The Last Question

This week, Jim Warner joins me on the podcast. An ICBM and GLCM veteran, Mr. Warner today serves as the Executive Director of the Association of Air Force Missileers. It was through his letter to members that I found Cole Smith's Guardian editorial.

We cover his career spanning more than 40 years, experience in leadership as the Cold War gave way to the 1990s, and responds to questions raised by Cole's piece. We end with some foundational questions--why nuclear weapons today, why the ICBM in particular, and is Global Zero possible?

That's how we can have mature conversations, in my opinion. This week on TLQ, a solo episode--why I think it's critical we have a conversation about what the world can look like in the future. And why we should start talking about it now.

Humans are naturally irrational and can hold two seemingly opposite views at once. So let's stop oversimplifying our problems and get down to real business. Then we can put our rational brains to work and get something more done than grabbing clicks and media time.

I'm excited to share this week's episode, a conversation with writer, filmmaker, and nuclear ops veteran Cole Smith.

Though we were stationed together, I don't know Cole well...but knew I should talk with him after coming across an article he wrote recently for The Guardian based on his experience as a U.S. nuclear operator. No matter how you feel about his article, or the subject of nuclear weapons, the argument he makes is reason enough to give this one a listen.

Cole is a filmmaker with several projects in the works, including a feature film on the "Damascus Incident" of 1980--popularized in Eric Schlosser's 2013 book, Command and Control. To learn more about Cole and his work, find him at colesmithfilm.com.

It's been a rough-and-tumble couple weeks. High stress, a lot of change, tons of questions. We've emerged looking skyward and genuinely excited about what's to come, and I've emerged determined to keep this train on the tracks and rolling forward.

I missed the boat on last week's episode, which will now be Episode 3. For now, enjoy Season 2, Episode 2, with my friend and fellow airman Matthew "Omaha" Ditson.

Matthew and I were qualification training classmates and stationed together twice. I'm excited to talk with him and get his take on a variety of topics, and ask him about the genesis behind his book on leadership and the parenting podcast he and his wife, Kathryn, twice per month.

Enjoy the episode and, as always, let me know what you think!

Enough with the "Arun talks with" third-person thing. It's me and just me...so I'm back, with "Season 2" of The Last Question. I've been putting off this project and don't know why.

But I know I want (and perhaps need) to return.

So that's what I'm doing. Here.

Now.

As me.

And only me.

Season 2, Episode 1.

We continue the COVID-19 mini-series this week, asking a critical question: What Positive(s) Did COVID-19 Give Me? Ask this question for yourself to find key lessons you can leverage as the world wrestles with the "Delta" variant. This week, an important idea that helps break down the otherwise restrictive dichotomy we perceive between conventional work environments and working "from home."

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Core values matter. If you don't have an anchor or guidepost against which to judge your actions, how do you know if you're the best version of yourself you can be? Arun shares his three core values, three words he's focused on for the better part of 20 years. What are YOURS?

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This week, a critical reminder in how hard ... rather, IMPOSSIBLE ... it is to control what anyone else thinks or does. We can attempt to influence others, but it all starts with understanding where the other's starting point is and what concerns them. "It's not about thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less."

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Stop wasting time. We don't have enough to be playing around with this gift.

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We overcome struggle only after we can see the good in them. Arun continues his mini-series on what good he received from COVID-19. This week, a discussion about what he found "important" and not in the work environment and how the pandemic oriented his mind different toward those tasks that truly matter in the long-run.

Send your questions, comments, feedback to: [email protected].