Episode 5 – Leadership with Elizabeth Samet
On today’s show, I talk with Elizabeth Samet, Professor of English at the United State Military Academy at West Point and author of the anthology Leadership: Essential Writings by Our Greatest Thinkers. Samet uses literature to teach cadets how to lead in the grand sense; that is, how to be thoughtful, strategic, ethical, principled and purposeful. In the show today she shares some of the stories from the anthology, each with a specific lesson on leadership and living the good life.
What You’ll Learn:
- How Pericles used rhetoric to rally the people of Athens during the Peloponnesian War
- How a metaphor from Moby Dick is still relevant today
- Why Seneca deliberately set up his quarters above a noisy public bath
- How the Roman General Fabius Maximus used strategic “delay” to win a war
- How President Abraham Lincoln exercised his judgment and decision-making skills
Books & Resources:
Elizabeth Samet’s Leadership: Essential Writings by Our Greatest Thinkers
Connect with Elizabeth Samet
Elizabeth’s Website
Connect with Sean Murray