid life that looks like success, but isn't. And you were saying just a minute ago, well, what is success? I had this beautiful wife, had these kids, I had a house, but it wasn't a home, and you've now chosen to make it a home. Can you explain what you mean to the people out there by being manipulated, and how you first recognize kind of this pattern in your own life. Did it start like way back in school as you were a little one? Or where did it start in your life? Tino,

Constantin Dietrich
yes, I think there. It does start there. And obviously you and I grew up in a time that was a little different than what we see today, because you and I didn't have Instagram and all these social media accounts telling us what happiness is, and you know what success looks like, and so on and so forth. So we learn things from maybe fathers, maybe, maybe, you know, the parents, the teachers, the friends, society, whatever it is. So that's how we began to shape our perception of reality, and it is the stories that we were told about reality, and I think that is what I realized. I realized that I had followed this path that, you know, when I entered that door, it said success, and so, you know, I opened the door, I walked in, and the problem probably is that you never really question that, right? You You just follow the path, but, and it's like a carrot and a stick, and you follow and follow and follow, but somewhat, there's always this distance between you and and that happiness you never get there, but it's so close, right? And you keep telling yourself, like you just run faster, you you get there faster. And but it is the carrot on the stick and, well, you've

Greg Voisen
been given a gift with the COVID to wake up to really work on this life as somebody who wants to live happily and joyfully and with peace, you know. And you introduce this concept, which you call it cruels, called crappy rules handed to you without consent, and look as men. And I think women too, but I'll say men, we're all given cruels, right? Or growing up, what are some of the most damaging cruels that successful men unconsciously follow, and how can they begin identifying these kind of in their own lives? I think what happens Tino is subconsciously, these cruels get embedded, and then they they we don't even realize we're living them. We're just kind of on autopilot. And every day the the cruel is there, right? But we don't recognize it. We've got to be successful. We've got to act a certain way. We've got to be a certain way. We've got to do this or that, because all in the strive strife of achievement. So you work with a lot of highly people who've been very successful and had have great amounts of achievement. Tell us what those cruels are, and how can we identify them?

Constantin Dietrich
So here's the interesting part. As business owners, entrepreneurs, high achievers, doctors, lawyers, doesn't matter. You know, high achiever, you you make decisions every day, and I always say the choice you make determines the challenge you will face, and life is the sum of all the choices that we made. So we're in business. We're very, very strategic, very there's a mythology you know to follow a certain path and apply solutions. And you wouldn't really make decisions based on hearsay or on your gut. Sometimes you do, but you know you rely on data or rely on information, market research, whatever it is, if, for whatever reason, that information is corrupted wrong, the chances that the decision you make for your business is going to be bad, you know, increases proportionally. Now if we grow up and we've been told something and we believe in something, which is a rule, you know, you have to do this. You have to work hard to do this. You have to supply, you know, you provide. You have to be, you know, emotional. You have to do, have to have to you follow that path that you believe in because you know that is the information you've been given, the story you've been told, and you believe it, but you're following something that is wrong, and you need to have that point in time where you have to stop and have to ask yourself, if you're not getting the result that you Actually were trying to get to. Why is that? But here we are stuck, and we often, so often, man, tell me I'm doing everything I can, and I say that's probably not true, because if you would be doing everything you can, you probably would get to the result that you're achieving. But you have to question if whatever it is that you are doing is the right thing. So, you know, and as much as I always say, entrepreneurs, they have to do the right things, and managers, they have to do the things right. You know, there's a little bit of looking at perspectives, and just because you look at something from a different angle, all of a sudden everything changes.

Greg Voisen
The perspective is really important. I think it's like if there was a if there was a picture of yourself and you were nose to nose to the picture, you wouldn't recognize it was you until you backed away. And I think frequently. Entrepreneurs have their nose to this picture of who of too close and they can't see, and then when they do, back up, because the way they've been programmed, the fear comes in because they've been in this fog all along, running at 110 miles an hour in the fog, not knowing frequently where they're going, but knowing that that's what they had to do, because it was going to take them someplace wonderful, which you and I already know that that's an MSU making I call it making shit up. We make up stories. We believe those stories, and then we begin to live out those stories. Yeah, right. So we've we've done this for years and years, whether it's men or women, it's just part of the world. Now, the book paints a very stark picture of this biological decline in modern men, and I know that's true from testosterone drops to fertility issues. I mean, we we see this happening more and more incidence of prostate cancer, right? I mean, you we were looking at our past president. Why do you believe these physical dimensions is so crucial to address alongside the psychological aspects of male development, because they go hand in hand. Let's face it, they do, yeah, they

