Career & Money

The 6 Core Values That Built a Media Empire—And How They Can Transform Your Life, According to Michael Bosstick

August 4, 2025

Feeling stuck in your career? Struggling with your relationships? Dear Media CEO Michael Bosstick has some tough love for you—no one is coming to save you. The truth is, no one else honestly cares—and that should be empowering news.

On a solo episode of The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast, Bosstick shares the six core values that have guided his success and for living a more meaningful and intentional life. His values-driven framework is the foundation for a grounded and resilient mindset. Bosstick also explores personal accountability, integrity in relationships and business, and where confidence and resilience actually come from.

Whether you’re a parent looking to instill great values in your children or you’re looking for a mid-year reset, Bosstick delivers the wake-up call you need.

Dear Media CEO Michael Bosstick’s 6 Core Values for Success

1. Kindness: Your reputation is everything

Kindness tops Bosstick’s list—and it’s the only thing that will get his kids in serious trouble if he finds out they are bullying or poking fun at other kids. “You have to be a kind person,” he explains. “I don’t care how successful you are or how many accomplishments you have if you are not a kind person, treating people with respect.”

Why does this matter? Because your reputation follows you everywhere. “There’s nothing worse than living in an unkind way and then you fall into a situation where you need help, and you haven’t been acting that way yourself,” he says. “No one will be there when you fall.”

In business especially, being kind isn’t weakness—it’s strategic. “From a professional standpoint, people talk,” Bosstick adds. “Being kind is so important. I don’t think you need to tear down everyone else to build yourself up.”

2. Integrity: The foundation of everything

Integrity is about being honest and not cutting corners, even when it’s difficult. Bosstick shares that he teaches his kids to talk about their feelings honestly, even if they’re angry or frustrated.

In business, this value becomes non-negotiable. For Bosstick, one dealbreaker in business is working with anyone who cheats on their spouse or partner. “If you are going to live a life without integrity, the question I am going to start asking is, ‘If you will cheat on the person you sleep with and lay next to every night, what the hell are you going to do with me?’” he says.

Bosstick says that people with integrity have hard conversations instead of living lies. “When you live outside of integrity, you are not able to do the hard thing and sit down with your business partner or your spouse and express that you are no longer happy,” he adds.

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3. Personal accountability: Stop being the victim

Bosstick and his wife, Lauren, discuss personal accountability with their kids and on TSC frequently—not blaming others, but taking control of your life by acknowledging your mistakes and pitfalls. He admits they talk about it so often that they’ve been called “harsh” by listeners.

“At the end of the day, no one is coming to give you more money, save your career, fix your broken relationship, manage your weight, or build more muscle,” he says. “No one, honestly, cares because we are all focused on our problems.”

When you lack personal accountability, you become the eternal victim. “You are going to be in a situation where you are constantly the victim and never the victor,” Bosstick explains. “But personal accountability is about picking up the shovel and digging yourself out of that hole.”

4. Discipline: Nothing is free

Hard truth: “Nothing in life is free, and no one is going to do the work for you,” he says. “It’s so important to instill the value of discipline early on.” For Bosstick’s kids, this might mean chores, workouts, waking up early, excelling at a sport, or putting in extra effort on a project. “Whatever they do, I only care that they work hard and have discipline to stay committed to that work,” he says.

Bosstick adds that confidence and self-assurance come from doing hard things, experiencing failure, and making progress: “What you realize is you are a capable person and that you can work through things.”

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5. Resourcefulness : Figure it out

Life isn’t linear; resourcefulness means you carve out your own path anyway. “Life is messy and full of curveballs,” Bosstick explains. “There are going to be tragedies and lost businesses, friendships, and jobs, but you have to figure it out.”

For parents, Bosstick thinks it’s essential to allow your kids to struggle through things so that they can learn to figure things out on their own. “If you are the parent always stepping in, later in life, they will always be looking to you to jump in,” he says. “We coddle kids so much that by the time they get into the real world, they are lost.”

The lesson applies to adults too: Stop waiting for someone else to solve your problems.

6. Independence: Think for yourself

While relationships matter (trust us: you can’t get through life without family and friends), you need to be okay during periods of solitude and capable of critical thinking. “From a survival perspective, we have evolved in a way that people want to be a part of the herd, and they don’t want to stand out,” Bosstick says.

For the Bossticks, independent thinking at home isn’t about isolation. It’s about children—and adults—developing their own identity rather than following trends. “It’s important for my kids to be able to figure out their own thoughts and feelings and not do what everyone else is doing,” he adds. “Being independent is how they will develop their confidence muscle.”