PODCAST · business
The Warrior Poet
by Sri
**Get yourself unstuck and be a leader.** Andrew "Sri" Sridhar is a former Navy SEAL, Harvard MBA, Wall Street escapee, and technologist. He interviews top military leaders, academic thinkers, and business phenoms to up your game. The Warrior Poet is a tightly woven tapestry of leadership expertise, philosophical inquiry, and pop culture. It's a portmanteau of Brainpickings, Wait But Why, and (Sri only wishes) Seinfeld. Yes, Sri sometimes writes haikus.
Episodes
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#102: You Can't Beat Someone Having Fun: Sasha Cayward on Self-Belief and Performance Mindset
Sasha Cayward was a nationally ranked junior tennis player — good enough to turn pro, until she decided that wasn't the life she wanted and walked away from the sport that had been her whole identity. A decade later, she did it again: she left the startup she'd spent a year building, with no plan...
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#101: Founder Cries in Supermarket at 24, Later Exits || Adam Rossi
Sri talks with Adam Rossi, who set a 2-year clock on founding a company after he graduated college. At 24 he started his entrepreneurial journey along with his young wife Laila. They eventually sold to a public company, achieving the exit every founder dreams of—but only after immense struggle....
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#100: NFL Wide Receiver Raises $4MM Seed Round || Kevin Jurovich
From the San Francisco 49ers to $4M Seed Round: Kevin Jurovich on Surviving "The Desert" Kevin Jurovich's NFL career ended with a dropped pass in the fourth quarter. Seven years later, he and his cofounder closed a $4 million seed round for Hubble, his expert marketplace for founders. This isn't…
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#99: Harvard Business School Professor on Lucky Underwear and Everyday Romance | Michael Norton
Harvard Business School professor and behavioral scientist Mike Norton breaks down why rituals—small, often “irrational” actions—carry outsized emotional weight. From his own black binder “totem” for teaching, to sports routines and workplace team practices, Mike explains how rituals can reduce...
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#98: $70M in 8 months! Then the warehouse burned 🔥 | (Phil Neil)
Phil Neil scaled a business to $70M in ~8 months—then watched a warehouse fire erase uninsured inventory. Phil is a serial entrepreneur and former pro football player. He currently coaches founders on "the middle layer" between intellect and tactics. Sri and Phil tackle founder-mindset…
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#97: Pro Basketball Player on True Grit | Chris Eversley
Sri talks with Chris Eversley, former professional basketball player and expert on resilience. Chris reinvented himself after sports through an arduous journey learning to walk again at the age of 33. He gives you the secrets of elite performance that high-stakes decision makers pay him for. You...
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#96: Leaving Finance and Living a Story Worth Telling | Gregory Russell Benedikt
Sri and Gregory Russell Benedikt talk about how to find your true calling and follow through on action. They also discuss romantic relationships, life after finance, and whether Sri should be a Civil-War reenactor. Gregory is a life and leadership coach who has helped over 170 clients feel alive...
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#95: Level Up Your Culture w Rachel Wilson Rugelsjøen
Sri takes the show to Oslo, Norway 🇳🇴, where he and Rachel Wilson Rugelsjøen talk all things culture and leadership through the lens of Human Resources. 🙉 They have the realest debate on psychological safety you'll find anywhere. Plus everyone's favorite topic: cold plunges 🥶 ____ Rachel is…
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#94: How to Market Yourself | Tech VP Jill Avey
"Your work does not have a voice. You have to share what you're doing." —Jill Avey Get the results you deserve — not the ones you hope for. Sri and Jill Avey discuss how to lead in complex corporate environments -- in ways that are authentic, moral, yet tangibly rewarding. Topics: How to...
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#93: How to Be a Quality Leader
Sri and Brandon Jenkins do a Round 2. This time they discuss the role of a leader when it comes to delivering quality. And Sri has a household mishap. 📌 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...
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#92: Navy Squadron Commander on The Golden Path Fallacy | Brandon Jenkins
Sri and Brandon Jenkins talk about optimizing your mind as a leader -- as well as finding systems that work for you (not the other way around). Brandon "Jenks" Jenkins is a former Navy helicopter pilot and squadron commander. He founded Tier One coaching, which helps growth-minded leaders to…
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#91: Building a Personal Brand | Michael Kainatsky
Michael Kainatsky shares how to build REAL relationships and recognition in a crowded world full of useless content. Sri and Michael's discussion includes: Challenging the conventional approach to social media Genuine interactions over vanity metrics How to provoke real thought and engagement The...
