1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:05,200 Because understanding great literature is better than trying to read and understand 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:09,000 yet another business book on the Leadership Lessons from the Great Books 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,680 Podcast, we commit to reading, dissecting, and analyzing the great 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:15,920 books of the Western canon. You know, those 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,640 books from Jane Austen to Shakespeare and everything else in 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,440 between that you might have fallen asleep trying to read in high 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,980 school. We do this for our listeners, the owner, the 8 00:00:26,980 --> 00:00:30,660 entrepreneur, the manager, or the civic leader who doesn't have the time 9 00:00:30,660 --> 00:00:34,300 to read, dissect, analyze, and leverage insights from 10 00:00:34,300 --> 00:00:38,100 literature to execute leadership best practices in the 11 00:00:38,100 --> 00:00:41,420 confusing and chaotic postmodern world we all now 12 00:00:41,420 --> 00:00:44,860 inhabit. Welcome to the rescuing of Western 13 00:00:44,860 --> 00:00:48,500 Civilization at the intersection of literature 14 00:00:48,500 --> 00:00:52,250 and leadership. Welcome to the Leadership Lessons from 15 00:00:52,250 --> 00:00:56,010 the Great Books Podcast. Welcome to the Beginning 16 00:00:56,170 --> 00:00:58,810 of the Next Historical High. 17 00:01:00,890 --> 00:01:04,410 But before I get into why this is the beginning 18 00:01:04,570 --> 00:01:08,089 of the next historical high, let me hit you listeners with 19 00:01:08,250 --> 00:01:12,090 some statistics to start off this 20 00:01:12,170 --> 00:01:15,530 new year. According to the National Literacy 21 00:01:15,610 --> 00:01:18,850 Institute, 21% of adults in the United States were 22 00:01:18,850 --> 00:01:21,192 illiterate in 2024 23 00:01:21,468 --> 00:01:24,950 54% of adults have a literacy rate 24 00:01:24,950 --> 00:01:28,790 below a sixth grade reading level. 20% 25 00:01:29,030 --> 00:01:32,710 of adults are below a fifth grade reading 26 00:01:32,710 --> 00:01:36,350 level. Now. Literary 27 00:01:36,350 --> 00:01:39,990 statistics matter a lot to me as I host 28 00:01:40,070 --> 00:01:43,790 a literary and leadership podcast because they 29 00:01:43,790 --> 00:01:46,960 are a bellwether, usually for other more 30 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:50,040 substantive and systemic problems, 31 00:01:51,000 --> 00:01:54,600 from voting for someone for the local city council to 32 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:58,280 avoiding being fooled by the products of an online bot farm. 33 00:01:58,600 --> 00:02:02,400 Being able to read the words on the page or on 34 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:06,240 the phone is important. But even more 35 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:09,240 important than being able to read the words on the page is the ability to 36 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:13,050 understand those words and to be able to make meaning from 37 00:02:13,050 --> 00:02:16,770 the words and make decisions from the meaning behind the 38 00:02:16,770 --> 00:02:20,570 words we understand, and even the 39 00:02:20,570 --> 00:02:24,170 ones we don't understand. Nothing 40 00:02:24,170 --> 00:02:27,730 begins without people understanding the words they're reading and 41 00:02:27,730 --> 00:02:30,490 being able to argue and discuss 42 00:02:31,530 --> 00:02:35,210 and contemplate the meaning of those 43 00:02:35,370 --> 00:02:39,140 words. But there's one other area 44 00:02:39,300 --> 00:02:42,500 where we need to have deep 45 00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:46,020 literacy, and I'm not talking about critical thinking here. Critical 46 00:02:46,020 --> 00:02:49,780 thinking comes after literacy and 47 00:02:50,180 --> 00:02:54,020 even after comprehension. We 48 00:02:54,020 --> 00:02:57,540 need the ability to make plans for the future 49 00:02:58,180 --> 00:03:01,860 based on the meaning of the words we 50 00:03:01,860 --> 00:03:05,540 read, the words we comprehend, the 51 00:03:05,540 --> 00:03:08,460 meaning that we seek to understand. 