Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday! Thanks for spending part of it reading The Lake Street Journal.

This week we’re talking about Ernest Shackleton’s bold decision making, Tedy Bruschi’s gratitude, and life lessons from Coach George Raveling. Let's get into it.

Be Quick, Be Bold

After his 650 mile journey across the most dangerous ocean in the world, Ernest Shackleton still had to hike over the mountains of South Georgia Island to find help. As of 1955, nearly 40 years after Shackleton made this journey, only one other group had travelled the same route—a group of expert climbers fully equipped with gear.

On the treacherous hike, Shackleton and his two men were making a slow descent when he faced a terrible realization: if they didn't move faster, they would freeze to death. The sun was setting, the temperature was dropping, and they needed to get to a lower elevation, fast.

With no other good options, Shackleton suggested they slide.

As Alfred Lansing wrote in Endurance, "Worsley and Crean were stunned—especially for such an insane solution to be coming from Shackleton. But he wasn't joking...he wasn't even smiling...But what if they hit a rock, Crean wanted to know. Could they stay where they were, Shackleton replied, his voice rising. The slope, Worsley argued. What if it didn't level off? What if there were another precipice? Shackleton's patience was going. Again he demanded, could they stay where they were? Obviously they could not...And so the decision was made."

Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean slid 2,000 feet in less than two minutes. It was a risk that could've killed them, but not taking it meant certain death.

"Modern disaster psychologists have found that bold, decisive leadership greatly improves any group's ability to survive the early stages of an impending catastrophe," wrote Daniel James Brown in The Indifferent Stars Above.

The best leaders can stare a hopeless choice in the face and take action. Staying the course is what most would've done in Shackleton's shoes. It takes quick, bold, decisive leadership to keep people alive in times of crisis, and he did it, despite the odds.

Your dilemma may differ. It could be a front-page PR crisis or a fourth and inches play call late in the game. But when the stakes are high and the clock is ticking, Shackleton's leadership is the right example.

Be quick. Be bold. Be a leader.

Tedy Bruschi on Glue Guys

This was another great conversation from the Glue Guys. This time they spoke with three-time Super Bowl champion, Tedy Bruschi. The conversation was packed with gems, but Bruschi told a story about gratitude that stood out.

Ravi, one of the hosts, asked Bruschi how it felt to be cut by Belichick after playing under him for nine seasons, bleeding for him, and being the captain of his team.

"I think my perspective was a little bit different because I was on bonus time," replied Bruschi.

Four years earlier, at age 31, he had suffered a stroke. He never thought he'd play football again, but he recovered and played another four seasons for the Patriots.

"I only counted stats in terms of 'how many tackles did I make as a stroke survivor?'," said Bruschi. "I made 366 tackles as a stroke survivor."

"There's such a good lesson in there of gratitude for the opportunity," replied Ravi. "If you feel entitled to the opportunity, that conversation with Belichick is horrible. But if you feel grateful for it like you did, the whole thing is different. It's such an important mindset that you walked in with."

Bruschi was a leader in the Patriots organization. But at some point in every leader's career, it comes time to move on. If you feel grateful for the time you had, rather than feeling entitled to more time, that transition is easier on everyone involved. Going out on a high note beats limping out in disgrace. Gratitude helps leaders do the former rather than the latter.

That was just one tiny nugget of a great conversation. Highly recommend checking it out.

21 Powerful Life Lessons

I enjoyed this article of life lessons Ryan Holiday learned from Coach George Raveling. There's a ton of wisdom packed into this piece, but this was one of my favorites:

Practice the art of self-leadership. George once told me, “One of the most underrated aspects of leadership is our ability to lead ourselves.” Before you can lead a team, a company, or a family, you have to be able to lead yourself. And isn’t that what the Stoics say? That no one is fit to rule who is not first ruler of themselves?

That's one of the things I'm trying to do with this newsletter. Help us all become better people so we're equipped to be better leaders.

Workout of the Week

I scored 167 on workout 25.1 of the CrossFit Open last week. Not a great score, but I was proud to get that far with the 50 pound dumbbell, which is something I couldn't have done two years ago.

Did you do 25.1? If so, how'd you do?

Anyway, this is another workout I did this week which I enjoyed much more than the Open workout.

"Scratch & Claw"

Four rounds for time:

• 15 wallballs

• 10 pull-ups

• 10 db push press (40s)

• 15 cal bike erg 

My goal was sub 13 minutes, and I did it in 11:48. Let me know how you do!

Quote of the Week

"The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it." —Theodore Roosevelt

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Talk soon,

Joe