#73: Crafting Your Purpose (with John Coleman)
John Coleman tells us what we should be reading. And more importantly, he helps us craft our life's purpose. John is managing partner at Sovereign Capital, an alum of Invesco, and author of the Harvard Business Review Guide to Crafting Your Purpose. Connect with...
#72: Better Decent Than Lucky (with Nick Soman)
EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you’ll choose another. Nick Soman is the founder and CEO of Decent, which aims to provide affordable health insurance to all. He and Sri have fun mining Nick's vast music knowledge and talking...
#71: Trust-Based Leadership with Mike Ettore
Sri interviews Mike Ettore. Mike is a career veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, accomplished Fortune-500 C-suite executive, and founder of Fidelis Leadership Group. Mike is the author of Trust-Based Leadership: Marine Corps Leadership Concepts for Today's Business Leaders. He also hosts the Fidelis...
#70: Unbreakable Leadership with Thom Shea
Learn the “three simple things” that will help you lead yourself, your family, and your team from former Navy SEAL and BUD/S instructor Thom Shea. Thom is the author of multiple books on leadership and is the founder of Unbreakable Leadership, a leadership consultancy...
#69: Finding the Best People with Kevin Seiff
Kevin Seiff is a former Navy SEAL and CEO of Flintlock Solutions, a recruiting firm that is changing the game for VC-backed biotech companies. Sri and Kevin discuss what to look for in candidates and how to run a great recruiting process. Connect with...
#68: Amazon Tenets with Dave Glick, CTO of Flexe
How many people can say they had regular meetings with Jeff Bezos? Dave Glick is the CTO of Flexe, just heralded as Seattle's newest unicorn. Dave is a 20-year Amazon veteran, where he and Sri overlapped. Dave is one of those people who can...
#67: Selling Out with Frank Cespedes
Sri talks with author and professor Frank Cespedes about sales, strategy, and leadership. Frank Cespedes is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He currently teaches the elective Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing (ESM) course in the MBA program as...
#66: Redefining Beauty with Katia Beauchamp
Sri talks with entrepreneur Katia Beauchamp about what she learned about leadership (and herself!) while upending the beauty industry. Katia is the cofounder of Birchbox, which raised $90 million in venture funding and was valued at one time at half a billion dollars. Katia...
#65: Searching for Attributes with Rich Diviney
Should you hire for skills or innate qualities? On this episode Sri interviews Rich Diviney, highly accomplished career SEAL officer and author of the book The Attributes. Rich makes the case that skills are a poor predictor of success, especially during times of stress...
#64: Never Enough with Mike Hayes
Mike Hayes is the former commanding officer of SEAL Team TWO and the author of “Never Enough.” He was a White House Fellow and subsequently Chief Operating Officer at Ray Dalio's hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. He currently serves as the Chief Digital Transformation Officer...
#63: Jump Off the Mountain with Alok Chanani
EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you’ll choose another. Army combat vet and VC-backed entrepreneur Alok Chanani talks about leadership lessons from the warzone to the board room. Alok led a critical team carrying duffle bags of cash in...
#62: TWO KINDS OF BOREDOM (4MUW)
There are two kinds of boredom, but only one is good for you 🙂 Hat tip to Maria Popova at Brainpickings, who writes frequently about the benefits of boredom in general. Highly recommend her site! This episode is part of the 4 Minutes Underwater...
#61: QUADROFRENETICA (4MUW)
70s rock giants The Who help Sri explain nervous energy in organizations. This episode is part of the “4 Minutes Underwater” series (4MUW). notes The rock opera Quadrophenia by the Who (Prime Video) Album explanation (Wikipedia) Outro: cover by Bank Street Band &...
#60: 4MUW (RESPONSIBILITY HANGOVER)
Sri discusses how our decision-making models get outdated as we increase our experience in this second edition of our “4 Minutes Underwater” minisode series (4MUW). notes The book Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath (Amazon) Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet + @sri_actually Intro...
#59: 4 Minutes Underwater (ELON’S SHOWER)
In this new format, Sri offers 4 minutes of musings on stoicism, abundance, and pursuing unbound upside. notes: Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb
#58R: Find Your North Star
Sri and Edmund Hillary talk about the Japanese concept of Ikigai: how to figure out what to achieve & how to persevere in the face of adversity. notes Errata: Ugh, I think I said “Dorgay” instead of “Norgay.” Apologies. Man on Wire: Amazing documentary...