52 00:03:11,100 --> 00:03:14,860 Why is this important? Why am I talking about this right now? 53 00:03:14,860 --> 00:03:18,700 Well, during times of chaos, during times of disruption, during times of a 54 00:03:18,780 --> 00:03:22,420 shifting consensus in a dynamic country like the 55 00:03:22,420 --> 00:03:26,140 United States of America, where I live, making meaning of 56 00:03:26,140 --> 00:03:29,780 words matters quite a bit in the pursuit of defining, 57 00:03:29,780 --> 00:03:33,500 developing, and determining the the nature, depth, and breadth 58 00:03:33,660 --> 00:03:37,300 of problems, the meaning of words 59 00:03:37,300 --> 00:03:41,140 and the ability to Understand the meaning of words becomes even more critical to 60 00:03:41,140 --> 00:03:44,620 track and determine in the transition from a time of chaos 61 00:03:45,420 --> 00:03:49,020 into a time of historical prosperity and 62 00:03:49,500 --> 00:03:53,140 peace. There's an 63 00:03:53,140 --> 00:03:56,460 idea in business around 64 00:03:57,430 --> 00:04:00,630 signal and noise, and words 65 00:04:01,190 --> 00:04:04,470 can be both the signal and the noise. But literacy, 66 00:04:05,350 --> 00:04:09,150 comprehension, and critical thinking, these three are 67 00:04:09,150 --> 00:04:12,989 the tools that we use to separate the signal from 68 00:04:12,989 --> 00:04:13,670 the noise. 69 00:04:17,590 --> 00:04:21,350 Now, I'm going to use a word here or a term here, 70 00:04:21,350 --> 00:04:24,640 and I want you to. I want you to hook onto this one. 71 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,080 The transition from a historical low of chaos and collapse 72 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,360 to a historical high of prosperity and construction 73 00:04:34,160 --> 00:04:37,680 could be defined by the term, by the 74 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,080 words golden age. 75 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:45,440 But how you comprehend that term, what meaning you make 76 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:49,130 from it, well, you might need some help 77 00:04:49,130 --> 00:04:50,250 with that part. 78 00:05:00,650 --> 00:05:04,330 A couple of years ago, I expressed the frustration that I have 79 00:05:04,330 --> 00:05:08,170 with our constant mastication over problems without 80 00:05:08,170 --> 00:05:11,050 moving people towards solutions to problems. 81 00:05:12,170 --> 00:05:15,510 Over the last couple of years on this podcast, I have taken time to, at 82 00:05:15,510 --> 00:05:19,270 the end of each of our episodes to discuss with our guests 83 00:05:19,270 --> 00:05:22,870 the solutions or the potential solutions to leadership problems 84 00:05:22,950 --> 00:05:26,310 that are present in our society and culture. 85 00:05:26,710 --> 00:05:29,750 Here at the close of the fourth turning, 86 00:05:30,550 --> 00:05:33,830 which I suspected the fourth turning was beginning to close 87 00:05:34,630 --> 00:05:36,310 back in 2023, 88 00:05:38,150 --> 00:05:41,830 this ongoing frustration over the constant 89 00:05:41,830 --> 00:05:45,150 chewing over of problems led me to cover books 90 00:05:45,630 --> 00:05:49,190 with guests like Shop Class as Soulcraft by 91 00:05:49,190 --> 00:05:52,750 Matthew Crawford, the Omni Americans by Albert Murray, 92 00:05:52,990 --> 00:05:55,950 as well as Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald and 93 00:05:55,950 --> 00:05:58,510 1984 by George Orwell. 94 00:05:59,630 --> 00:06:03,270 These books, along with many others, opens the 95 00:06:03,270 --> 00:06:06,950 door to allow me to talk with my 96 00:06:06,950 --> 00:06:10,760 fellow guests and to talk with you as listeners about the problem 97 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,480 of respecting the followers you have as a leader, 98 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:17,640 the problem of a return to collectivist thinking, 99 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,960 and not in the way that Lenin or Marx would define it, and 100 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,720 resurrecting such collectivist or collective or communal 101 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:29,480 thinking from the rubble of the idolatry of individualistic 102 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,320 thinking. These books opened the door to me 103 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:37,000 being able to talk about putting aside personal trauma in order to 104 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,600 develop other people. And these 105 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,400 books opened the door to me being able to talk with guests about how 106 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:47,840 to develop serious speech that would 107 00:06:47,840 --> 00:06:51,400 demonstrate the depth of serious thinking 108 00:06:52,039 --> 00:06:55,880 that a leader and quite frankly, everybody should have. 109 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,040 We talked about these problems and we proposed 110 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:06,010 solutions. And in each one of these areas, along with many 111 00:07:06,010 --> 00:07:09,850 others, we propose solutions that we covered on the show last season. 