What Makes Great Leaders & How to Live an Extraordinary Life | Dr. Jared Diamond

“He's also a renowned author of books such as Guns, Germs, and Steel, for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. He has also been awarded the National Medal of Science and a MacArthur Genius Award.”

“I'm such a fan of your books. Guns, Germs, and Steel was the first one I read, and I'm going to resist the temptation to ask about the topics in each of all of your books and mainly focus on your book, which is profits, phonetically the same, but profits as in making profits and prophets as in who become prophets and what they are. Coaches and kings. When do leaders matter?”

“about leaders now seems to be the opposite of Guns, Germs, and Steel. Jared, your book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, was about big patterns. There was nothing about individuals. Instead, it was about domestication and the shapes of continents. Does that mean that you've changed your mind and you now recognize the role of individuals?”

“And my answer to that is no. Guns, Germs, and Steel is about patterns of history on the continents over the last 10,000 years. And over the last 10,000 years on whole continents, I can't think of any individual who's made a difference.”

“And so in Guns, Germs, and Steel, there's nothing at all about individuals. Whereas my book about leadership is about what people have done during my lifetime, usually on local scales. And so it is about individuals, whereas Guns, Germs, and Steel was not at all about, I haven't changed my mind.”

“Today, we discuss topics related to Jared's most recent book, which is about leaders and leadership. It is entitled Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings. We discuss political leaders, religious leaders, leaders in business, and in sports. Today, you're going to hear a lot of myths dispelled, including the common myth that charisma is requisite for successful leadership.”

“business sphere, sports, and finally, religion. I use the word prophets to refer to religious leaders because it makes for catchy, profits, prophets, coaches, and kings. I don't care about whether they prophesise the future. It was simply my word for religious leaders.”

“it is about individuals, whereas Guns, Germs, and Steel was not at all about, I haven't changed my mind. It's that I'm looking at completely different sorts of questions now in Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings compared to Guns, Germs, and Steel.”

“I'm super excited about Profits, Prophets, Coaches and Kings, When do Leaders Matter? today's conversation only makes me more excited about it I will say that your your father despite his encouragement to you to continue and become a biologist and not a translator”

“Thank you for joining me for today's discussion with Dr. Jared Diamond to learn more about his work and his recent book Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings please see the links in the show note caption if you're learning from and or enjoying this podcast please subscribe to our youtube channel that's a terrific zero cost way to support us”

“And his wife, Sandra Kahn, is still on the faculty at Stanford. Paul wrote, of course, The Population Bomb. Paul and Sandra wrote the book, Jaws, with, I think, had a foreword by you and maybe an introduction from Bob Sapolsky about mouth breathing being detrimental to facial structure development and as well as health”

“But he got some things right, and some people would argue he got certain things wrong. Like the population bomb, my understanding was that it argued that we're going to be badly overpopulated by time we reach now and that that was dangerous. Some people would argue that birth rates are going down.”

“We're depleting the world's forests. We're depleting the world's topsoil. Paul and his wife Anne, the book The Population Bomb, called attention to the danger of population growth. And one can now add to population growth multiplied by consumption per person.”

“Long been a fan of his work and him, and I agree. And Jaws is a wonderful book, and I think the population bomb still has great. There's real value in reading it, even if the specific statements, as you point out, held up differently.”

“Paul wrote, of course, The Population Bomb. Paul and Sandra wrote the book, Jaws, with, I think, had a foreword by you and maybe an introduction from Bob Sapolsky about mouth breathing being detrimental to facial structure development and as well as health, perhaps.”

“Long been a fan of his work and him, and I agree. And Jaws is a wonderful book, and I think the population bomb still has great. There's real value in reading it, even if the specific statements, as you point out, held up differently.”

“Did Jesus make a difference? Well, if you read the New Testament, talks about names, six other Messiahs. Jesus was not the only Messiah. There were lots of people then who said, I'm the Messiah.”

“Right. There were other people at the right place in the right time. There were those six other prophets mentioned in the New Testament, and they were the Essenes of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Why was a world religion founded by Jesus and not by the leader of the Essenes?”