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#90: Neuroscience of CBD | Will Kleidon
"The endocannabinoid system regulates all these other systems." -Will Kleidon Sri learns *all* about CBD from futurist and entrepreneur Will Kleidon (LinkedIn). Will is the founder and CEO of Ojai Energetics, the first company to create organic, water-soluble CBD, which also has third-party…
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#89: Ozark Actor on Fear of Public Speaking | Brian Lafontaine
Sri discusses the self-discovery journey with Brian Lafontaine (imdb | website | LinkedIn | Instagram). Brian is a professional actor whose long career has included roles in: Ozark Stranger Things Dawson's Creek One Tree Hill Homeland Nashville TURN: Washington's Spies The Hate U Give Outer Banks...
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#88: Army Professor on the 5 Disciplines of Leadership | Chris Rogers
Sri talks with career U.S. Army officer Chris Rogers about his 5 Disciplines of Leadership. Think of Chris as the James Clear of leadership. Chris is an instructor for Simon Sinek Inc. and also runs his own consultancy. Chris didn't just lead in the Army over 30 years, he taught other officers…
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#87: Live Your Best Life w/ Jordan Paris
Sri talks with Jordan Paris, real estate entrepreneur, CEO of Zeus, and host of The Jordan Paris Show. They talk about how to get real with yourself in order to get unstuck and live your best life. Plus, Jordan walks through his real estate investing strategy. 📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free...
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#86: Navy SEAL Commander on Mindful Leadership | Jon Macaskill
"Meditation saved my life." --Jon Macaskill Sri talks with former Navy SEAL commander and leadership speaker Jon Macaskill. Jon is also host of the podcast Men Talking Mindfulness. They discuss: How to recharge to prevent burnout The role of people-pleasing in burnout and anxiety Stress reduction...
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#85: VC and Navy Intel: Matt Wilson on Achieving Your Next Level
Matt Wilson is as insightful and energetic as they get. With incredible candor about his own mistakes and personal life, Matt talks with Sri about what it takes to get to the next level in marriage, career, and entrepreneurship. If you're feeling stuck, Matt helps you understand how to craft a...
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#84: Seasons Greetings -- for Life (4MUW)
📌 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...
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#83: Master Founder's Mindset with the Inner Game | Adam Mutschler
Sri talks with founder and coach Adam Mutschler about how to master the 'inner game' when it comes to startups (and life). They also manage to talk about cricket protein and ridding Midwest streams of invasive species :) And Sri pretends "averagially" is a word 🙉 Adam has coached startup…
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#82: Hedge Fund Trader on Elite Mental Performance | Evan Marks
Sri and Evan Marks discuss how elite performers achieve their success. Spoiler: Mental performance. Evan is a veteran trader of Wall Street turned mental performance coach. He is the founder of M1 Performance Group. He has coached top-tier CEOs, hedge-fund traders, and athletes. He takes the best...
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#81: Navy SEAL Founder on Achieving Clarity | Pat Dossett
Sri talks with Pat Dossett about how to forge your best life path. We discuss: High performers run on self-hate -- and how to run on compassion instead Pat's trip to Mexico to experience plant medicines + ongoing research into things like ibogaine and ayahuasca (aka psychedelics) The science…
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#80: Xena's 5 R's of Leadership (Suzanne Lesko)
Suzanne Lesko (callsign: Xena) walks us through her framework for leadership, starting with resilience. We also talk about: Toxic leaders Female empowerment in male-dominated domains Networking Powerful communication Diverse work culture Healing (and the parasympathetic nervous system) Suzanne's...
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#79: FORGET THE SMILES (4MUW)
It really sucks when you smile at someone and they pretend like you're not even there. Sri shares thoughts on being a leader on and off the field of play by bringing the magic to those around us. 📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call with Sri to get your priorities in order and start...
