In this special 2017 year-end wrap up, host Richard Lummis and myself reflect back on the leadership lessons we explored over the past year. In this momentous year for leadership, both in business and the wider polis, we considered academics, numerous Presidents, movies, sports figures and some of the current corporate scandals which populated the year.
Our clear listener and fan favorite was our episode on Leadership Lessons from Count Dracula, proving once again the market for interesting takes on the most famous vampire of all-time. It appears the Count still has a large podcast following, even in 2017.
We considered the leadership lessons to be learned from corporate scandals as diverse as the fraudulent account scandal at Wells Fargo, which has uncovered many other types of unethical, if not illegal conduct; the ongoing revelations on Uber, which all began with one blog post, by ex-employee Susan Fowler; right up to the ghost jet scandal at GE. We considered the failures in each area and how the companies are beginning to dig out, both reputationally and financially.
One of our most well-received series was focusing on leadership lessons from US Presidents. From an ad-hoc start with Lincoln and Jefferson, several listeners asked if we could continue this exploration so we have committed to working our way through the pantheon of US Presidents. This year we made it up to Martin Van Buren. We have focused on their leadership as Presidents. Each man has brought lessons which are still relevant today. We both enjoyed learning or relearning about Presidents largely out of the public eye and for me, it was James Monroe.
Our movie series during the month of Oscar was a ton of fun. We both had the opportunity to revisit some great classic movies such as Mutiny on the Bounty, Patton and All the King’s Men. We will definitely put on another month of Oscars series of podcasts in 2018. We also explored more somber texts such as Hue 1968, which looked at the Battle of Hue in the context of the 1968 Tet Offensive and the turning point of the Vietnam War and how the leadership lessons still resonate for the business leader today.
We hope you have enjoyed our offerings on business leadership and will join us again in 2018.