#58: Getting Naked with Will Branum
“Water boils at 212 degrees. I was at 210.” Will Branum is a former Navy SEAL who founded Naked Warrior Recovery based on his own struggles with anxiety. Sri talks with Will about veteran suicide (see charities below!) and leadership lessons from the military....
#57R: Work the Problem
A deep dive on some of the concepts from Sri's interview with Nat Thompson on episode #57. Namely, what it means to “cultivate appropriate levels of tribalism” on your team — and examples of “work the problem” in combat and crisis. Connect with Sri...
#57: Nat Thompson on Growing New Leaders
Nat Thompson, Sri's longtime brother from the SEAL Teams, teaches us how to hire and develop new leaders. Plus, how to nurture a sense of team exceptionalism without becoming Colonel Kurtz. Nat's experience ranges from conducting strategic military operations in austere environments to revamping...
UPDATE: Exciting Changes
Sri emerges from his cave and sees six early weeks of spring — plus exciting changes coming to the podcast soon. Thanks for your patience!!!
#55: Purely Consensual
You can’t compete if you don’t have the best people. But interview processes are all the same these days. As a society we’ve converged on a method
#54: Great Mistakes
Listen before you make your 2021 resolutions! Oriah’s ‘The Invitation,” tips to garden rare lettuces, and boot camp.
#53: Focus Pocus
Focus is all the rage in self-help culture, but what does it really mean? And what does true focus entail? “Tools and techniques” of succes
#52: The Dark Quadrant
Sri talks about a type of knowledge that is largely ignored relative to its siblings: the unknown known. Connect with Sri on Ins
#51: Tandem Jump
Organizations tend to value displaying coordination than truly being coordinated. Operating at world-class levels demands trust,
#50: Departures Magazine
Party in the back: Four desserts that should exist in this world | “The Pitbull Option” Business in the front: It’s tough balancing when to work on setting goals and planning vs. just executing with your head down like a bull. If you plan...
#49: Charmonium
It is fashionable to celebrate the idea that leaders can be quiet, unassuming, and uninspiring. Sri has a different take. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet + @sri_actually notes Music video for “She Don’t Use Jelly” by the Flaming Lips Jack Black sings “She...
#48: Leader As Therapist
Management is usually obsessed with things it can measure — and rightly so. But this can go too far. One example is focusing too much on hard skills like coding, data analysis, or design skills. While these are important, they are generally learnable. Often...
#47: Half and Half
Sri discusses an overlooked Godfather character and why companies get fat. Innovative companies get caught in a no man’s land, i.e. halfway, between innovation and collection of innovation ‘rents.’ And agile process can give the impression that true innovation is happening even though startups...
#45: Free Radical
This is not a political podcast. Sri’s been “clean” from politics for years. But he takes a break to explain why he’s not voting in the imminent election. Plus, curated covers of one of the best pop-rock songs of the 90s. EXPLICIT EPISODE: If...
#44: Hunger Strike
Sri discusses what to do with your life with Charlie Munger and Temple of the Dog. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet + @sri_actually notes The Psychology of Human Misjudgment, by Charlie Munger Ayo, the author: How to Decide What to Do With Your Life ...
#43: WALL-ME
Tired of running through brick walls? There may be a better way. Sri discusses when to exercise “tactical patience” and why WALL-E is terribly overrated. EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you’ll choose another. Connect with Sri on Instagram:...
#42: Trust the Pro-cess
How do you know when you should stop analyzing and start executing? This is a hard problem, perhaps a philosophical one. Sri takes a stab with help from Canada.
#41: The Happiness Factor
When you’re a midshipman at the Naval Academy, you often recalculate something called “the Happiness Factor” to encourage yourself (or torture said self, depending on the circumstances). The idea that one’s happiness is a calculable quantity somehow distinct from the self is interesting on...
#40: The One Thing
Sri discusses the bestselling book The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. Plus, what serving as an altar boy has to do with building assets.
#39: ABC, BBD
Sri and The Gang from Always Sunny bring the ABCs of leadership back again from Motown to Philly. Keith Rabois is a highly successful startup leader, venture capitalist, and member of the Paypal mafia. Sri goes over some of Keith’s leadership lessons and compares...
#38: Gately’s Paradox
Is it possible to choose things you want to believe even if you currently think they’re ludicrous? And then even come to actually believe them just by reciting what originally was nonsense? This is what Don Gately mulls over while in an AA session...
