Serve to Lead® | James Strock

Brooks Newmark is co-founder of Angels for Ukraine . He is serving on the scene, organizing the safekeeping and relocation of thousands of women and children amid the devastation unleashed by the Russian invasion that began on February 24, 2022. In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, Newmark discusses his experiences on the scene in Ukraine. He also shares the process by which he became det...

Amid the uncertainty and sense of lack of leadership in American politics and government, and other sectors, there’s a burst of interest in one of our most consequential presidents: Franklin Roosevelt. In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, award-winning presidential historian and journalist Jonathan Darman discusses his highly readable and extensively researched new book, Becoming FDR: The...

In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, renowned theoretical physicist Steven Koonin discusses his views on the state of the climate and alternative policy responses. He also shares thoughts about his ideals as an educator; his admiration for Richard Feynman; and examples of where he’s changed his mind on significant matters in recent years. Koonin brings a unique set of relevant, hands-on e...

In our unsettled moment, there’s a burst of interest in one of the United States’ most consequential presidents: Franklin Roosevelt. In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, acclaimed presidential historian David Pietrusza discusses his highly readable, extensively researched new book, Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR’s 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal. The New Nationalist is a...

The India-US relationship is one of the most significant and fascinating among great nations. In this episode of the Serve to Lead Podcast, historian and journalist Meenakshi Ahamed discusses her new book, A Matter of Trust: India-US Relations From Truman to Trump. Ahamed combines analytical rigor with a storyteller’s gift for narrative. The book has garnered critical acclaim, and is a finalist fo...

Nationalism has become a word of opprobrium among many in polite society. It’s often associated with right-wing populists or authoritarians—with a provenance stirring unsettling memories of Hitler, Mussolini and other fascist dictators of the twenty-century, interwar period. Even the more anodyne formulation, patriot has become fraught in today’s hyper-partisan moment. John Halpin, co-editor of Th...

Johnson posits that a blueprint for national solidarity can be found in the exceptional citizenship long practiced in Black America. “Racism is an existential threat to America,” Theodore R. Johnson declares at the start of his profound and exhilarating book, When the Stars Begin to Fall . It is a refutation of the American Promise enshrined in our Constitution that that all men and women are inhe...

A riveting narrative of Wall Street buccaneering, political intrigue, and two of American history’s most colossal characters, struggling for mastery in an era of social upheaval and rampant inequality. At the turn of a new century, the United States is in transition. Its financial and economic systems are being disrupted, amid cultural turmoil and political division. The periodic emergence of olig...

Philip K. Howard is a longtime leader of government and legal reform in the United States. Amid the current political turmoil, Howard has set his sights on the remorseless increase in the power of public employee unions. This is a thread linking public sector pension shortfalls; local, state, and federal government bureaucratic dysfunction; outdated public infrastructure that costs far more to imp...

William K. Reilly has achieved a consequential career in environmental leadership. He has served four presidents in high positions and sensitive assignments requiring notable judgment and disciplined discretion.  In this episode of the Serve to Lead Podcast, Reilly discusses the past, present and promise of environmental leadership in the United States and globally. He […] Get full access to The N...

Frank DiStefano is a Washington, D.C.-based writer who focuses on the history and future of United States politics. He is the author of The Next Realignment: Why America’s Parties Are Crumbling and What Happens Next. The book has received praise from leaders and experts across the political spectrum.   ​ On this episode of the Serve […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamesstrock.substac...

Nationalism is back in the news. 2016 was a hinge moment. Brexit in the United Kingdom, combined with the Trump and Sanders insurgencies in the United States, focused attention on populism and evolving notions of national identity.   What does nationalism mean in our time? Is American nationalism a distinct variant? Is there a meaningful […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamesstrock.su...

Richard Nixon is often recalled as a historic foreign policy president, but his consequential domestic policy initiatives have been obscured amid the wreckage of the Watergate scandals. In fact, Nixon’s policies—from health care to welfare to the environment—reverberate through subsequent administrations, into the present day.    In this episode of the Serve to Lead Podcast, […] Get full access to...

In a turbulent, populist moment across the world, the costs and benefits of elites and meritocracy are very much contested. In this episode of the Serve to Lead Podcast, Aaron Renn discusses the American meritocracy and its discontents. Renn recently penned a provocative article relating to the customs and decline of the twentieth-century WASP (White […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at j...

Stephen Wertheim is a historian of the United States in the world. He is the director of the Quincy Institute’s Grand Strategy program, and a Research Scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of an influential new book, Tomorrow the World: The Birth of U.S. […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamesstrock.substack.com/subscribe

Steven B. Smith, the Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science at Yale University, has written an important new book: Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes. In this episode of the Serve to Lead Podcast, Smith discusses why patriotism matters and why it must be reclaimed from the political left and right who have politicized it. […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamesstrock.sub...

Richard Norton Smith is a presidential historian, biographer, essayist, and former leader of presidential libraries. He is a frequent commentator on C-SPAN and for many years appeared on the Lehrer Report on PBS. In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, Smith discusses the art and craft of history, and explores the changes of […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamesstrock.substack....

Winston Churchill was undeniably one of the great leaders of history—was he a servant leader? In a new episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks Coffee Company International, explores the Churchill conundrum and other aspects of servant leadership. Behar speaks with unique authority, pioneering the practice of servant leadership […] Get full access to The Ne...

In a new episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, General HR McMaster discusses geopolitics and his important new book, Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend Freedom.   HR McMaster is perhaps best known for his service as the 26th National Security Adviser to the president, in 2017-18. This was a capstone to a storied military career. […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamesstrock.substack.co...

In a new episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, Katherine Gehl shares insights and observations from her important new book, The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy, co-authored with Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter. Katherine Gehl, is a business leader, writer, speaker, and political innovation […] Get full access to The...

In a new episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, author Theresa Lina shares actionable insights on strategy and execution for enterprises aiming for dominant market positions in competitive and emerging markets. She has written a well-received new book, Be the Go-To: How to Own Your Competitive Market, Charge More, and Have Customers Love You […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamesstrock...

In a new episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, noted communications expert Larry Kamer shares his unique, actionable insights on crisis leadership. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing financial turbulence, no individual or institution—corporate, governmental, not-for-profit, military or religious—is immune to existential threats. Mr. Kamer’s extensive experience has never been more timely o...

In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, acclaimed historian Andrew Roberts discusses his new book,  Leadership in War: Essential Lessons from Those Who Made History, as well as his recent book Churchill: Walking with Destiny. Churchill was published by Penguin in October 2018, became a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, was […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamesstrock.s...

In this episode of the Serve to Lead podcast, Dr. Mark J. Plotkin discusses his important new book: The Amazon:  What Everyone Needs to Know, from Oxford University Press. He explains why the Amazon matters, what the coronavirus portends in human interaction with nature, and why the leadership legacies of Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamess...

Michael Lind is a professor of practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin. His latest book is The New Class War: SavingDemocracy From the Managerial Elite. In this wide-ranging conversation with James Strock, Lind declares that the political disruption signalled by the election of President […] Get full access to The New Nationalist at jamesstro...