112 00:07:10,570 --> 00:07:14,050 We actually talked about solutions, some 113 00:07:14,050 --> 00:07:17,530 radical, some more pedestrian, but all 114 00:07:17,850 --> 00:07:21,530 solution based. The guests that we 115 00:07:21,530 --> 00:07:24,970 had actively explored all those potential solutions 116 00:07:25,210 --> 00:07:28,840 and engaged with these ideas in the realm of I 117 00:07:29,070 --> 00:07:32,630 ideas, which of course is what a podcast I believe 118 00:07:32,630 --> 00:07:36,150 fundamentally is for and 119 00:07:36,150 --> 00:07:39,750 now, in 2026, starting the fifth season of the 120 00:07:39,750 --> 00:07:43,510 Leadership Lessons from the Great Books podcast, we are going 121 00:07:43,510 --> 00:07:46,950 to level up yet again and we're going to begin to 122 00:07:46,950 --> 00:07:50,630 explore ideas. Not only those ideas that 123 00:07:50,630 --> 00:07:54,110 lead to solutions, but also ideas 124 00:07:54,190 --> 00:07:57,040 of restoration in preparation 125 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:01,680 for a future that I believe we are not 126 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:04,800 quite yet prepared for. 127 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:08,720 Whether that is spiritually, morally, 128 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,160 ethically, much less materially, 129 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,440 scientifically or even 130 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:19,760 biologically. We will be 131 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:23,400 doing this. We will be holding this 132 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:27,200 conversation around restoration and preparation for 133 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:31,000 the future through exploring essays like the Great Instauration 134 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,440 by Francis Bacon. And we will go 135 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:38,360 through there all the Way to east of Eden 136 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:42,120 by John Steinbeck. We will wind our way 137 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,560 through A Book of Common Prayer by Joan Didion, and 138 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:49,630 we'll talk about the Great book Ben Hur A Tale of the Christ 139 00:08:49,870 --> 00:08:53,710 by Lew Wallace. And towards the end of this 140 00:08:53,710 --> 00:08:57,350 year, we will end up in the space of the U.S. army and Marine 141 00:08:57,350 --> 00:09:00,830 Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual edited by General David 142 00:09:00,830 --> 00:09:04,630 Petraeus, Sarah Sewell and John Nagel. And finally, we 143 00:09:04,630 --> 00:09:08,310 will close out the year by exploring Tolkien and 144 00:09:08,310 --> 00:09:10,590 the children of Huron. 145 00:09:12,270 --> 00:09:16,060 We will use these books to connect with literate leaders 146 00:09:17,260 --> 00:09:20,460 with high comprehension, deep compassion, 147 00:09:20,940 --> 00:09:24,380 and literate leaders who have impatience, 148 00:09:25,260 --> 00:09:28,620 who are experiencing impatience with the speed 149 00:09:28,940 --> 00:09:31,660 of the coming historical high, 150 00:09:33,020 --> 00:09:35,980 and of course who are looking for ideas, 151 00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:40,220 looking for solutions to what restoration 152 00:09:40,860 --> 00:09:42,860 would potentially look like. 153 00:10:06,740 --> 00:10:10,510 So here's a few questions to sort of set yourself up 154 00:10:10,670 --> 00:10:14,310 for the upcoming podcasting 155 00:10:14,310 --> 00:10:17,990 season. Why do smart leaders read Voltaire instead of the 156 00:10:17,990 --> 00:10:21,630 Harvard Business Review? What are the implications 157 00:10:21,710 --> 00:10:25,070 of addressing diversity challenges as a conflict of visions 158 00:10:25,470 --> 00:10:29,310 rather than as a world ending existential crisis? 159 00:10:30,350 --> 00:10:34,030 What is a Tim show? And why does knowing what it is matter 160 00:10:34,190 --> 00:10:37,860 to building for the good rather than just maintaining a position 161 00:10:39,060 --> 00:10:42,860 in stasis? And what is the 162 00:10:42,860 --> 00:10:46,020 importance of decentralized decision making? 