Constantin Dietrich
do so, but you have to ask yourself why that is right so, so So we're kind of pushed into this life that, you know, people say that's success. So you define that story, and you say that's success, and then you follow that. And what do we have? We have diabetes, right, spreading out like wildfire. We have high blood pressure, the silent killer. You know, people don't know that, and I take that as a great example, because I think there's so many high blood pressures in our lives, right? That things that you don't realize until you drop that and people say, Oh, he died of high blood pressure. It wasn't like you had pimples or something, you know, it didn't come as a rash or you have leg pains with high blood pressure, it's just there, and that what makes it so dangerous. So you really have to pay attention, and you have to double check, you know, your personal KPIs, your metrics, and make sure that everything is in check. So if you don't really follow that process, you actually following the wrong process, and that leads you down a path that, again, you keep telling yourself it's good, it's good, it's good, but it's not and just because you're telling yourself 10 times doesn't make it better. You know, if you say Bs, Bs, Bs, you know, it remains BS, just because you call it five times, it's true, it's good. It's not good.

Greg Voisen
Well, your your correlation or your analogy about high blood pressure, oh, or diabetes, they just didn't happen overnight. So this dis ease what I call disease, meaning we're uneasy about something which is now manifesting itself as a physical ailment in the body, because we've been at dis ease so long with whatever it is that's bothering us, but we've been taught, yeah, as men, and I'm just going to say This, that you just keep going on no matter what, right? Yeah. So the question is, hey, are you taking care of yourself? Oh, well, I think I am, because I'm running a couple of times a week. But do you actually go to a doctor and check your blood pressure, or do you actually check your blood to see what your a 1c levels are all of those kind of things. And you you kind of challenge this popular concept of work life balance as a sedative rather than a solution. And how has your own experience growing up without a father at home, shaped your perspective on masculine kind of leadership. Because, look, we have leadership roles as fathers. We have leadership roles if we run a company or we're in middle management, we have leadership roles if we're doing something in the community and we're involved with some organization that we're helping, whether it's Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, it doesn't matter what it is. The point is, we have a lot of these, and you're saying that work life balance is kind of sedative rather than a solution. Kind of elaborate on what alignment and how it differs from the traditional balance.

Constantin Dietrich
I don't believe in balance, because balance means that you kind of at a state where you know nothing is moving, and I think that's just wrong. I think everything is always moving, so you probably, maybe you are that point for a very short amount of time, but to try and get it in balance is not necessarily

Greg Voisen
what But doesn't the body Tino seek. This is a thing we seek. This body seeks homeostasis. Okay, so I'm not saying that balance is I'm not saying your analogy is wrong by any means. What I do know is when a when a friend of mine is up at Everest right now, climbing Everest today's almost whatever he's at third base camp, and he's going to ski down. Okay, so here's the point. At 26,000 feet, the body is seeking oxygen. So it's seeking homeostasis. It's saying, I want to get back to a part where, hey, I'm burning up. I want to do that. When you do a run or you get on a bicycle, the body then comes back to saying, hey, I want to get my heart rate back to a certain level. I've I've pushed it out. Now I'm not saying that your concept is, is, uh, mislaid. You're saying that you think it's more about alignment. Okay? And so I'm trying to get clear for the listeners and readers what what you mean by that. So

Constantin Dietrich
I think we're talking about two different things. One, you're talking about something that's very natural, and I'm in agreement when we talk about work, life balance, there are these stories again, you know, on the left side and on the right side, and people try and bring these stories into a perfect alignment. So there is balance, but it just doesn't work that way. So if it would, then we wouldn't have this discussion, then we wouldn't have 50% divorce rates and higher. Then we wouldn't have every force child growing up without a father at home. If it would work. Because I just, you know, I'm a very positive person, and I assume people have enough brain power to comprehend these stories. What they are not able to do is to bring them in alignment. That is just not possible, because the rules in the beginning are rigged. They don't want you in balance. All they want you to do is to chase the balance. But there is no balance. I get it. Okay, so you you're

Greg Voisen
getting pills. You clarified.

Constantin Dietrich
You're getting pills to cure all these problems, right? There's every third man over 30 has erectile dysfunction, you know? And you can talk about that all day long. There's probably diabetes a reason. Then there is a mental problem. Is a reason, stress and this and that, and here and there. The fact is, it is what it is. So we got to ask ourselves, why is that that's not normal. That is not what we want, and that is not what you try to achieve, which is why we have fertility issues and and and all problems lead to another problem, and again, the choices we make once you get to that point and you understand that you have that problem now you choose to take a pill and you choose not to look into the root cause. That's your decision. But don't blame anybody else but yourself for the challenge that you will face right after that.

