In honor of Presidents’ Day next week, I’m sharing several posts this week on Abraham Lincoln, one of my favorite leaders of all time.

1: “In the early days of the American Civil War,” Ryan Holiday writes in his terrific book Stillness is the Key, “there were a hundred competing plans for how to secure victory and whom to appoint to do it.

“From every general and for every … continue reading

In honor of Presidents’ Day next week, I’m going to share several posts on Abraham Lincoln this week.

1: “Because he has become more myth than man, most people are unaware that  Abraham Lincoln battled crippling depression his entire life,” writes  Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph.

“Known at the time as melancholy, his depression was often debilitating and profound—nearly … continue reading

1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.

Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.

This week, we’ve been examining the life of the great Stoic philosopher king, Marcus Aurelius.

“Marcus Aurelius managed to not be corrupted by power, managed to not be afraid … continue reading

1: Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius lived a hard, difficult life. 

“He was not strong in body,” the Roman historian Dio Cassius writes, “and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout practically his entire reign.”

Marcus was surrounded by death and dying. 

He lost his father when he was three. In 149 AD, when he was twenty-eight, “he lost newborn twin boys,” Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman … continue reading

1: The Roman Emperor Hadrian once got so angry he stabbed a secretary in the eye with his writing stylus. 

Were there consequences?

Of course not. He was the Emperor.

Not Marcus Aurelius. Coming to the throne just decades after Hadrian, Marcus took a different path. The Stoic philosophy path.

He “could have taken advantage of this freedom to behave as he liked,” Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman write … continue reading

1: The year was 161 AD. Marcus Aurelius‘s adoptive father, Antoninus Pius, died, and Marcus was named Emperor of Rome, a position only fifteen people had ever held.

What was his first action as Emperor? 

One hundred eighty-two years earlier, when Augustus became Emperor, he was advised to “get rid of young Caesarion, the son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra,” Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman write in … continue reading

1: What do Marcus Aurelius, Cato, Seneca, Thomas Jefferson, James Stockdale, Epictetus, Theodore Roosevelt, and George Washington have in common?  

“They explicitly practiced and studied Stoicism,” writes Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph. “We know this for a fact.” 

What exactly does it mean to be a stoic?

Philosopher and writer Nassim Nicholas Taleb defines a Stoic as someone … continue reading

1: “Late in his reign, sick and possibly near death, [the Roman Emperor] Marcus Aurelius received surprising news,” writes Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph.

“His old friend and most trusted general, Avidius Cassius, had rebelled in Syria,” Ryan notes. “Having heard the emperor was vulnerable or possibly dead, the ambitious general had decided to declare himself Caesar and … continue reading

1: “I have bad news,” the CEO tells the packed conference room. “The project has failed spectacularly. Tell me what went wrong?”

“What?!?” someone says. “But the project hasn’t started yet.”

“Exactly,” the CEO responds. “Our job is to identify everything that could go wrong before the project starts. And then take action now so that those things never happen.”

This exercise is called a premortem. It was designed by … continue reading

1: Thomas Jefferson’s heart was set on politics.

The problem? He was “born quiet, contemplative, and reserved—purportedly with a speech impediment,” writes Ryan Holiday in The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph. “Compared to the great orators of his time—Patrick Henry, John Wesley, Edmund Burke—he was a terrible public speaker.”

Thomas had two options: he could fight this reality. Or, he could accept … continue reading