I was reading a great article, Unconditional Respect From Your Wife, and I agree with what it says, but it could be improved by giving examples of practical application.

What sorts of strategies have you seen actually work in already-existing marriages where wives have already lost respect for their husbands, and need to be "retrained", so to speak?

At the risk of sounding disingenuous, I actually am asking for two of my friends. Neither one of them is redpill. They both have the attitude that "I have no control over how my wife treats me."

So I guess this is actually two questions. First, what are the best intro materials you recommend to help break married men out of that defeatist mindset? And second, what are some practical things that men in such a position can do, to command respect from their wives?

Both of my friends are employed and are relatively successful financially. One of them is physically fit, the other, not so much. Both of them are nearing 50. Both still have children living at home. Both are Christians. The first one does not have a Christian wife; the other has a wife who might be considered a liberal Christian, definitely not traditional. There is not any adultery involved in either case.