For leaders in uniform, or not. Doesn't matter where you work or what you do...if you want to "succeed" in an uncertain future...or, you might say, win the future war no one's imagined yet, think about these three things: devolve, flex, and fail.

Thanks, as always, for your support and listening. I'm expanding my work on this podcast and through Decoherence, my platform on Substack. Check it out and consider supporting through a subscription if you like the conversations we're having and value asking tough questions, no matter how hard the answers might be.

Concluding the two-parter, back to talk about our subconscious narratives and how I fell afoul of mine and into the trap of "personal branding," "social media," and the performance art of today's digital discourse.

Click here to listen to Bari Weiss interviewing Jonathan Haidt on her podcast, "Honestly." Referenced this week.

Full link:

https://www.honestlypod.com/podcast/episode/1f94f74c/why-the-past-10-years-of-american-life-have-been-uniquely-stupid

You and me this week, talking about career transition...and the story embedded deep within us. Does it drive our decisions, or do our decisions fulfill its outcomes? Aren't those the same question?

Didn't plan a two-part episode, but we went farther down the rabbit hole that I thought. That's what makes it fun, after all...stay tuned for Part II coming next week!

Click here to watch Jordan Peterson's interview of OSU professor Angus Fletcher. Full URL below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ytoU1ZXjJw&t=3s

It's you and me this week! Missed recording for last week, back today talking about where I was and what's coming up for 2022.

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."

Email us at ask@thelastquestion.blog.

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?

Email us at ask@thelastquestion.blog.

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."

Email us at ask@thelastquestion.blog.

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

Email us at ask@thelastquestion.blog.

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: ask@thelastquestion.blog.

Arun pulls out a couple key lessons from Tim Grover's book "Relentless." Grover was a long-time coach and confidant to the likes of Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade (and many more). The book's description of "Coolers, Closers, and Cleaners" provides a backdrop to how we should think about where and how we focus our efforts in daily life.

Send your questions, comments, and feedback to: ask@thelastquestion.blog.

There must be positive lessons from our worst tragedies. If there is no positive impact, no "silver lining," then all of our effort to build a better future is for naught. This week, Part II of Arun's series that asks, What Did COVID-19 Give You? His answer this week focuses on his own development and what he was able to do for himself with the time and space only a worldwide emergency could provide.

Email us your questions, comments, and feedback at ask@thelastquestion.blog.

Arun welcomes fellow veteran, colleague, and friend Joey Utah to TLQ. Joey served on active duty as a security forces member at several locations in North America and Korea. Listen and learn as they exchange stories, experiences, and ideas about what leadership is and isn't.

Email us your questions, feedback, and requests at: ask@thelastquestion.blog.

We push our crises into history books too quickly. We don't talk enough about what we've learned, what we've gained, what good has come ... from crisis. From disaster. From the worst tragedies in our lives. This mini-series asks, "What Did COVID-19 Give You?" To start the conversation, Arun answers the question for himself. He has several answers he'll share over the coming weeks, starting with the most important one this morning.

Email us with questions, comments, feedback, ideas: ask@thelastquestion.blog.

I used to hate this question, but no matter how you phrase it, asking it matters. Interrogating your response matters, too, if you're serious about evolving as a leader and getting better. This week, ponder what your leadership philosophy is ... what matters most to you in terms of HOW and WHY you lead.

Email us! ask@thelastquestion.blog.

Are you doing "too much?" Worried about too many things, wrangling a never-ending task list, chasing everyone else's expectations? Ask yourself this question and, most importantly, WRITE the answers down. Be honest with yourself to be more honest with the world around you.

Email us! Questions, comments, feedback at:

ask@thelastquestion.blog