#226 Heroes: From Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one-time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. America prepared the way for the cult of the entrepreneur.
In due course, the public applauded the outstanding steel maker Andrew Carnegie and the oil man John D. Rockefeller.
This new kind of hero was controversial, and it is a fact that throughout history, one person's hero has been another's villain, not only in his own day, but later.
The heroes of America's emergence as the world's largest industrial power were clearly genuine in one sense, since Carnegie's cheap, high-quality steel benefited everybody. Rockefeller's slashing of the price of kerosene by 90% was a godsend, and Ford's cheap, reliable Model T ended the isolation of the farmer.
But to others, such men were robber barons, or in the words of President Theodore Roosevelt, malfactors of great wealth.
People must agree to differ about heroes. I have always had a soft spot for those who speak out against the conventional wisdom, and who are not afraid to speak the truth, even if it puts them in a minority of one.
I think we appreciate heroism most if we have a tiny speck of it ourselves, which might be fanned into a flame if the wind of opportunity arose.
So how do we recognize the heroes and heroines of today?
I would distinguish four principle marks. First, by absolute independence of mind, which springs from the ability to think everything through for yourself and to treat whatever is the current consensus on any issue with skepticism. Second, having made up your mind independently, to act resolutely and consistently.
Third, to ignore or reject everything the media throws at you, provided you remain convinced you are doing right.
Finally, to act with personal courage at all times, regardless of the consequences to yourself.
All history teaches that there is no substitute for courage. It is the noblest and best of all qualities and the one indispensable element in heroism in all its different manifestations.
That is an excerpt from the epilogue of the book I'm gonna talk to you about today, which is Heroes, from Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar to Churchill and de Gaulle, and it was written by Paul Johnson. I wanted to hop on here real quick and do a bonus episode for you because this is the same author. I just, the last episode was on Winston Churchill.
I loved, this is the first, Churchill's book was the first book of Paul Johnson's that I've ever read. Wind up doing a little bit of research on him. I realized he's written biographies on everybody, like Socrates, Mozart, Eisenhower, Churchill. He's read, excuse me, he's written a bunch of history books with collection of historical figures around different like classifications. So he's got one, like this one's Heroes, he's got Creators, he's got Intellectuals. And so this book has 13 chapters in it. Each chapter has anywhere from like one to three different historical figures. So the ones I'm gonna talk to you about today is George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Winston Churchill and de Gaulle. And I'm gonna do Alexander the Great first, but I wanna review what he was saying in the epilogue. I wanna give you these four traits that he feels the people that he profiled on the book that were separated by time, lived in different countries, yet they all arrived at similar traits. And there's so many notes that happened to myself in this book where it just says great writing, great writing, great writing, because he's just very to the point. I really appreciate that. I always think ever since I read that book, The Splendid and the Vile, and I love that, that's where I discovered this quote by Churchill where he's like, it's slothful not to compress your thoughts. And I feel that's why I'm gonna run up ordering a bunch of Paul's books because he compresses his thoughts. He analyzes all, he takes in all this information and then gives us the most valuable parts. So let's go through these four, and I edited them down even more. So they're four bullet points of traits that we can emulate in our own mind. Number one, absolute independence of mind. Think everything through yourself. Treat current consensus with skepticism. Number two, act resolutely and consistently. Number three, ignore the media. Number four, act with personal courage at all times, regardless of the consequences to yourself.