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In some ways, I feel my writing is spinning in place as I age in place, so I’ve decided to take a few months off—at least—as I consider my next move and enjoy my summer. Summertime is the perfect time to take time. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

The best artists, like the best leaders, never treat their work as finished. They master their craft, then break it, reworking, searching, risking public failure rather than coasting on what already worked. Let's call that restlessness unsettlement. It's a value leaders and artists share more deeply than any other. This episode makes the case for it: not repetition, not persistence for its own sake, but the discipline to keep moving toward something not just different but better and the nerve to smash your own best work when there's somewhere else to go. Bob Dylan, John Coltrane, and Henry Threadgill supply the evidence. The lesson isn't "lead like an artist. The stakes and the processes are worlds apart. It's narrower and harder: be self-aware but not self-satisfied, disciplined in a way that's true to yourself, and willing to build, break, and build anew. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

So much information, and so little time to review it, which is to say nothing of comprehending and intelligently responding to it. We drift in a world awash in information, gulping it down as quickly as possible in hopes we don’t drown. Yet, “leaders are readers,” or so they say. Leaders gain knowledge and a degree of understanding by guzzling information. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

What does a person’s behavior suggest about their level of competence? The most competent among us aren’t hyper-confident and are often riven with self-doubt, which you might not realize if you aren’t close to them or you actually are them. I’m not talking about imposter syndrome. The self-doubt a competent leader experiences is an entirely healthy and even necessary element of their competence. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

Most leadership advice suggests that empathy is a key component to effective leadership, and I won’t disagree. Leaders empathize to improve their ability to communicate and to compromise. But… Empathy is not inherently good. Empathy can be a component of morality, but it’s not moral in itself. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

Have you ever considered the inherent value of taking action and getting things done? We sometimes refer to comic book heroes as “action heroes,” but do you think action is heroic in and of itself? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

Leaders understand that justice is a key leadership value and that it must expand beyond mere retribution toward a more holistically just future. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

Leaders know that silence enhances pain, trauma, and injustice. Silence is the tool of the cruel. Leaders stand tall as its sworn enemy. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

The truth is that the player who attempts to bluff always does so from a position of deficiency. You wouldn’t be bluffing if you placed a high bet on, say, a straight or a flush unless you somehow knew for a fact that your opponent held four of a kind. Therefore, bluffing is always a de facto admission of weakness even when the player wins. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

Leadership and writing have some direct parallels, not the least of which is that when done well, people don't notice. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

Slide 321 of the most exhausting PowerPoint I ever sat through taught me almost nothing about advising students—but it accidentally taught me much about leadership. So did a brilliant, infuriating Korean student who could humiliate me with grammar rules but couldn't write a single clean sentence. Both stories point to the same lesson: you can know everything and still not know how to do anything. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

Why do we impose thoughtless, unnecessary, even harmful rules on ourselves and our organizations? Tradition, inertia, inherited habits, the hidebound predecessor whose practices nobody questioned. Over time these ad hoc rules harden into identity—"this is just who we are"—and can even manifest as what I call bureaucratic compulsive disorder. They're garbage rules that squander time, energy, and opportunity while we pretend they're values or identity. This week I draw on Bob Newhart, Viktor Frankl, Bob Dylan, and a hoary tale about a beef roast to make the case for a leadership practice as clean and resolute as the problem demands. The answer is simpler than you think—and harder than it sounds. Great leaders don't ask "what else can we do?" They have a better question ready. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

The leadership gurus I call the nabobs of negativity insist leaders need to learn to say "no" more often. But is the big problem in leadership truly leaders who don't say "no" enough, as the nabobs would have it, or leaders who say "no" too often? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result isn't insanity, not when it benefits the bosses. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com

Abraham Lincoln is often cited as an exemplary president for leaders to emulate. While that's true, his leadership is far more nuanced and complicated than most people realize, and therefore he's a more useful model of leadership. Honest Age is an honest model of leadership. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimsalvucci.substack.com