The Warrior Poet

"Investing in people" makes hiring and development sound lofty and idealistic. Sri thinks the reality is more like risk-averse speculation... in souls.

Sri traded commodities derivatives on Wall Street and compares/contrasts that work with recruiting candidates into your company. Hiring is rife with inefficiencies and misplaced incentives. Sri highlights a number of opportunity areas for innovation in that process.

Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet and @sri_actually

notes

• The book Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahnemann
• My article on hiring related to this episode 
• The origin of my paraphrase "data is a horrible master" is P.T. Barnum (the circus guy), who said "Money is a wonderful slave but a horrible master."
• Correction: I said in the episode that the painting might have been called  “the island of lost souls.” It’s more simple than that. The title is “Isle of the Dead” by Arnold Böcklin (Wikipedia)
  • Watch the very short movie I mentioned about “Isle of the Dead” – it’s worth it but EXPLICIT language-wise. 
  • The Montreal museum where I saw the movie is Phi. Check it out if you head there.

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar (Spotify). 

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content. 

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

Are you "kinda tired of getting told to throw your hands up in the air?" Sri dissects the true definition of a team with the help of Lorde. We disambiguate miselading corporate terms like "partners" and "single-threaded leader." Team America: World Police share a touching moment.

It seems like companies forget what the word "team" really means. It means something special in the SEAL Teams, but maybe that's just the true definition.

EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you'll choose another.

Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet and @sri_actually

notes (slim this time)

• Anderson, Kyle (3 December 2013). “Lorde rules a city of her own in ‘Team’ video”  Entertainment Weekly
• The song "Team" by Lorde (Youtube)

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

Ever feel like you're stuck in your career? What if your success or failure in a company were predestined? And what does Amway have to do with Jay Mohr?

notes

• "All Is Not Lost - Keys n Krates Remix" by OK Go (Spotify)
• Predestination (Wikipedia)
• * The song “Shiny” from Moana by Jemaine Clement 
• “Adam’s not feeling well.”
  “It’s true.”
  — As promised, that full Amway scene from the movie Go
• Related episodes of The Warrior Poet: 
  • Ready Player One
  • Message to Garcia 

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

Most leaders overlook operations as a part of leadership itself. Sri offers helpful tips on how to improve the operational side of your leadership via Method Man. How to write an Amazon white paper. Apocalypse Now returns.

notes

• Principles by Ray Dalio -- controversial on some leadership topics but ultimately makes you think -- a lot!
• Strategy by Michael Butler Murray — completely sweeping book on… you guessed it: strategy 

episodes referenced 

• Episode #17: Weak
• Episode #16: Message to Garcia
• Episode #6: Hypergraphia

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

Weak leaders are more dangerous than they seem. Sri helps understand weakness and opines on whether "indie pop" is an oxymoron. AJR assists.

EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you'll choose another.

Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet and @sri_actually

notes

• The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli 
• Clip from Anchorman re: German pornography (Youtube)
  • Full-length movie on Prime Video

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

Sri discusses the classic leadership essay "A Message to Garcia" and how to apply it in your work. And what stealing your mom's car has to do with Stranger Things.

EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you'll choose another.

Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet

notes

• Yes, Whole Foods does deliver Cherry Garcia ice cream from Ben & Jerry's, cuz treat yo'self (Whole Foods delivery)
• "A Message to Garcia" by Elbert Hubbard (PDF)
• The classic book Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia)
• "The Eleven - Live in San Fracisco, 1969" by the Grateful Dead (Spotify) 
• The movie 1917 (trailer | Amazon Prime Video) 
• The movie Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy starring Gary Oldman. 
• Addenda and corrections: 
  • Forgot to mention that Colin Firth was also(!) in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Amazon Prime Video). The topics of this episode were more intertwined than even Sri had expected :) 
  • Sri was referring to the 2011 movie version of Tinker, Tailor, but there is also a BBC miniseries of the same name starring the late Sir Alec Guinness. Should prolly check it out! (Amazon) 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar (Spotify). 

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content. 

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

Leadership is a skill, and it should not be assumed that career progress is measured based on whether someone leads others. 

Sri discusses the origins of team leadership and promotion criteria. 

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

QOTSA's "If I Had a Tail" helps Sri discuss counterfactual thinking and its relevance to leadership, business, and society. Also, how SEALs conduct debriefs, thoughts on Coronavirus (COVID-19), and the start of World War I.

notes

• "If I Had a Tail" by Queens of the Stone Age
  • Spotify
  • Drunk Josh Homme and crew live in concert (Youtube) 
  • Live on Jools Holland (Youtube) (played at the end of this episode)
  • MUST WATCH acoustic cover by Parisians (Youtube)
• “The Black Swan” by Nassim Taleb + complete first chapter for free (New York Times) 
• "The Infinite Game" by Simon Sinek
• "Dune" by Simon Herbert & "Children of Dune" (quoted but haven't read the latter)
• Different parts of the brain are used for counterfactual vs. hypothetical thinking. 
• Way more on counterfactuals than you probably want, unless you do: (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy); then complement with:
  • Subjunctive (grammar): http://bulletproofwriting.com/subjunctive-vs-indicative/

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

When do stretch goals make sense? Staying humble with Kendrick Lamar and Tiny Meat Gang. Also: newborns, vanity metrics.

***

notes

• More on how scammy Kickstarter stretch goals are (Medium)
• Also on Kickstarter: "One Million Stretch Goals" (WTF?)
• Who knew? Definition of 'meeple' (Wiktionary) 
• Tiny Meat Gang: 'Short Kings Anthem' (Youtube)

Follow sri_the_warrior_poet on Instagram

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.

Sri introduces the "No-Future-Selves Fallacy," a tendency to overplan, with the help of British-American duo the Kills.


notes

• 'Future Starts Slow' by the Kills (official video on Youtube)
• Chill cover of the Kills' 'Future Starts Slow' by Adam Blazer (Youtube)

Intro and/or outro music to most episodes is by Paul Sridhar (Spotify). 

📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start getting unstuck. 

📩 Get free elite performance tools weekly through the Warrior Poet newsletter 👉 join ✅

_____

Follow Sri for elite leadership tips: 
➡️  LinkedIn.com/in/andrewsridhar

Connect on Instagram: @andrewsridhar  + @sri_actually 

Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar. 🎧

Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with every intent and steps taken to abide by Fair Use and serve the purpose(s) of illustration, education, augmentation, or promotion of source content.