Greg Voisen
Agreed, right and again, I mean in deference to the medical nurses, as we age, depending on how well you've taken care of yourself, the body ages and things happen now. I'm not advocating on the show that people don't take their medication or they don't whatever the point is, is that, yes, that is part of it, but the wisdom that goes along with it that you're speaking about to wake up to what has happened is important. In other words, awaken to really what the story is that you're living, so that you can now change the plot and the story, because you've been on this path. And you know you mentioned in your book, and I think this was a very important thing from here in life, you mentioned your grandfather's role in the July 20 plot against Hitler several times in the book, and this is where you speak about how this family legacy of courage and resistance has influenced your views on what it means to be now the word the title of this book is false king, but You say a true king. So I couldn't agree with you more, but if you would, can you elaborate on that? Because it sounds like it's been an important thing in your life.

Constantin Dietrich
Yes, for sure, an inspiration. And clearly something that I when I look at it, feel I don't live up to many times, right? So there's something so big in front of you that it's very difficult to align with that. Because I, you know, I think that's the greatest sacrifice you can make, is, you know, to say, You know what, I put my life at risk for other people. And, you know, I do what I believe is right, because I see that there's so much suffering and so much pain, and it's just wrong. And not only did he put his life at risk, he put the life of his kids at risk and his wife, and they both made that choice, and they both he died, and my my grandmother ended up in concentration camp. And, you know, those are the challenges she faced right after and for the rest of her life. So I've spoken, obviously not to my grandfather, because I never met him, but I spoken to my grandmother many, many times about that, and it is for me, it is a story that I always look up to, and it's probably one of the better stories in my life. You know, that inspired me and helped me

Greg Voisen
Well, I can only imagine what your grandfather had to do and what courage that that took to do that. I certainly wasn't there, but I come from Jewish heritage, and you know, the numbers of people that were put in concentration camps and then killed is just unfathomable to me. But that brings me to this. You know, in chapter seven of the book, you introduce specific physical practices like the wolf breath. Now it just was on with one of the world's leading breath workers, technique. Why do you believe these embodied practices are so essential for men's transformation compared to purely intellectual approaches? Because, look, there's a spiritual element that you ping to many times in this book. And I think for somebody who had COVID so bad and almost lost their life that there was an awakening spiritually for you, and you've been given a second chance. And the only reason a person would pick up in your case, kind of because you were so manly to take up a breathing would be because you have been given a gift to be here today, to be with my audience, to speak with them. Because, look, you could have been on the other planes, the other side. You could have passed away, but you didn't, and you're here to tell this story for a reason. So why do you believe this is so important, this wolf breath?

Constantin Dietrich
I think, first of all, the the wolf breath, I think there's, there's several things that you know we can and should do, and it really depends on your very individual, individual situation. And one thing that I firmly believe in as a coach is often people ask me, What can I do, and what do I have to do? And I say, Look, I don't know specifically for you, let's say you have a breathing problem, right? Maybe that would not be the right thing to do, but there are other things that you can do. So you really have to look at your very individual situation, how you define whatever it is, how you define happiness. Greg, for you, happiness is different than maybe for me, right? The happy moment. So in order to get to that happy moment, to that happy whatever state and physical state, if that you know, mental state, my job is to show you how to get there, how to get to what it is that you really want and why it matters for you most. And and that is what I do. So these examples are for people to take something that they can use and apply so they understand, but you have to do it in your very own way, because it's yours

Greg Voisen
well. And I would agree with you, and I would also can see that you are a different person than who you used to be as a result of your ICU experience and what happened to you. And the and the book takes a strong stance against what you call the inner enemy. All right, you had a lot of voices speaking with you, I'm sure while you were sitting in that past hospital bed. How can men distinguish between healthy self reflection and the destructive inner voice that you describe? Because, look, it requires a lot of discernment. Okay, there's a lot of voices that speak to us. I mean, you were getting voices when you're in the hospital. And you may have been saying, Dear God, please save me. I have a family. I want to move on. I don't want to die here today. And you were giving prayers of of inspiration to yourself. And I think a lot of men have a hard time discerning, and they don't even know how to speak to a higher power, to a higher source, then let's just call it God. Okay, some people believe in it. Some people don't. But the point is, is there? We do know that from a vibratory level around us at all times there are angels okay, and you had some there with you in the hospital that day.