#37: Burned In
“Burning in” is a euphemism for what happens when your parachute doesn’t open. In a shorter form than usual Sri muses on what carpe diem really means.
#36: Massive Attack
Feeling stuck? You can use the tactics for responding to an ambush to propel you in a productive direction (any direction). Sri shows you how. Plus, the interesting group Massive Attack. And what hospital show has the best theme song. Connect with Sri on...
#35: McFly
Marty McFly in the Back to the Future movies is the perfect caricature of our own gut reactions to others in life and work. Marty’s nemesis, Biff had a recurring line throughout the trilogy: “What’s a matter, McFly — are ya chicken?!” Many of...
#34: Worthless Chorus
Why do we not listen to common sense? Do you ever “discover” lessons that Ben Franklin made catch-phrases of long ago or that your parents preached to you? Sri suggests ways to better internalize such principles. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet + @sri_actually...
#33: Different Strokes
Sri does what few others will by taking a dispassionate look at team diversity. Unsurprisingly, corporate leaders are more concerned with looking good — and good intentions — than truth or nuanced approaches. The “hotness” of the topic also means that usually no one...
#32: OK Computer
The mind is a software creation machine — that consumes its own output. Sri throws his Amazon Echo against the wall and, in a somewhat more mature state of mind, explores what features of ourselves are features vs. bugs. And gets real about high-school...
#31: Trust Falls
To paraphrase Joe Biden: Trust is a big f-ing deal. Sri mulls over ‘servant leadership’ and explains why trust in an organization is a one-way street.
#30: The Illusionist
Edward Norton returns to the program and helps Sri discuss his ‘five illusions of leadership.’ It is easy to feel like you’re succeeding as a leader. We all lie to ourselves, and Sri suggests five key ways that authority figures convince themselves that they...
#29: Train Your Spotlight
Sri offers tips on training the mind’s attention on what really matters with help from Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau. Mindfulness has been in the public consciousness for years, and Buddhism has been around for millenia. Sri argues that the way the mind is...
#27: Happy Hypoxia
You can drown without knowing it. It happens. Under the right (wrong) circumstances, a diver underwater can get less oxygen than they need and pass out — without even feeling like they are out of breath. In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic tons...
#26: Paleo Life — Part 2 of 2
Sri explores paleo child-rearing and a$$h**$ in the workplace. notes The Art of War by Sun TzuThe Kindle version right now is only 49 cents 🙂 (The audiobook is a mere 66 cents, but I doubt it’s possible to get the value without slowly pondering...
#25: Paleo Life (Part 1 of 2)
What if you applied the logic of the paleo diet to your career — and life?! Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet + @sri_actually notes The Alliance by Reif Hoffman, et al Article on “tours of duty” in Harvard Business Review by Reid Hoffman...
#24: Granted — Part 2 of 2
Stop taking things for granted and come up with ideas that matter. Sri offers up his “Time Warner Cable” framework for ideation and distinguishes between “positive” and “negative” approaches to asking “why.” Plus, thoughts on another great Pixies song. This episode is a continuation...
#23: Granted — Part 1 of 2
What are you taking for granted in your business, life, and society? The answer is most likely virtually everything even though so many are merely protocols or products of inertia. “Transformational vision comes from transformational ideas. Transformational ideas come from radical conceptions. Radical...
#22: Bad Boys
Sri ponders irreverence on the playing field and in the office while confusing Martin Lawrence with Martin Short. Joey Pants stays amazing. EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you’ll choose another. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet + @sri_actually ...
#21: Trading in Souls
“Investing in people” makes hiring and development sound lofty and idealistic. Sri thinks the reality is more like risk-averse speculation… in souls. Sri traded commodities derivatives on Wall Street and compares/contrasts that work with recruiting candidates into your company. Hiring is rife with inefficiencies...
#20: Teams and S—
Are you “kinda tired of getting told to throw your hands up in the air?” Sri dissects the true definition of a team with the help of Lorde. We disambiguate miselading corporate terms like “partners” and “single-threaded leader.” Team America: World Police share a...
#18: Method
Most leaders overlook operations as a part of leadership itself. Sri offers helpful tips on how to improve the operational side of your leadership via Method Man. How to write an Amazon white paper. Apocalypse Now returns. notes Principles by Ray Dalio — controversial...
