The Warrior Poet

EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you’ll choose another. Nick Soman is the founder and CEO of Decent , which aims to provide affordable health insurance to all. He and Sri have fun mining Nick's vast music knowledge and talking about the role of luck and leadership in business. ANNOUNCEMENT Sri is starting a 1-on-1 coaching program for up to 5 audience members . Get unstu...

Sri interviews Mike Ettore. Mike is a career veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, accomplished Fortune-500 C-suite executive, and founder of Fidelis Leadership Group . Mike is the author of Trust-Based Leadership: Marine Corps Leadership Concepts for Today's Business Leaders . He also hosts the Fidelis Leadership Podcast ( Spotify , Apple ). He and Sri talk about controlling the controllables in...

Learn the "three simple things" that will help you lead yourself, your family, and your team from former Navy SEAL and BUD/S instructor Thom Shea. Thom is the author of multiple books on leadership and is the founder of Unbreakable Leadership, a leadership consultancy for top-tier CEOs and corporations. EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you’ll choose another. Connect...

Kevin Seiff is a former Navy SEAL and CEO of Flintlock Solutions, a recruiting firm that is changing the game for VC-backed biotech companies. Sri and Kevin discuss what to look for in candidates and how to run a great recruiting process. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet   + @sri_actually   Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar ( Spotify ).  Disclaimer: A...

How many people can say they had regular meetings with Jeff Bezos? Dave Glick is the CTO of Flexe, just heralded as Seattle's newest unicorn. Dave is a 20-year Amazon veteran, where he and Sri overlapped. Dave is one of those people who can thrive in a company as massive as Amazon as well as in startup culture. He and Sri talk leadership lessons at the intersection of operations and technolog...

Sri talks with author and professor Frank Cespedes about sales, strategy, and leadership.  Frank Cespedes is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School.  He currently teaches the elective Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing (ESM) course in the MBA program as well as modules in the Owner President Management (OPM) executive program and he heads the executive...

Sri talks with entrepreneur Katia Beauchamp about what she learned about leadership (and herself!) while upending the beauty industry. Katia is the cofounder of Birchbox, which raised $90 million in venture funding and was valued at one time at half a billion dollars. Katia shares her thoughts on the state of women in the startup world as well as how we all can balance family and work. As a gradua...

Should you hire for skills or innate qualities? On this episode Sri interviews Rich Diviney, highly accomplished career SEAL officer and author of the book The Attributes . Rich makes the case that skills are a poor predictor of success, especially during times of stress or uncertainty.  notes The Attributes on Amazon Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar ( Spotify ).  EXPLI...

Mike Hayes is the former commanding officer of SEAL Team TWO and the author of "Never Enough." He was a White House Fellow and subsequently Chief Operating Officer at Ray Dalio's hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates.  He currently serves as the Chief Digital Transformation Officer at VMware. He was held at gunpoint, drove the negotiation of a nuclear treaty, and oversaw special operat...

There are two kinds of boredom, but only one is good for you :) Hat tip to Maria Popova at Brainpickings , who writes frequently about the benefits of boredom in general. Highly recommend her site! This episode is part of the 4 Minutes Underwater series (4MUW). notes The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan book (amazon) movie (prime video) Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet   + @sri_actuall...

70s rock giants The Who help Sri explain nervous energy in organizations. This episode is part of the "4 Minutes Underwater" series (4MUW). notes The rock opera Quadrophenia by the Who   (Prime Video) Album explanation   (Wikipedia) Outro : cover by Bank Street Band & The Hunterdon Symphony  (support them on Youtube) Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet   + @sri_actua...

Sri discusses how our decision-making models get outdated as we increase our experience in this second edition of our "4 Minutes Underwater" minisode series (4MUW). notes  The book Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath (Amazon) Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet   + @sri_actually   Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar ( Spotify ).  Disclaimer: Any audio...

In this new format, Sri offers 4 minutes of musings on stoicism, abundance, and pursuing unbound upside.  notes:  Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb 📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck.  📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅ _____ Follow Sri for elite leadership tips:  ➡...

Sri and Edmund Hillary talk about the Japanese concept of Ikigai: how to figure out what to achieve & how to persevere in the face of adversity. notes Errata: Ugh, I think I said "Dorgay" instead of "Norgay." Apologies.  Man on Wire : Amazing documentary about the tightrope walker who crossed between the twin towers.  Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet   +...

"Water boils at 212 degrees. I was at 210." Will Branum is a former Navy SEAL who founded Naked Warrior Recovery based on his own struggles with anxiety. Sri talks with Will about veteran suicide (see charities below!) and leadership lessons from the military. After never wanting to be a leader, Will learned to be comfortable in this role. His experience will help you understand how to u...

A deep dive on some of the concepts from Sri's interview with Nat Thompson on episode #57. Namely, what it means to "cultivate appropriate levels of tribalism" on your team -- and examples of "work the problem" in combat and crisis.  Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet   + @sri_actually   notes Apollo 13 post-flight press conference (Youtube)  The song &qu...

Nat Thompson, Sri's longtime brother from the SEAL Teams, teaches us how to hire and develop new leaders. Plus, how to nurture a sense of team exceptionalism without becoming Colonel Kurtz. Nat's experience ranges from conducting strategic military operations in austere environments to revamping operations at Amazon to leading teams at one of America's growth startups, Carvana. Rega...

Sri emerges from his cave and sees six early weeks of spring -- plus exciting changes coming to the podcast soon. Thanks for your patience!!! 📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck.  📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅ _____ Follow Sri for elite leadership tips:  ➡️  Li...

Sri distinguishes leadership from, well, other things. notes Related episodes:  #48: Leader as Therapist Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar ( Spotify ). Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet   + @sri_actually   Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education,...

You can't compete if you don't have the best people. But interview processes are all the same these days. As a society we've converged on a method that is safe, supposedly rigorous, and predictable. But are the same old proxy checks, phone screens, power days, and consensus calls really helping you bring the best talent onboard? Sri explores alternate approaches with examples from p...

Listen before you make your 2021 resolutions! Oriah's 'The Invitation," tips to garden rare lettuces, and boot camp.  📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck.  📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅ _____ Follow Sri for elite leadership tips:  ➡️  LinkedIn.co...

Focus is all the rage in self-help culture, but what does it really mean? And what does true focus entail? "Tools and techniques" of successful people amount to self-help porn, which is worse than regular porn because of how easy it is to tell yourself you're being productive. Successful people are already focused, while you are probably not. No matter how much you optimize your mor...

Sri talks about a type of knowledge that is largely ignored relative to its siblings: the unknown known. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet   + @sri_actually   notes Wikipedia description of the Donald Rumsfeld press conference that brought the concept of "known knowns" (etc) to light https://www.communicationtheory.org/the-johari-window-model/ Intro and/or outro music...

Organizations tend to value displaying coordination than truly being coordinated. Operating at world-class levels demands trust, mission orientation, clear division of responsibility, direct communication, and lack of BS. Contrast that with inefficient organizations, which prize meetings, trackers, asking permission, and slide decks to executives who are detached from the details. EXPLICIT EPISODE...

Party in the back: Four desserts that should exist in this world | "The Pitbull Option" Business in the front: It's tough balancing when to work on setting goals and planning vs. just executing with your head down like a bull. If you plan too much, you miss out on serendipitous relationships and opportunities. You sacrifice learning in favor of process. Meanwhile, if you just execut...