Weak leaders are more dangerous than they seem. Sri helps understand weakness and opines on whether “indie pop” is an oxymoron. AJR assists. EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you’ll choose another. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet and...

Sri discusses the classic leadership essay “A Message to Garcia” and how to apply it in your work. And what stealing your mom’s car has to do with Stranger Things. EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you’ll choose another....

Leadership is a skill, and it should not be assumed that career progress is measured based on whether someone leads others.  Sri discusses the origins of team leadership and promotion criteria. 

QOTSA’s “If I Had a Tail” helps Sri discuss counterfactual thinking and its relevance to leadership, business, and society. Also, how SEALs conduct debriefs, thoughts on Coronavirus (COVID-19), and the start of World War I. notes “If I Had a Tail” by Queens of...

When do stretch goals make sense? Staying humble with Kendrick Lamar and Tiny Meat Gang. Also: newborns, vanity metrics. *** notes More on how scammy Kickstarter stretch goals are (Medium) Also on Kickstarter: “One Million Stretch Goals” (WTF?) Who knew? Definition of ‘meeple’ (Wiktionary) ...

Sri introduces the “No-Future-Selves Fallacy,” a tendency to overplan, with the help of British-American duo the Kills. notes ‘Future Starts Slow’ by the Kills (official video on Youtube) Chill cover of the Kills’ ‘Future Starts Slow’ by Adam Blazer (Youtube) Intro and/or outro music...

Are you the ‘angel of nuance’ in your organization? Sri uses this loved and detested character from the Dan Le Batard Show on ESPN to inform the leader’s approach to communicating strategy and solving complex problems. notes Angel of Nuance highlights (Youtube)

Sri questions whether you could be living a skinny-fat life. How would you know? Val Kilmer helps us think about cheat days. PS. “Skinny fat” is weakness masquerading as fitness. *** notes Thanks to guitarguy1985 for the great EKG sounds. 

Do you have trouble making sense of the Matrix? What if you approached everyone around you as if they were a computer player in the video game of life? Sri and System of a Down illuminate this and other subjects. *** show notes Mea...

Humans respond to imperfectly humanlike creations with varying degrees of horror, with an “uncanny valley” of human acceptance (i.e. a low point) in the middle of the spectrum of humanness. Roboticists and game designers are well acquainted with the concept, but many leaders are...

You know you do it. You think about what you would’ve told that person who cut you off. That coworker who showed you up at that meeting. The thousand ways to craft the argument that will vanquish the disbelievers of your light of truth. ...

In this second part of Sri’s interview with Jay Hack, the two dive deeper on leadership lessons:  Dealing with leadership anxiety Tips for new leaders More on finding mentors  When someone is not onboard with your vision Being a fish out of water (e.g....

Sri interviews West Point graduate and Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Jay Hack about leadership based on Jay’s four years leading Norwegian industrial workforces. (Jay is also a graduate of Harvard Business School.) 

Do you have hypergraphia? Sri explores this mental disorder and related states with help from Amazon, Truman Capote, and “the Ballmer number.”  *** Tower of Silence article on Wikipedia (Zoroastrian disposal of human remains)   Interesting commentary and history of Zoroastrianism (The Guardian)  ...

Sri tries to invent a new word and viddies a bourbon. His “Bizarro Method” helps you get out of a rut. *** notes:  Sri’s article on Medium: Intermittent Fasting and the Placebo Effect  Origins of Bizarro (Youtube) Superman Meets Bizarro (Youtube)   Seinfeld clips...

Sri helps you get the most out of your people, applying Friedrich Hayek’s concept of “local knowledge” to companies with the help of “that ‘copacetic’ song.” The movie ‘American Psycho’ is discussed in the same breath as an articulation of why corporate promotions are...

Sri uses infectious disease as a metaphor for dealing with colleagues of toxic people. Justin Timberlake and Home Depot do a collaboration. *** Show Notes Sexy back-Home Depot mashup ‘In a World’ trailer:  Home Depot video montage from Tik Tok  Intro music by Paul...

Humans have a visceral need to mold their environment, even if it means mindlessly mowing the lawn. Sri introduces the concept of Hobbit problems and wages an internal battle over strongly worded letters to the gym. Radiohead’s “Little By Little” serves as a warning...

Sri talks about the inability of many organizations to make decisions — and to stick to them. And also about how annoying metalcore covers of 90s-era protest hits are. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necromancy Brooklyn Duo’s cover of the Cranberries’ “Zombie” The classic “It’s alive!” scene from the...

Sri has been around the block, so to speak.  Episode 0 is an aural appetizer where Sri talks about alt-J and gets fired from his first product management job. Meanwhile, a Wall Street saleswoman talks about ripping people’s eyeballs out. Intro music by Paul...