WASHINGTON - DECEMBER 13: U.S. Senator Joe Biden reads documents prior to a news conference on ... [+]
This week saw major turnover at two of the most dominant names in news. Fox News parted ways with its biggest star, Tucker Carlson, who consistently topped the rating charts for cable news shows. Likewise, CNN dumped Don Lemon, one of the network’s most recognizable faces.
With Carlson and Lemon out, it’s a sudden end to a breathless chapter for cable news, leaving a vacuum for many who looked to these anchors for headlines, hot takes and leadership. While the news will continue, people may experience a leadership hole, unsure of who or where to turn for guidance.
Instead of flipping through the channels, why not try a philosophy book? After all, these texts have been a source of leadership for three thousand years. Here are four especially noteworthy options.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The real life inspiration for the elderly emperor in Gladiator, Marcus Aurelius was a true polymath who ruled Rome for nearly 20 years. Meditations is a series of personal journal entries that offer a rare look into the mind of the most powerful person on earth at the time. The entries are filled with personal thoughts on his life and how to live with a sense of courage, wisdom and honor.
The book is a masterpiece of Stoic philosophy. The emperor stresses to only focus on what you can control, telling us that, “If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this that disturbs you, but it is your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now.”
Use cases for leaders: When faced with a personal or business-related dilemma. It is also a calming guide towards the end of a leader’s life as they look back on all they accomplished, or all they hoped to accomplish.
Letters From A Stoic by Seneca
For a more explicitly stoic magnum opus, check out the most well-known work by the most well-known stoic.
Written in the later part of Seneca’s life (he died in 65 CE), Letters From A Stoic is a collection of 124 letters written to a friend. Each starts with a mundane observation about daily life which is then generalized as a universal comment.
One especially helpful letter deals with mourning; Seneca tells us, The dead cannot be brought back to life, however much we may beat our breasts. Do not be changed by any sorrow, however great, then let our futile grief be brought to an end.”
Use cases for leaders: Your team will look to you in times of hardship, and you can play a key role in helping them manage their emotions.
Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche
People tend to need guidance the most when faced with an ethical crossroads. What is the right or wrong way to go about something? Professionally, this could be anything from cutting a corner to hiding information in order to meet an unrealistic goal.
Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil offers a unique point of view on this topic. He does not present an objective methodology or roadmap for problem-solving like other philosophers. Instead, he tries to do away with the very concepts of right and wrong, calling anyone who endorses them “misled.”
Use cases for leaders: Nietzsche argues ethics can only be understood within the context of your own life and principles. It can be a surprisingly beneficial self-help book that speaks to taking responsibility for ourselves.
At The Existentialist Cafe by Sarah Bakewell
Many associate the philosophical genre of existentialism with black turtle-necks, cigarettes and nihilism, none of which are especially true.
Sarah Bakewell sets out to prove these stereotypes wrong in her 2016 book that features some of the most popular philosophers, including Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. She describes existentialism not as a synonym of nihilism but as a gratifying way of life, living by certain positive principles such as freedom of thought and action, individuality and autonomy.
Use cases for leaders: Take control of your own life. Those in leadership positions often have obligations pulling them from all sides, but Bakewell’s book will help put these alleged obligations into perspective.