163 00:10:48,020 --> 00:10:50,820 I am fascinated by the difference between 164 00:10:51,779 --> 00:10:55,460 what questions and why questions. Why 165 00:10:55,460 --> 00:10:59,220 questions tend to be problem oriented and the 166 00:10:59,300 --> 00:11:02,990 endless pressing of the algorithm in our 167 00:11:02,990 --> 00:11:06,430 lives has flooded us with why questions, 168 00:11:06,910 --> 00:11:09,790 why this, why that, and why the other. 169 00:11:10,670 --> 00:11:14,430 But what questions are solution focused? 170 00:11:14,910 --> 00:11:18,110 What is the problem? What can we do about it? 171 00:11:19,470 --> 00:11:23,070 What are the options? These 172 00:11:23,150 --> 00:11:26,510 types of questions, questions that begin with the word what 173 00:11:27,060 --> 00:11:30,420 are more interesting than asking endless why? Questions that 174 00:11:30,420 --> 00:11:33,900 merely serve to drive or 175 00:11:33,900 --> 00:11:37,660 feed the algorithm. These are the questions 176 00:11:37,660 --> 00:11:41,300 that drive thinking about solutions and implementing 177 00:11:41,300 --> 00:11:45,060 those solutions rather than continuing to drive a problem 178 00:11:45,300 --> 00:11:49,140 based narrative. The lessons we can learn from 179 00:11:49,140 --> 00:11:52,860 reading the great Books have been the primary focus of this show for 180 00:11:52,860 --> 00:11:56,370 the last five years and great 181 00:11:56,370 --> 00:11:59,970 books Ask and Answer what 182 00:12:00,210 --> 00:12:03,810 Questions this 183 00:12:03,810 --> 00:12:07,610 year we are moving with several partners and current 184 00:12:07,610 --> 00:12:11,090 and former guests into two areas of 185 00:12:11,170 --> 00:12:15,010 great impact and of great interest in 2026 that will 186 00:12:15,170 --> 00:12:19,010 further allow us to explore the answers to what questions. 187 00:12:20,140 --> 00:12:23,940 We are starting to bring together ideas we've explored on this show 188 00:12:23,940 --> 00:12:27,740 since season one into writing a book series 189 00:12:27,980 --> 00:12:31,580 with contributions from current and former guests, focusing 190 00:12:31,580 --> 00:12:34,900 on our discussion of the potential 191 00:12:34,900 --> 00:12:38,380 leadership models that arise when you read 192 00:12:38,860 --> 00:12:42,620 books written by Jane Austen, plays written by William 193 00:12:42,620 --> 00:12:46,020 Shakespeare, books written by John Steinbeck and Ernest 194 00:12:46,020 --> 00:12:49,410 Hemingway, or even solutions to life 195 00:12:49,490 --> 00:12:53,130 proposed by Booker T. Washington and 196 00:12:53,130 --> 00:12:56,930 many, many others. It turns out that a 197 00:12:56,930 --> 00:12:59,410 lot of these books have the 198 00:13:00,370 --> 00:13:04,130 answers to the why embedded in the 199 00:13:04,130 --> 00:13:07,570 what deeply in 200 00:13:07,810 --> 00:13:09,490 narrative structures. 201 00:13:11,570 --> 00:13:14,290 We're also exploring 202 00:13:15,510 --> 00:13:19,150 a project, and I'm not going to give the name of it right now, but 203 00:13:19,150 --> 00:13:22,990 we're exploring a project, developing it 204 00:13:22,990 --> 00:13:26,550 with other partners to leverage the insights, the commentary 205 00:13:26,630 --> 00:13:30,470 and the conclusions from the podcast 206 00:13:30,470 --> 00:13:33,590 episodes we've done over the last few years, 207 00:13:34,630 --> 00:13:38,190 moving those into a working leadership 208 00:13:38,190 --> 00:13:41,680 education platform. This idea 209 00:13:41,680 --> 00:13:45,040 is still in its genesis, it's still 210 00:13:45,680 --> 00:13:49,520 in the planning stages, it's still in the paper and pencil 211 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:53,400 sort of mode. And so stay tuned for 212 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:55,920 more details as we move this project 213 00:13:56,880 --> 00:13:57,280 forward. 