The Daily Stoic - The Leadership Secrets of Marcus Aurelius

Episode Date: November 15, 2020

On today's episode, Ryan talks about the virtues that Marcus Aurelius brought to his position as Emperor of Rome. How did Marcus lead the Roman people through invasions and plagues, war and disaster, and still maintain his mettle? Find out on today's Daily Stoic Podcast.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better.Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow @DailyStoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Stoic. Each weekday we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoic, something that can help you live up to those four stoic virtues of courage, justice, wisdom, and temperance. And here on the weekend, we take a deeper dive into those same topics. We interview stoic philosophers, we reflect, we prepare. We think deeply about the challenging issues of our time. And we work through this philosophy in a way that's more

possible here when we're not rushing to worker to get the kids to school. When we have the time to think to go for a walk, to sit with our journals and to prepare for what the future will bring. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wunderree's podcast business wars. And in our new season, Walmart must fight off target, the new discounter that's both savvy and fashion forward. Listen to business wars on Amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoke Podcast.

So we have this idea, right, that absolute power corrupts absolutely. And it's pretty much universally undeniably and disputably true. I mean, you've even probably experienced it in your own life, not just watching power sort of work at or change people in your lives, but you've probably even caught yourself doing it. I mean, when I'm writing an ego as the enemy, I'm talking about how the ego is this kind of

insidious voice that changes us. And so what's so fascinating to me about Marcus Realius is, is not just like, here's a guy who had absolute power. Here's a guy who's selected for absolute power at a very young age. Not just like selected for bloodline reasons. He's chosen for it. Hadrian sees some potential in this boy and begins to groom him to eventually take over. And so for literally decades of his early life,

he's the king in waiting, and that can't be good for someone. It certainly wasn't good for Nero, who had a pretty similar trajectory to Marcus Aurelis. And so how do their reigns end up being so fantastically different, right? Just on a human level. Is it just one was just born special

and the other was born broken? I don't think that's right. I think something happened, right? And so I'm fascinated by Marcus Arelius as a leader. The ancients were certainly fascinated by Marcus as a leader because they'd seen all the other emperors go the other direction. And so how did he, as Matthew Arnold said, you know, here's a guy who's given all the power and responsibility in the world, and yet he proves himself worthy of it. So I think the leadership strategies

of Marcus Aurelius are worth exploring, certainly worth learning about, and I would say worth emulating. And so in today's episode, I want to look at some leadership lessons, some leadership secrets, if you will, of the great Marcus Arelius. And I'll leave it to you to compare and contrast them to the who those leaders are. Look, I'm not saying everyone should be marks really, but we can expect certain things of the people that we pay and place in power. And I think there's some lessons here for that, but most importantly, most directly,

I think these are some lessons you can apply in your own life and I hope you do so. He wasn't a natural born leader. He was reclusive in bookish by nature. He didn't like telling people what to do. He had no interest in fame. He had spent his entire reign as an emperor at war without any prior military experience. Yet as one contemporary put it, Marcus Aurelius not only possessed all the other virtues, but also was a better

ruler than anyone else who had ever done emperor. Imagine he had absolute power and it not only didn't corrupt him, it made him a better person. A later historian tells us that in his own time people referred to him as Marcus my father and that it was nearly impossible to find someone who didn't have some kind of display of the great leader in their home. Never was worship more legitimate he writes, thanks to Marcus Aurelius, the world was governed by the best and greatest man of his age.

How did this happen? What did Marcus do to become one of, if not the greatest leader in history? Well here is how. It begins with preparation. The Emperor Hadrian never had a son so he devised a very specific succession plan. He adopted a 51-year-old man, Antoninus Pius, on the condition that he adopted Marcus Aurelius in turn. Hadrian thought this would provide for something like five years of training for Marcus. Instead Antoninus lived and instructed Marcus Aurelius for 23 years, an incredible unprecedented apprenticeship.

And Marcus said one of the most important things he learned from Antoninus was his own advance planning, well in advance, and his discrete attention to even minor things, his constant devotion to the empire's needs. well in advance and his discreet attention to even minor things, his constant devotion to the empires needs. Antoninus taught Marcus that you don't necessarily need to be the brightest, you just need experience, you just need training, you don't need everything to happen the way that you want, you just need to anticipate and prepare. And that's exactly what Marcus did.

