Power Doesn’t Corrupt, It Reveals

“There were not many good emperors in Rome. There have not been many good kings since. In fact, there haven’t been many good leaders ever—there is something about power that seems to bring out the worst in people. It seems to be a light which destroys the moths that are drawn to it.”Ryan discusses why your character is defined by what you do, on today’s Daily Stoic Podcast. The Boy Who Would Be King is out now, written by Ryan Holiday in the depths of the pandemic (not unlike the one Marcus ruled through), this new beautifully crafted book is available now. Go to dailystoic.com/king to order now and you’ll automatically get the free audiobook.***If you enjoyed this week’s podcast, we’d love for you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It helps with our visibility, and the more people listen to the podcast, the more we can invest into it and make it even better. Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: http://DailyStoic.com/signupFollow Daily Stoic:Twitter: https://twitter.com/dailystoicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoic/Facebook: http://facebook.com/dailystoicYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/dailystoicSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

• 0:04Speaker 00

  Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast, where each day we bring you a passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength, insight, and wisdom in everyday life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2,000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us, DailyStoic.com.

• 0:27Speaker 00

  Power doesn't corrupt, it reveals. There were not many good emperors in Rome. There have not been many good kings since. In fact, there haven't been many good leaders ever. There is something about power that seems to bring out the worst in people. It seems to be a light that destroys the moths which are drawn to it. All one has to do is read Suetonius's Lives of the Caesars to see how this played out. Josiah Oskud, a professor of classics at Georgetown University, recently translated an edition of Suetonius entitled "How to Be a Bad Emperor", which looks at some of the worst Roman emperors. But one thing Oskud questions is this famous adage

• 1:12Speaker 00

  that absolute power corrupts. When I talked to him, he said, "Power unmask the true identity of leaders. It brings to light weaknesses that were there all along but might have been overlooked. For Julius Caesar, this was arrogance; for Tiberius, a willingness to indulge his proclivity for personal pleasure; for Caligula, a fondness for cruelly taunting others; for Nero, an obsession with being the center of attention. Passion rules many of us more than reason," he said, "a truth academic historians prefer to ignore." Indeed, that's really what's so impressive about Marcus Aurelius and what I tried to show in my new book, The Boy Who Would Be King.

• 1:54Speaker 00

  Marcus Aurelius was chosen for absolute power. And somehow, it not only didn't corrupt, it made him better because of who he was, because of the work he had done in his younger years. The reading and studying and seeking out good mentors. Power revealed what Marcus had striven long to cultivate. Good soul and a good heart. So how will it go for you? For the people you are grooming for leadership in your company, for your kids? Have you put in the work necessary? Have you prioritized the right things? So that if you're lucky to get what you want, you'll be good instead of a monster? What will be revealed? The work you do today will answer.

• 2:37Speaker 00

  The work that Marcus Aurelius did early is what shaped him. It's what created the goodness that power was able to reveal. And I tell that incredible story, one of the stories that inspires me more than anything else in my new book, The Boy Who Would Be King, which you can grab in the Daily Stoic Stoic. Get the audiobook for free. It's on Amazon as well, but you can get signed personalized copies. If there's someone in your life, a kid or a mentee who could really benefit from it. So check that out in the Daily Stoic Stoic at store.dailystoic.com.