Episode 13: Aldo Grech
From Love Addiction to Authentic Living. When success becomes your prison
AIRED: 27/01/2026
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Introduction
What happens when everything you’ve worked for—the career, the partner, the material success—suddenly feels hollow? For Aldo Grech, it took losing everything to discover he’d never really had himself.
At 50, Aldo was living what looked like the perfect life. He’d built a successful international career, rising through executive ranks at companies like Acer, turning around struggling divisions across continents. He had the trophy partner, the Lake Como lifestyle, all the trappings of achievement. But underneath the polished exterior was a man running on empty, driven by what he would later recognise as love addiction—a compulsion to constantly seek external validation through relationships, work, and material success.
The unravelling came gradually, then all at once. Cancer at 42, which he treated as an inconvenience rather than a wake-up call. A marriage ending at 50. The realisation that without his business card and partner, he literally had nothing to talk about with friends. No stories. No identity. Just a gaping void where a person should be.
For many of us navigating midlife, this story hits uncomfortably close to home. We’ve spent decades building careers, accumulating achievements, being rewarded for our ability to “fix things” and push through obstacles. We’ve learned to live from the neck up, all cognition and no feeling. But what happens when the very traits that made us successful in our careers—the relentless drive, the need to solve every problem, the inability to show vulnerability—become the things destroying our relationships and our sense of self?
The alpha male trap
Aldo’s journey reveals something rarely discussed in conversations about men and midlife: the difference between substance addiction and process addictions. While everyone recognises drugs and alcohol as addictions, we celebrate and reward process addictions like workaholism, wealth accumulation, and achievement obsession. We throw accolades at men who display these patterns, holding them up as role models for our sons.
As Aldo puts it, “We are actually throwing accolades and getting our kids to look at them. Well, from my observation, having done seven years between therapy and 12-step, he’s addicted to fame, he’s addicted to greed.”
The conversation explores how men become trapped in what Aldo calls “the avatar”—a protective mechanism created in childhood that allows us to behave like adults whilst remaining emotionally stunted. The avatar learns what the world expects and delivers it flawlessly, all while the real person remains hidden, afraid, and unknown even to themselves.
This discussion covers:
- The difference between substance and process addictions
- How childhood experiences shape our adult coping mechanisms
- Why midlife crisis is actually “midlife creativity”—your real self trying to emerge
- The dangerous combination of professional success and emotional emptiness
- How relationships suffer when there’s “no one home” inside
- The role of shame in keeping men trapped in destructive patterns
- Why therapy and 12-step programs offer a path to authentic living
- Building a life based on genuine connection rather than external validation
- The importance of community and vulnerability in male friendship
- How to recognise the signals your body sends when you’re living inauthentically
What makes this conversation particularly powerful is Aldo’s unflinching honesty about his journey through seven years of therapy and 12-step programs. He doesn’t offer easy answers or quick fixes. Instead, he shares the difficult truth that real change requires surrendering control, facing shame, and doing the hard work of connecting head to heart.
For men in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who sense something isn’t quite right—who have the career success but feel empty, who struggle in relationships without understanding why, who can fix everyone’s problems except their own—Aldo’s story offers both a mirror and a roadmap. Not a comfortable one, but an honest one.
Guest info
Aldo Grech is an author, speaker, strategist, and passionate advocate for sustainable living and authentic leadership. Born in Malta, Aldo built an impressive international career as an executive and transformational change expert, working across continents to turn around underperforming divisions for major corporations including Acer.
After experiencing his own profound personal transformation through therapy and 12-step programs, Aldo redirected his expertise toward helping others navigate authentic living and ethical leadership through his company, CxO Consulting. He now focuses on what he calls “sustainable living”—a holistic approach encompassing psychological, spiritual, cultural, and community wellbeing alongside environmental consciousness.
Aldo is the author of six books exploring themes of consciousness, social manipulation, and humanity’s future, including Silent Echoes, Quantum Consciousness and the Proof of a Creator, The Great Populism Hustle, and his latest work, HOW: Elections Are Won in the Digital Age. He is also a podcast host exploring trends in technology, leadership, and sustainability.
Connect with Aldo:
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