#11 | How to lead with "character": Potentialife's Angus Ridgway on living in a purposeful way, navigating with a moral compass, and creating the conditions for creativity

Angus Ridgway and I sit down together in this free-flowing conversation about leadership and, well, personhood, discussing how to "human". We start with the question of how to lead with "character", but really we are talking about some core tenets of how to be, full-stop. We cover several ideas that apply equally to being an effective leader in an organization or in a community and family.

We talk about purpose, "purpose fatigue" and how to live in a purposeful way (which is less about the lofty ambitions we pursue and more about finding meaning in day-to-day encounters and moments.

We talk about the role of morals and morality as they relate to character and how that manifests in leadership behaviors. We advocate for cognitive diversity and touch on the risks of group-think, especially as we are by definition "in a hurry", rushing to come to a decision.

We explore creativity and how to create the conditions for it. We acknowledge the existence of non-linear work (high-value work being produced in bursts and fits vs. even increments spread out across the 9-18h workday), and what that means for an era in which more routine work becomes increasingly automated.

We come back full-circle to the concept of character in relation to authenticity and whether being "real" is possible when so much of our identity is influenced externally.

Angus and I had a lot of fun in this very free-flowing conversation and hope you enjoy it, too.

We cite the work of David Brooks ("The Road to Character") and Oliver Burkeman ("Four Thousand Weeks") in case you would like to read on.