Outcome Fixation

You might not think that a professor at the Naval Academy would contemplate calmness or fellowship. You would be wrong. Nancy Sherman thinks and writes about these things and about much more. Her recent book “Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience” resonated deeply with me – precisely on these topics.  In our personal storms of anger or guilt, finding calm is a Herculean task. As a professor of philosophy at the Naval Academy and at Georgetown, Nancy studies and draws on the wisdom of Greco-Roman philosophers including the Stoics and the Cynic to find answers to the “what should one do” questions. Her study and work with the military has also fostered an intimate familiarity with psychotherapeutic methods and moral psychology.

Persisting through pain or uncertainty requires social interaction, a connection to others. It can’t be built in solitude. Just ask Jim Stockdale (who also read Epictetus and who spent more than seven years in solitary confinement in Vietnam). Frequent conversations with Stockdale, a hero among her colleagues at the Academy, refined Sherman’s Stoic precepts. Commonly held assumptions such as “tough it out, endure, buckle down, suck it up” did disservice to the moral.

In our (for me far-too-brief) conversation, we touched on both anger and guilt. Two particular hand-holds surfaced here: getting in control of your guilt, and not getting stuck on outcomes. Both involve gaining perspective. Would another blame you as severely or in the same way? And with no single definition of progress or excellence, how do you know what’s right? What is your outcome fixation? 

It was just the two of us in this podcast – Nancy and me – but imagining a trusted other in that space turns out to be edifying, clarifying. I think our listeners will benefit from this thought exercise as well.

So join me for a fascinating and clear-eyed lesson in ethics and a downright enjoyable listen. Just press play!

More about Nancy: 
www.nancysherman.com

More about me and my leaderships program The Macs:
www.fiefmacrander.com
If you like to talk to me? [email protected]