A healthy mind, he reminds himself, should be prepared for anything. We should be like a wrestler, waiting, poised, and dug in for sudden assaults. Which is why Marcus practiced that idea of pre-metatoshio malorum, envisioning what could go wrong in having a plan for it in advance. And then of course, Marcus could not have been prepared without his mentor. The French philosopher and historian Ernest Ranan observed what an extraordinary job Marcus's tutors and mentors did for him.

By the ordinary analogies, Ranan writes of the facts that so many leaders throughout history had spiraled into corruption, Marcus could have turned out to be the very worst. So how did his guardian succeed in forming such a man? Ah, the Bahamas. What if he could live in a penthouse above the crystal clear ocean working during the day

and partying at night with your best friends and have it be 100% paid for? FTX Founder Sam Bankman Freed lived that dream life, but it was all funded with other people's money, but he allegedly stole. Many thought Sam Bankman Freed was changing the game as he graced the pages of Forbes and Vanity Fair. Some involved in crypto saw him as a breath of fresh air from the usual Wall Street buffs with his casual dress and ability to play League of Legends during boardroom meetings. But in less than a year, his exchange would collapse.

An SPF would find himself in a jail cell, with tens of thousands of investors blaming him for their crypto losses. From Bloomberg and Wondering, comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docu-series about the meteoric rise and spectacular fall of FTX, and its founder, Sam Beckman Fried. Follow Spellcaster, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, prime members, you can listen to episodes Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. The answer Marcus had a single master whom he revered above them all, and that was Antoninus,

the most beautiful model of a perfect life. Renon writes that our potential is in proportion of our faculty for admiration, and Marcus is regard for the stepfather under whom he trained for those 23 years was boundless. He praised his mentor for his compassion and gentleness, his hard work, his persistence, his constancy to his friends, never getting fed up, never manipulating, or playing the game of imperial

favorites. He had unshakable adherence to decisions once he had made them, Marcus said, listened to anyone who could contribute something worthwhile, treated people according to their merits, and had a sense of when to press and when to back off. The best way to learn is by example and Marcus's decision to attach himself to Antoninus and to really listen was the key to his greatness. But this yielding to experts is another key lesson. Marcus are really as shrewd and careful personnel selection as one biographer puts it, is worthy of study by any person in a position of leadership.

Marcus broke the mold and filled his staff with talent, not aristocrats or cronies or sick offence. He searched for and brought in the best, and then he actually listened to their advice. When the Antonine plague began, Marcus immediately hired Galen, the most famous physician and polymath of antiquity to lead medical lectures and anatomy demonstrations. He said he wanted to elevate the intellectual tone of his court, and it was Galen whom he empowered to lead the efforts to combat the plague, the smartest medical mind of his time. This, in particular, Marcus wrote, is what being a great leader requires.

The willingness to yield the Florida experts in oratory law, psychology, whatever, and then support them energetically so that each of them could fulfill their potential. And this idea of helping people fulfill their potential, getting the best out of them is key. It can be hard for smart and talented people to put up with the limitations of those around them. Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan had this problem. They were so good.

It was frustrating that their teammates weren't as talented or dedicated. Marcus may have struggled with this too but he came to understand that not everyone had his gifts and then he needed to find a way to be able to work with others. We're told by the historian Cassius Dio so long as a person did anything good, Marcus would praise him and use him for the service in which he excelled. But to his other conduct, he paid no attention. For he declared that it was impossible to create such men as one desires to have, and so it is fitting to employ those who are already in existence for whatever service each of them may be able to render. As leaders, we have to work with others

where they are. We have to help them get the most out of themselves. But ultimately we can't change people, we have to focus on what is in our control while they focus on what is in their control and that is all that is possible. And this idea of owning that, of blaming yourself first is key. The causes of things are complicated, rarely does a project go exactly how we'd like it to go. so we point the finger at other people at unfair conditions at the weather, the advice we got. But actually the causes of things are quite simple, at least according to Marcus and the Stoics, because to them the fault is always ours. We are the ones who chose to listen to the advice. We are the one who left the outcome up to chance, who didn't plan for the contingencies, whose expectations set us up to be disappointed. Marcus's rule was blame yourself or

blame no one. And that was something else he learned from Antoninus, his willingness to take responsibility and blame. As soon as you blame other people you have compromised your integrity and you've handed over your power. And Marcus's greatness was that he declined to do that. But he did spend ample time reflecting while his predecessors enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous reign for over two decades. Fate, it seems, wanted something else to test Marcus. Wars, floods, famines, plagues, the loss of loved ones. It was one obstacle after the next and it didn't let up for 15 years. And so shortly after becoming Emperor Marcus took up a habit that he kept his entire life. He called it a soothing ointment.