Constantin Dietrich
For sure, for sure. I first of all, I think we spoke about fog earlier, you know, and about clarity. And I think once you have that, once you get to that state where you are clear, where you're clear about whatever it is that you want to be clear about. And that could be one thing, that could be many things, but the more clarity you have, the less likelihood of being distracted, of making choices that you know lead to bigger challenges. And I always say, we we make choices every day, but we should make conscious choices, and that means you're very clear. You understand if I do this, then that is going to happen, or maybe that can happen, right? You understand that you don't get to the next stage. Look back and say, How did I get here? And this is what a lot of people do. They blame everybody else about themselves. They save life. Why is this happening to me? And I say, No, no, no, you have to turn around. You have to make it happen for you. Life is not happening to you. Life is happening for you, but you have to steer this, which is why I say work life balance. You know you have to manage your work life, right? You can't just sit there and wait until it balances out. So I put a little bit more time into being at home, but I'm not present because I stare at my phone the whole time. It's like you were completely mixing up all these ideas, right, bending reality and truth to your liking, and that's not working

Greg Voisen
well. I can see as a coach, how you would be an exceptional coach for any executive, because you have a depth of knowledge and wisdom that goes beyond what I want to call the mechanized approach to doing it this, you're asking your clients hard questions. You're asking them to contemplate those questions, and you're asking them to take an inner journey, okay? And I think that this false kings is an expose of an inner journey kind of gone wrong, but how to actually shift it? Okay? It's really an expose of your life and the things you've learned, and you put it all together in this book and and it really is a great book for people to learn from. And then question from, okay, and then I would say, hey, go to the Dietrich institute.com and get in touch with Tino, because he's still coaching, and he would love to hear from you. And I would like to ask you this, what single message do you hope readers are going to take away from the false kings, and how will you know if this book has achieved your purpose in writing it, in one sense, I look at it and I say it's to awaken in you what you're doing that you probably don't want to do, but that you haven't figured out how to change yet. And if there's anyone that can help you change it would be Tino. So what are you hoping this false kings is going to achieve for people beyond what I just said?

Constantin Dietrich
I think that book is not just a book, and it's clearly not a self help book. It is, to me, it's an entry point into a journey, a journey that I hope will lead you to us, to the true alpha brotherhood you know, to to explore more than than you know what I'm describing in this book, that whole approach of happening to me and happening for me, I think, describes it quite well. You are in the position to not just let things happen to you, but let that happen for you. So that's really why I wrote this as a wake up

Greg Voisen
call. And how do you define this true alpha.

Constantin Dietrich
The true alpha is, again, you know, defined by everybody on their own terms. But once you get that clarity, and once you go through this process, you will know who you have to be in order to get to where you want to go to because, again, life is a journey. Life is a gift that's been given to you, and you need to treat it that way. And if you just slap yourself around all day long, then don't be surprised that you don't get to where you want to go to. Maybe you don't even know where you want to go to, but that's horrible, and many people get to a point like myself, right? I found myself in the ICU. I had to literally look into these habits, right? And been told it's over until I started to understand what it is. And I don't think that you have to go through this to be honest. I think my my call is to go out there and help people to wake up without having to go through near death experiences. Well,

Greg Voisen
in listening to you one very, very poignant story and a gift for everybody on this podcast, and I was listening like crazy as you were telling your story, and I'm glad we opened with that, because it is that gift you were given that's allowed you to grow and understand what you were doing to yourself. You start about manipulated, how you were manipulated, and your cruels that you are living by, and all the things that you've done throughout your life. And I can see Tino that your journey has been dotted with certain experiences that have given you the ability to coach individuals and to awaken in individuals that they can live their life differently without the fear of changing a course, because to change a course in a direction on a road when you're not looking at perspective, it's like, oh my god, I'm going 100 miles an hour This direction, and now he wants me to move this way, or he doesn't want me to move this way. He's awakened in me, this world that I see is better, and it's down at the Y in the road, not there. And I want to thank you for doing that with our listeners this morning. You certainly have done that. And I want to encourage all my listeners there, the book will be at Amazon. We'll have a link. It's called the false kings. He also has another book coming out right after that. What is the title of that one? Unfogged,

Constantin Dietrich
but fogged like the fog,

Greg Voisen
right, right? Unfogged, F, O, G, G, E, D, but I have had authors write the other one too, on F, U, C, K, E, D, but this is unfold. And I mentioned fog in my question to him. I know I listen carefully, so I said, let's get out of the fog and get into the clear sky, like most airline pilots would like to be in, because they can see where they're going. You can actually see the course. Tino, thank you for waking up and clearing the fog for all of us. I appreciate you. I appreciate your new book that's coming out, and I appreciate you being on inside personal growth. You for having me blessed rest of your day.

Constantin Dietrich
You too. Thank you. Thank you so much.