In an exclusive interview with CanadianSME Small Business Magazine, Ivan Fredette, Men’s Transformation & Leadership Expert and founder of Safe Tree and the Ironclad Brotherhood, shares his powerful journey of overcoming addiction and creating a culture of emotional discipline, resilience, and accountability in his businesses and coaching community. With over two decades of experience, Ivan discusses how his commitment to core values like leadership through action, radical responsibility, and resilience has shaped the success of Safe Tree and the Ironclad Brotherhood. Drawing on his own experiences, Ivan offers valuable insights on how small business owners can lead with integrity, build strong, purpose-driven teams, and create lasting legacies that will positively impact both their businesses and their families. Ivan’s story is a testament to the power of mindset and determination in navigating adversity and achieving sustainable growth.
Ivan Fredette is a Men’s Transformation & Leadership Expert, Resilience Speaker, and Serial Entrepreneur. After battling alcohol addiction for 17 years following the suicide of his cousin, Ivan made the life-altering decision to get sober in 2020. He went on to build the Ironclad Brotherhood, a coaching community for men rooted in emotional discipline, accountability, and purpose. When his sister died by suicide in 2023, the system he created held strong—proving its power in the face of unimaginable adversity. Ivan is also the founder of Safe Tree, a 7-figure arborist company in Niagara and Hamilton, and the creator of The Warrior’s Journal and the A.R.M.O.R. Framework. Today, he helps men lead themselves, live with integrity, and build legacies their families can be proud of. Ivan lives in Fenwick, Ontario, with his wife and three children.
You’ve built Safe Tree from a solo venture into a thriving, safety-oriented company and later founded the Ironclad Brotherhood. What was the pivotal moment when you realized that being a business owner wasn’t enough-and that true leadership required a different mindset and approach?
The turning point was the day I chose sobriety. With a clear head I wrote five non-negotiable values; Leadership through Action, Evolve to Greatness, Accountability to Oneself, Resilience in the Face of Adversity, and No Surrender and committed to living them first. Modeling those standards shifted me from managing tasks to setting the tone. People misaligned with the values drifted out and the right ones showed up. Owning every outcome transformed Safe Tree’s culture and results, and those same values power the Ironclad Brotherhood.
You emphasize “emotional discipline” as a cornerstone of your leadership philosophy. In your experience, how does mastering self-regulation and radical responsibility transform workplace culture, especially in high-risk or male-dominated industries?
Emotional discipline means my feelings don’t steer the job. By checking my ego, I listen first, speak last, and keep every conversation tied to the mission. Radical responsibility kills blame: if something slips, I own it, fix it, and learn. That example frees the crew to surface issues early, vital in high risk jobs. Safety rises, performance stays steady, and respect replaces bravado. People feel heard, standards stay clear, and we stay locked on the target in both hardship and success.
Ironclad Brotherhood is known for its strong culture of accountability and support. How did you create an environment-both in your coaching community and at Safe Tree-where team members hold themselves and each other to high standards, even when you’re not present?
We hard-wire standards into daily habits. At Safe Tree every job, purchase, and hire runs through four values; Teamwork, Reputation First, Extra Mile, Education. If it passes, green light, if not, it dies. The crew has a scorecard against those values, so results are public and peer-policed, not boss-policed. In Ironclad Brotherhood the filter is the LEARN + ARMOR code. Members share wins and misses on weekly calls. The group praises alignment and challenges drift. I track my own scorecard the same way, so nobody gets a pass. Clear values, visible metrics, and equal accountability create a culture where people self-manage, even when I’m off-site.
Your proprietary A.R.M.O.R. Framework focuses on Aspirations, Revenue, Muscle, Oneness and Relationships. Can you share a specific example of how this framework has helped you or your clients navigate adversity and drive meaningful change in business or life?
We link each A.R.M.O.R. pillar to one simple, daily non-negotiable in our Journal. That builds clarity, confidence, courage, and consistency through measurable habits.A win or a loss is obvious every day. One member used this method, lifted his scores across all five pillars, and even reversed a life-threatening liver disease. The process works because it turns big goals into small, trackable actions that compound over time.
Looking back on your journey-from overcoming addiction to building businesses and communities-what final advice would you offer to small business owners striving to lead with integrity, foster resilience, and create a lasting legacy for their teams and families?
Create a set of Core Values and make them non-negotiable. Let them guide every decision, action, and conversation. Seek out hard, uncomfortable tasks because resilience isn’t factory installed, it’s built. Most importantly, stay consistent no matter how you feel. Discipline beats motivation every time. The legacy you leave won’t come from what you say, but from what you model daily for your team and your family.