That's how he referred to the process of journaling. We think he liked to do it in the morning and his tent, whether it was on the front lines in Germania or the palace in Rome, wherever he happened to be, he stole a few seconds to sit down and reflect. In his journal, we see Marcus reviewing his actions and behaviors and seeing how he can do better. We see him reminding himself over and over again that he can leave this alone, that he doesn't need to have an opinion about this, that he doesn't have to take this or that personally,

that he doesn't have to say something, that he doesn't have to complain or criticize, that he can put the blame on himself, that fame and money and power are worthless. Who knows what kind of man Marcus would have been without carving out this time for stillness and reflection, and who knows what kind of leader you will be without doing it yourself? And who knows what Marcus would have been, had he not cultivated the ability to turn obstacles into fuel? Hard chip is universal, but it can be perceived in many different ways. We can see something as a failure, as unfairness, as the end of a conversation, or we can train ourselves to see this as an opportunity, as grist for the mill,

as a chance to learn, as a chance to practice endurance, patience, resilience, struggle. Marcus Arelius believed in the latter approach as he wrote, what would have quenched a lamp, what's thrown on top of a fire is absorbed, consumed by it, and makes it burn still higher. It's not about resigning ourselves, it's about leaning in, about making something of it, about seeing the opportunity inside an obstacle. And of course, this takes courage, courage, temperance, justice, wisdom, each and every situation the Stoics believed called for one of these four virtues. But to the Stoics courage was the greatest virtue, being brave enough to take a stand to risk one's own neck to counter adversity with wisdom and temperance and justice. Marcus stayed and braved the deadliest plague of Rome's 900-year history.

He reassured the people not only by his presence but through his actions. He was not one of those leaders that hid. He was Churchill during the blitz, inspiring people to keep calm and carry on. And this was not some short threat. It lasted for 15 years, and he endured it without complaint. He was the perfect embodiment of what stoicism means to us today. He didn't get rattled, he didn't panic, he kept himself strong for others, and he insisted on what was right, never what was politically expedient. He was resolute, he kept himself strong for others and he insisted on what was right, never what was politically expedient, he was resolute, he was courageous. And he loved it and everyone else, Stoicism is not just about improving yourself, it's about improving the world, it's about helping and caring for others.

From sex, this one of Marcus's mentors, Marcus said he learned that a leader must be free of passion and yet full of love. On nearly every page of his journal, Marcus talks about it. You have to care about other people. You can't do this alone. You were put here to work with others. You have to look after human beings.

The fruit of this life is good character in unselfish actions. Marcus would have agreed with that headline of a recent article. I don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people. A leader has to care about their followers. They have to care about the consequences of their actions. They have to care about making a difference. Marcus is crystal clear. The cognitive, behavioral therapist and author Donald Robertson says, he says, the goal of

stoicism is to be full of love. How much more on the nose do you need it? And whatever position of leadership you occupy, that's the prevailing belief of Marcus's life. That we must be strong, we must be wise, we must be eager to learn, but ultimately we must care about other people and do what is right. Waste no more time talking about what a good man

or woman is like Marcus wrote be one There is no better expression or embodiment of stoicism of Marcus's reign as emperor as his leadership style That's what stoicism is being a great leader is about what you do It's about the acts of wisdom self-control justice and courage. It's not the act of talking about these things or of wisdom, self-control, justice, and courage. It's not the act of talking about these things, or reading about them, or writing about them. Just that you do the right thing, Marcus, reminds us with his actions, his words, his legacy, the rest doesn't matter. And of course, if you want to keep this journey of philosophy going, I urge you to sign up for our daily stoic email. Each morning we send out one email, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world, a meditation, a philosophy going. I urge you to sign up for our daily stoic email each morning. We send

out one email, hundreds of thousands of people all over the world on meditation on those stoic virtues of courage, justice, wisdom, and self control. It's totally free. You get it in your inbox. It gives you something to start the day with. You can sign up at dailystoic.com slash email. Hey, prime members. You can listen to the Daily Stoic early and ad free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today, or you can listen early and ad free with Wondery Plus in Apple podcasts.