When Good Men Don't Step Up | Long Walk E1 | Austin Holmes

The Overpressure Podcast’s latest episode is a solo episode from host Austin Holmes, a former Navy explosive ordnance disposal technician who points out that defusing bombs sounds exciting until you realize 90% of the job is paperwork and preparation. Today he’s president of Raptor and runs his businesses alongside his wife, Heather, whom he met in San Diego. After the military, he joined her firm, Heather DeSantis Public Relations, just before it became Publicity For Good, a name he says holds them to a high standard because media is one of the pillars that shapes culture. Raptor grew out of the censorship of the past few years. After watching voices get shut down and losing an account themselves for questionable reasons, they started a company to make sure stories that needed to be told actually got out. The episode is aimed squarely at men building families right now: men carrying a heavy load, with a marriage they don’t want to lose, kids growing up fast, careers that may or may not last, and technology that’s trying to both distract and replace them. The best material isn’t the résumé, though it covers the New York Times, USA Today, the Daily Wire, the Blaze, Family Radio, and now a byline in Entrepreneur magazine. It’s how openly he talks about failing. His first real stint as a team leader in the military was, in his words, a complete failure. He had no idea what he was doing, his own direct leadership wasn’t setting a good example, and he resented things like the daily team meeting. Looking back, he admits the things he hated were lessons he hadn’t learned yet. He now considers clear, regular communication one of the most valuable things a leader can provide. That early failure is what made him care so much about leadership, and it shapes the three principles he repeats almost daily to his team and his family. Quick gems from the episode: → His first principle is simply “do the right thing.” He calls it deliberately basic, because a principle that can’t be stripped down to something usable in every situation isn’t a very good principle. Judgment is still required, but the standard never changes. → His second principle came from one of their first business coaches: entrepreneurs have a responsibility to make the world a better place. That coach described people building businesses as the most consistent source of positive human progress there is. → His third principle is gratitude in everything, including the hard things. He shares an example from a man who said he was grateful for the screaming kid behind him on a plane, because it meant he could hear and was alive to be there. → He and Heather have four kids: a four-year-old girl and three boys aged three, two, and seven months. They build life and business around a God-first approach, aiming to create a community of faith-filled entrepreneurs with families who want to make a positive impact. → About ten years ago, in EOD, he was among the first to put drones to work in the field. That experience shapes his view of today’s technology shift. Unlike the sci-fi version everyone expected, software arrived before the robots, but he believes the outcome will be the same. He predicts AI and robotics will take over at least half of today’s work before 2030. → Even so, he’s optimistic. In his view technology might handle about a third of the work, and the other two-thirds will still depend on relationships and human connection. His advice is to focus on relationships, because technology will make everything else easier. → The show’s name comes from explosives physics. Overpressure is the sudden change in pressure that throws everything out of balance, the same reason diving and flying are hard. He applies the idea to business, where both positive and negative pressure can knock a founder off course. → The show just passed its 50th episode. Next up are more solo episodes on what he’s learning in real time and in-person interviews recorded in Nashville, because human connection works better outside a Zoom window. The thread connecting a failed first-time team leader, a husband-and-wife partnership built on faith and gratitude, and a clear-eyed view of the biggest technology shift of our time is what makes this episode land. It isn’t a founder’s highlight reel. It’s an argument that whatever mission you’re leaving behind, there’s another one worth stepping into, and when good men don’t step up to shape what comes next, someone worse will. Check out the Overpressure Podcast for the full conversation.