The Stephen Mansfield Podcast

The Stephen Mansfield Podcast has for years looked at the world through the lenses of leadership, faith, ethnicity, literature, and manhood. This will certainly continue. However, Stephen is so burdened by the state of manhood in our time that he has decided to start a new website called GreatMan.US, and he is also going to launch a second podcast called The GreatMan Podcast. He describes these new directions in this latest Stephen Mansfield podcast. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of José Carlos Cortizo on Flickr[/custom_font]

Our previous three presidents model three different approaches to fathers and the legacies they leave. In this podcast, Stephen offers a unique Father’s Day Meditation, based on his study of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, as well as Stephen's own work in challenging men to draw the best from their fathers’ lives. You’ll want to hear this podcast and pass it on to every man you know. CC image courtesy of Thomas Hawk on Flickr

Leaders often fail because they can’t see themselves clearly, they can’t detect deformities and weakness, and they don’t allow those around them to speak meaningfully into their lives. This is what Stephen Mansfield believes, sees in his work with leaders, and describes fully in this podcast. You won’t want to miss this combination of leadership advice and political analysis. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of Garry Knight on Flickr[/custom_font]

Stephen hopes the best for the Trump administration but has been critical of Trump’s excesses. He has decried Trump’s racism, doubted his Christian commitment, and recognized his inexperience. Yet Stephen believes that Trump’s recent speech in Saudi Arabia was one of the finest speeches on the Middle East and solutions to terrorism that has come from an American president. In this podcast, he parses that speech and says that it might well lead to a turning point in world affairs.

We are used to breaking news and exciting headlines. These give us the impression that big events happen suddenly, dramatically. Often, though, the trends that shape our times emerge slowly and are only in the background of the news cycles. Stephen explains how this works and uses some recent news about Turkey and the Kurds to show how history is really made. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of valeriy osipov on Flickr[/custom_font]

In his last podcast, Stephen described the virtues of a reading life. He explored some benefits of reading not often considered, like that it is an antidote to the frantic pace of our times and that disciplined reading serves as an indicator of the state of the soul. In this podcast, Stephen lists some books he believes will make wonderful summer reading, while also explaining the good each of these books can bring to our lives. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of Sam Greenhalgh on Flickr[/custom_font]

A meaningful reading life quiets the soul, tames the heart, inflames the imagination, and helps to make us authentic. In fact, the pages of history show us that most of the great leaders of the past were ravenous readers. Perhaps we really must “read to lead.” Stephen discusses all of these themes in this podcast and urges us to live exceptional lives, fueled in part by the power of the written word. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of Sam Greenhalgh on Flickr[/custom_font]

The intellectual output of American college and university campuses has been troubling for decades. Now, though, there is growing concern about the culture of those campuses. Anti-Semitism is dropping everywhere in the world except on American campuses, where it is rising. Meanwhile, students are becoming so thin-skinned that they can’t even endure Seinfeld comedy performances without working themselves into fits of offense. What is happening and what is the answer? Stephen offers his explanation in this searing podcast. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']CC image courtesy of Fibonacci Blue on Flickr[/custom_font]

More than 400,000 human beings have been killed in the Syrian civil war. The United States has only recently engaged in the conflict openly and directly. This happened on April 6 when President Donald Trump ordered the bombing of Syrian air bases from which chemical bombings had been launched. In this podcast, Stephen explains the good and the bad of Trump’s decision and describes how the U.S. should conduct itself as a global superpower. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']Image courtesy of Wikimedia[/custom_font]

Neil Gorsuch is now a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, but the process of getting him there has poisoned American politics. Opponents of Gorsuch, already offended over Republican dismissal of Obama nominee Merrick Garland, had to endure a revision of a Senate tradition to see Gorsuch confirmed by a simple majority. In this podcast, Stephen explains these issues, takes a look at our ingenious Constitutional system, and explains what looms for the Supreme Court’s future. [custom_font font_family='Open Sans' font_size='11' line_height='26' font_style='none' text_align='left' font_weight='300' color='' background_color='' text_decoration='none' text_shadow='no' padding='0px' margin='0px']Image courtesy of the U.S. Government[/custom_font]