When you are leading, you have to make the big decisions. You have to make the call, not sit back, judge the prevailing winds, and cover your ass. If you are unwilling to put yourself on the line, you are a worthless leader and have no business being there. In this podcast, we discuss:
This podcast is a reading of H.G. Wells’s short story “The Door In The Wall.” Published in 1911, it is considered one of his finest short pieces. It describes a young boy’s discovery of a secret door that led to an enchanted land, and the effect that this secret revelation had on the rest of his life.
In this podcast, I read two short poems by William Butler Yeats: “Sailing to Byzantium” and “The Lake Isle at Innisfree.” Listen, relax, and let your mind roam to some other place.
This podcast is a reading of A. Conan Doyle’s terrifying tale “The Brazilian Cat.” First published in 1898, the story describes the ordeal of a young heir to a fortune who is deliberately locked in a cage with a ferocious jungle cat by a sinister relative determined to murder him.
In this podcast, I read H.G. Wells’s short story The Flowering of the Strange Orchid. It relates the weird tale of a mild-mannered orchid enthusiast who buys an unknown species of jungle orchid. As he cultivates it, he finds out that he got more than he bargained for. This story was first published in Pearson’s Magazine in 1905 and remains a potent tale of unease.
When things have reached a state of paralysis or gridlock, it is often necessary to shatter the paralysis by taking decisive, muscular action. Real leaders do not sit on their hands and wait to test the prevailing winds of opinion. Have the moral courage to act. Many today who call themselves “leaders” ignore or have forgotten this principle. This podcast discusses three historical examples taken from Winston Churchill’s The World Crisis. They show how he harnessed this concept in 1919 to break through the paralysis that had come to surround several difficult issues.
In this podcast, I read H.G. Wells’s short story The Diamond Maker. The tale raises questions about the price that creative people have to pay for their efforts. Have a listen, and see what you think.
You asked for it, and you got it. This is the latest installment in the G Manifesto tweet reading podcasts, and it’s called “Lockdown Edition.” Tune in, laugh, and catch the positive vibes.
In this podcast, I state what I believe are the six most critical leadership traits that anyone in a position of authority needs to master. They can be applied to nearly any circumstance or situation.
Captain Adolf Von Schell was an infantry officer in the German Army during the First World War. In 1930 he gave a series of lectures on battle leadership to American officers at the Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia. These presentations were later collected into a book called Battle Leadership. In this podcast, I read a short selection from Capt. Von Schell’s book, and discuss its relevance for today.
Quintus Curtius 
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