In the Arena

If you want to appear to be a good leader, stop here. This isn’t for you.

If you want to do the challenging work that doesn’t show up on LinkedIn or look good in a 2x2 matrix, keep reading.

I’ve been a leader for 25 years. Seven of them I’d actually be proud of.

It started with a podcast on Stoic philosophy. I knew right away these weren’t just wise words. This was the medicine I needed to actually live my life.

Stoicism asks one foundational question: what is up to me and what is not? My title isn’t up to me. The economy isn’t up to me. What people say about me isn’t up to me. But my thoughts, my choices, and my responses are up to me.

The questions Stoicism asks are uncomfortable. What story am I telling myself? Is that decision for my ego or for my team? Am I a good person? Am I helping others?

Those questions have no easy answers. That’s the point.

I’ve spent the better part of the last decade working through them. This is the next step along my path, to share it aloud. I’m not an expert, rather someone who found something useful and wants to pass it on. If something here is helpful, good. If it makes you think differently about something, even better.

“It is not the critic who counts... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly... who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” — Theodore Roosevelt