214 00:14:18,090 --> 00:14:21,850 I once heard years ago as an entrepreneur, and I've taken this 215 00:14:21,850 --> 00:14:25,250 throughout my entire life, that and my 216 00:14:25,250 --> 00:14:28,890 career actually, that it takes 10 years to become a 217 00:14:28,890 --> 00:14:32,340 quote unquote, overnight success, whether you're an 218 00:14:32,340 --> 00:14:36,180 entrepreneur or a business owner. Over the course of my 219 00:14:36,180 --> 00:14:39,380 life, over the course of my adulthood, I've. I've taken on 220 00:14:40,180 --> 00:14:43,860 a lot of other hard things. And you know what I found out? I found 221 00:14:43,860 --> 00:14:47,020 out that it takes 10 to 12 years to get your black belt in the 222 00:14:47,020 --> 00:14:50,860 martial art of jiu jitsu. It takes 10,000 hours or 223 00:14:50,860 --> 00:14:54,700 10 years to move from being a novice to beginning to 224 00:14:54,700 --> 00:14:58,270 starting to be a master at any pursuit worth 225 00:14:58,270 --> 00:15:01,990 taking up. Anything worth doing takes 226 00:15:01,990 --> 00:15:05,710 about 10 years to begin to get even remotely good at 227 00:15:07,790 --> 00:15:10,510 the same thing. It turns out with 228 00:15:10,750 --> 00:15:14,430 podcasting, I'm heading into the fifth year of 229 00:15:14,430 --> 00:15:18,270 hosting this show. Hosting a podcast 230 00:15:18,270 --> 00:15:22,070 like this, with a lot of moving parts involves learning, developing and executing 231 00:15:22,070 --> 00:15:25,620 the skills of writing, speaking, recording, editing, 232 00:15:25,620 --> 00:15:28,220 marketing, and finally distributing. 233 00:15:29,420 --> 00:15:32,540 I think at this point I'm about halfway through 234 00:15:33,100 --> 00:15:36,540 a 10 year long process to get 235 00:15:36,780 --> 00:15:39,260 better, to move from 236 00:15:40,140 --> 00:15:43,020 novice to beginning to be a master. 237 00:15:44,300 --> 00:15:48,100 And underneath it all, underneath all of this journey, underneath 238 00:15:48,100 --> 00:15:51,930 all this process, underneath all of this writing 239 00:15:51,930 --> 00:15:55,450 and speaking and recording and editing and marketing and distributing, 240 00:15:55,530 --> 00:15:59,370 the most valuable skill. Well, not even 241 00:15:59,370 --> 00:16:02,410 valuable skill, the most valuable thing I'm earning 242 00:16:02,490 --> 00:16:06,170 consistently by showing up week in and week out every week 243 00:16:06,970 --> 00:16:10,650 is is is permission. 244 00:16:11,690 --> 00:16:15,210 The permission to speak into your ears and the 245 00:16:15,210 --> 00:16:18,370 permission to have your retention to build a future. 246 00:16:18,930 --> 00:16:22,290 To sincerely build a future. I think 247 00:16:23,090 --> 00:16:26,850 we want to actually leave for the people 248 00:16:27,090 --> 00:16:30,610 coming after us. I look 249 00:16:30,610 --> 00:16:34,210 forward to continuing to earn the 250 00:16:34,210 --> 00:16:38,050 ears and attention of some of the most literate leaders, visionaries, 251 00:16:38,050 --> 00:16:41,850 builders and executors who listen to this show in 252 00:16:41,850 --> 00:16:45,680 2026. And I thank 253 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:49,520 you for what you have given me so 254 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,120 far. Happy New Year 255 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:57,520 and welcome to the next historical high. 256 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:04,280 And well, that's it for 257 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:07,800 me. Thank you for listening to the Leadership Lessons from the Great Books 258 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:11,530 Podcast today. And now that you've made it this far, 259 00:17:12,010 --> 00:17:15,410 you should subscribe to the audio version of this show on all the major 260 00:17:15,410 --> 00:17:19,050 podcast players, including Apple, iTunes, Spotify, 261 00:17:19,290 --> 00:17:23,130 YouTube, music and everywhere else where podcasts are available. 262 00:17:24,250 --> 00:17:27,970 There's also a video version of our. Podcast on our YouTube 263 00:17:27,970 --> 00:17:31,730 channel like and subscribe to the video version of this podcast on 264 00:17:31,730 --> 00:17:35,500 the Leadership toolbox channel on YouTube. Just, just search for Leadership 265 00:17:35,500 --> 00:17:38,740 Toolbox and hit the subscribe button there on YouTube. 266 00:17:39,460 --> 00:17:43,300 And while you're doing that, leave a five star review. If you like 267 00:17:43,300 --> 00:17:46,740 what we're doing here on Apple, Spotify and 268 00:17:46,740 --> 00:17:50,500 YouTube, just go below the player and hit five stars. 269 00:17:50,980 --> 00:17:54,740 We need those reviews to grow and it's the easiest way to help grow this 270 00:17:54,740 --> 00:17:58,220 show and tell all your friends, of course, in 271 00:17:58,220 --> 00:18:01,940 Leadership. By the way, if you don't like what we're doing here, 272 00:18:01,940 --> 00:18:05,300 well, you can always listen to another leadership show. There are several 273 00:18:05,540 --> 00:18:09,340 other good ones out there. At least that's 274 00:18:09,340 --> 00:18:12,660 what I've heard. All right, well, 275 00:18:13,380 --> 00:18:14,580 that's it for me.