The Retinue: Recent Episodes
Kevin Legg
We read from the historical classics and apply them to business leadership life. Here, listeners get to taste the best sections of the great authors of history and extract relevant wisdom for their working lives. The Retinue is the alternative to the high-volume, low-nutrient advice of the business mainstream.
We look at the life of Theseus and ask two questions:
- What is change?
- Where do traditions come from?
We read "Of Discourse" to learn how Francis Bacon thinks about telling jokes, keeping conversations going, and mixing up the style of discussion.
"Of Negociating" by Francis Bacon is read to look at current negotiation strategies and tactics
We read Adam Smith's ideas about conscience, and the value of having neutral spectators as allies in developing our moral sentiments.
Three types of followers to avoid, a reason to mix up your team's talent levels and why you need friends who see what you can't. That's what we draw out of Francis Bacon's classic essay Of Followers and Friends. this week.
We look at Seneca destroy your objection to not having time for philosophy as well as his way of keeping the "best of men" around him.
We take lessons from a brilliant passage in Herman Melville's Moby Dick - Fast Fish & Loose Fish.
Leaders can study what their fast fish are, what their loose fish are, and whether they themselves are "fast" or "loose" to the world.