#333: Solitude & Leadership

#333: Solitude & Leadership

About a year ago, I had cultural critic William Deresiewicz on the podcast to discuss, among other things, a speech he gave at West Point in 2010 on the power of solitude in making better leaders. It’s a powerful speech and my guest today is one of the individuals who was impacted by it. So much so that he spent seven years researching and writing a book on the intersection of solitude and leadership. His name is Mike Erwin and he’s the co-author of the book "Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude."
Today on the show, Mike and I discuss why solitude is more than just secluding yourself from other people, why it's so hard to come by in the information age, and how leadership in our governments and businesses have suffered due to the lack of solitude. We then dig deep into specific benefits that solitude can give leaders by looking at case studies from history. Mike shares how solitude practices enabled Dwight D. Eisenhower to make big, analytical decisions like launching D-Day, helped Lawrence of Arabia and General Ulysses S. Grant come up with creative war strategies, allowed Abraham Lincoln to keep himself emotionally stable during the Civil War, and gave Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Pope John Paul II the moral courage to stand up for what they believed in. We end our show discussing practical ways you can inject some more solitude into your own life, no matter how noisy and busy it is.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(1159)

Tame the Dopamine Drive — How to Stop Chasing and Start Living

Tame the Dopamine Drive — How to Stop Chasing and Start Living

All the neurochemicals in the brain have to do with life in the present. Except for one: dopamine. Dopamine is the one neurochemical that looks to the future. It anticipates what may be to come and dr...

9 Jul 202547min

Books, Routines, and Habits: The Founders’ Guide to Self-Improvement

Books, Routines, and Habits: The Founders’ Guide to Self-Improvement

Note: This is a rebroadcast.A lot of self-improvement advice and content feels empty. And there’s a reason for that. It often offers routines and habits to practice, but doesn’t offer a strong, overar...

1 Jul 202545min

Ancient Buddhist Principles for Modern Life’s Dilemmas

Ancient Buddhist Principles for Modern Life’s Dilemmas

When you’re feeling stressed, burnt out, and anxious — when you’re striving and achieving but still finding yourself persistently dissatisfied with life — you might start looking for answers beyond wh...

24 Jun 202551min

How to Turn Vices Into Career-Advancing Virtues

How to Turn Vices Into Career-Advancing Virtues

What if the traits you’ve been taught to suppress your entire career are actually the very qualities that separate those who get what they want from those who stay stuck waiting for recognition that n...

17 Jun 202554min

Men Don't Run in the Rain — And 7 Other Essential Lessons for Being a Man

Men Don't Run in the Rain — And 7 Other Essential Lessons for Being a Man

When Rick Burgess was growing up, his father, Bill Burgess, was also his football coach. But Bill was a mentor on and off the field not only for his own son but for the many young men he coached at bo...

10 Jun 202553min

The Making of a Supreme Commander — How Eisenhower Became the Leader Who Delivered Victory on D-Day

The Making of a Supreme Commander — How Eisenhower Became the Leader Who Delivered Victory on D-Day

That Dwight D. Eisenhower became Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, orchestrating the largest amphibious invasion in history on June 6, 1944, was far from inevitable.He came from the mi...

3 Jun 202550min

How to Have the Manners and Charm of a Proper English Gentleman

How to Have the Manners and Charm of a Proper English Gentleman

The British just seem like a classier bunch. Part of it is that winning accent. But it's also because English culture has long been steeped in the tradition of learning and practicing etiquette.Here t...

27 Mai 202549min

Become a Master of Uncertainty

Become a Master of Uncertainty

Uncertainty is a constant of human existence. How will market conditions affect your new business venture? What will be the results of the medical test you just took? Will a new relationship work out?...

20 Mai 202550min

Populært innen Fakta

fastlegen
dine-penger-pengeradet
mikkels-paskenotter
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
foreldreradet
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
treningspodden
jakt-og-fiskepodden
rss-bisarr-historie
rss-kull
rss-sunn-okonomi
takk-og-lov-med-anine-kierulf
sinnsyn
rss-kunsten-a-leve
hagespiren-podcast
gravid-uke-for-uke
fryktlos
hverdagspsyken
level-up-med-anniken-binz
rss-bak-luftfarten