Share

The Daily Stoic
Every Great Leader Has THIS Secret Weapon | Les Snead (Los Angeles Rams GM)
The difference between panic and power comes down to a few simple rules. In today’s episode, Ryan dives into Les Snead’s philosophy on “panic rules” and why it’s stuck with him ever since they first talked. Ryan and Les discuss how these rules help leaders stay calm under pressure, make hard decisions, and mentor the next generation. Then, they wrap up the conversation at The Painted Porch, where Ryan shares some book recommendations with Les and his wife Kara.
Les Snead is an American football executive who is the general manager of the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League. Snead played tight end for Auburn from 1992-93 and was part of the Tigers’ perfect 11-0 team in 1993. He also earned Southeast Region Academic All-American honors during his college career. Prior to joining the Rams, Snead spent 13 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons.
📚 Full list of books that Ryan gave to Les and Kara:
Slow Productivity by Cal Newport
Letters to a Young Athlete by Chris Bosh
It’s Better To Be Feared by Seth Wickersham
The Way of the Champion by Paul Rabil
Levels of the Game by John McPhee
Plato and The Tyrant by James Romm
The Second Mountain by David Brooks
From Strength to Strength by Arthur Brooks
On Character by General Stanley McChrystal
📖 Preorder the final book in Ryan Holiday's The Stoic Virtues Series: "Wisdom Takes Work": https://store.dailystoic.com/pages/wisdom-takes-work
🎙️ Listen to Les Snead's first episode on The Daily Stoic Podcast
🎥 Watch the video episodes on The Daily Stoic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DailyStoic/videos
👉 Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/
✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/
📱 Follow us: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook
More episodes
View all episodes

Your Obligation Remains The Same | Why Did You Choose Stoicism?
14:19|Our job today and tomorrow is the same as it’s always been—to be good, to be wise, to stand up for what’s right, to resist what is wrong and evil. Nothing changes that.🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8Washington D.C. - December 9 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
If You're Anxious About The Election, Listen To This
16:52|Political dysfunction and uncertainty are nothing new. The Stoics lived through their own times of chaos, cruelty, and disorder. But they understood something about surviving times like these that we would do well to remember today.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_itTQaiu4G0🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8Washington D.C. - December 9 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
This is Your Chief Task
02:40|The act of casting a ballot is in your control. You control whether or not you engage in the democratic process. And the Stoics are explicit on this point: the philosopher, they say, is obligated to contribute to the polis, and to participate in politics. 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8Washington D.C. - December 9 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
BONUS | 3 Shows in 72 Hours
21:35|In this bonus episode, follow Ryan behind the scenes as the Daily Stoic Live Tour takes him through Minneapolis, Chicago, and Detroit.🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8Washington D.C. - December 9
Your Job is This Simple | Accepting What Is
08:23|When misinformation and extremism and utter nonsense pervades…When cruelty and meanness become acceptable…When the system is falling apart and the center looks like it may not hold…Your job is simple. 🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8Washington D.C. - December 9 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
Stoicism, Democracy, and Personal Responsibility | Stacey Abrams
44:48|You can't control everything that happens in politics, but you can control what you do with the power you have. In today’s episode, political leader, voting rights activist, and bestselling author Stacey Abrams joins Ryan to talk about the importance of accountability, the difference between outrage and action, why good leadership requires more than good intentions, and what Stoicism teaches us about our responsibility to make things better. Stacey Abrams is a New York Times bestselling author, entrepreneur, voting rights advocate, and political leader. She served 11 years in the Georgia House of Representatives, including seven as Democratic Leader, and made history in 2018 as the first Black woman to become a major-party nominee for governor in the United States. Following the election, she founded Fair Fight Action to protect voting rights and expand access to the ballot box.— Grab signed copies of Stacey’s books: Stacey’s Extraordinary Words | https://www.thepaintedporch.com/products/staceys-extraordinary-words?_pos=1&_sid=56a0eb53a&_ss=rWhile Justice Sleeps: A Thriller | https://www.thepaintedporch.com/products/while-justice-sleeps-a-thriller-avery-keene?_pos=2&_sid=56a0eb53a&_ss=rCoded Justice: A Thriller | https://www.thepaintedporch.com/products/coded-justice-a-thriller-avery-keene?_pos=3&_sid=56a0eb53a&_ss=rFollow Stacey on Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/staceyabrams/?hl=enStacey’s podcast Assembly Required | https://www.youtube.com/@AssemblyRequiredPodcastGet Involved at 10StepsCampaign.Org | https://10stepscampaign.org/🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8Washington D.C. - December 9 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
43 Stoic Rules That Will Change How You Live
34:16|Philosophy isn't supposed to be an intellectual exercise reserved for scholars. It's supposed to help you make better decisions, face difficulties, and figure out how to live. Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vultJhU9XLU🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8Washington D.C. - December 9 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
If We Were Dying, It Would Be Easier | What Grief Teaches Us About Being Alive
18:41|If only we could, as Marcus Aurelius said, let everything we do and say be that of a dying person, then we would get so much more right.Kate Bowler is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, award-winning podcast host, and professor of religious history at Duke University. She is the host of the podcast Everything Happens, where she has honest conversations about grief, joy, faith, love, and the realities of being human.Grab signed copies of Kate’s books Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved, No Cure For Being Human (And Other Truths I Needed To Hear), and her latest book Joyful, Anyway at The Painted Porch | https://www.thepaintedporch.com/Follow Kate Bowler: Instagram, YouTube🪙 We have a collection of items in the Daily Stoic store to help you in your own memento mori practice, check them out here: https://store.dailystoic.com/🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8Washington D.C. - December 9 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail--Stop online threats before they become real-world attacks. Visit ironwall.com/DAILYSTOIC and request a free Risk Assessment to see exactly how exposed your executives are.
It’s Not How You See It. It’s What You Make It | 18 Stoic Lessons You’ll Wish You Learned Sooner
07:13|It’s easy to glamorize the past. It’s also easy to give short shrift to the present.🎟️ DAILY STOIC LIVE | Ryan Holiday is coming to a city near you! Grab tickets here | https://www.dailystoiclive.com/Boston, Massachusetts - November 16 Nashville, Tennessee - November 20 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - December 8Washington D.C. - December 9 🎙️ AD-FREE | Support the podcast and go deeper into Stoicism by subscribing to The Daily Stoic Premium - unlock ad-free listening, early access, and bonus content: https://dailystoic.supercast.com/✉️ FREE STOIC WISDOM | Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail--Stop online threats before they become real-world attacks. Visit ironwall.com/DAILYSTOIC and request a free Risk Assessment to see exactly how exposed your executives are.