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#78: VC Joe Musselman on Teams, Leadership, & Culture
Joe Musselman founded the Honor Foundation, which has assisted countless Navy SEALs apply their high-impact skillsets to the private sector. He also cofounded the VC firm Broom Ventures and founded Bravo Victor Venture Capital, which is focused on so-called 'dual-use' technology. Broom Ventures…
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#77: Venture Capitalist Author on Crafting Your Purpose | John Coleman
John Coleman tells us what we should be reading. And more importantly, he helps us craft our life's purpose. John is managing partner at Sovereign Capital, an alum of Invesco, and author of the Harvard Business Review Guide to Crafting Your Purpose. 📌 Want to crush 2026? Book a free clarity call...
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#76: Better Decent Than Lucky (with Nick Soman)
EXPLICIT EPISODE: If you have kids in the car, we hope you’ll choose another. Nick Soman is the founder and CEO of Decent, which aims to provide affordable health insurance to all. He and Sri have fun mining Nick's vast music knowledge and talking about the role of luck and leadership in…
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#75: Marine Officer + C-Suite Exec on Trust-Based Leadership | Mike Ettore
Sri interviews Mike Ettore. Mike is a career veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, accomplished Fortune-500 C-suite executive, and founder of Fidelis Leadership Group. Mike is the author of Trust-Based Leadership: Marine Corps Leadership Concepts for Today's Business Leaders. He also hosts the…
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#74: Unbreakable Leadership with Thom Shea
Learn the "three simple things" that will help you lead yourself, your family, and your team from former Navy SEAL and BUD/S instructor Thom Shea. Thom is the author of multiple books on leadership and is the founder of Unbreakable Leadership, a leadership consultancy for top-tier CEOs and...
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#73: Finding the Best People with Navy SEAL Kevin Seiff
Kevin Seiff is a former Navy SEAL and CEO of Flintlock Solutions, a recruiting firm that is changing the game for VC-backed biotech companies. Sri and Kevin discuss what to look for in candidates and how to run a great recruiting process. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet +...
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#72: Amazon Tenets with Dave Glick, CTO of Flexe
How many people can say they had regular meetings with Jeff Bezos? Dave Glick is the CTO of Flexe, just heralded as Seattle's newest unicorn. Dave is a 20-year Amazon veteran, where he and Sri overlapped. Dave is one of those people who can thrive in a company as massive as Amazon as well as in...
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#71: Selling Out with Frank Cespedes, Harvard Business School Sales and Strategy Professor
Sri talks with author and professor Frank Cespedes about sales, strategy, and leadership. Frank Cespedes is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He currently teaches the elective Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing (ESM) course in the MBA program as...
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#70: Redefining Beauty with Katia Beauchamp, CEO of Birchbox
Sri talks with entrepreneur Katia Beauchamp about what she learned about leadership (and herself!) while upending the beauty industry. Katia is the cofounder of Birchbox, which raised $90 million in venture funding and was valued at one time at half a billion dollars. Katia shares her thoughts on...
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#69: Searching for Attributes with Navy SEAL Rich Diviney
Should you hire for skills or innate qualities? On this episode Sri interviews Rich Diviney, highly accomplished career SEAL officer and author of the book The Attributes. Rich makes the case that skills are a poor predictor of success, especially during times of stress or uncertainty. notes The...
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#68: Bridgewater COO and SEAL Commander: Never Enough with Mike Hayes
Mike Hayes is the former commanding officer of SEAL Team TWO and the author of "Never Enough." He was a White House Fellow and subsequently Chief Operating Officer at Ray Dalio's hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. He currently serves as the Chief Digital Transformation Officer at VMware. He was...
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#66: TWO KINDS OF BOREDOM (4MUW)
There are two kinds of boredom, but only one is good for you :) Hat tip to Maria Popova at Brainpickings, who writes frequently about the benefits of boredom in general. Highly recommend her site! This episode is part of the 4 Minutes Underwater series (4MUW). notes The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan...
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#65: QUADROFRENETICA (4MUW)
70s rock giants The Who help Sri explain nervous energy in organizations. This episode is part of the "4 Minutes Underwater" series (4MUW). notes The rock opera Quadrophenia by the Who (Prime Video) Album explanation (Wikipedia) Outro: cover by Bank Street Band & The Hunterdon Symphony (support...
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#64: RESPONSIBILITY HANGOVER (4MUW)
Sri discusses how our decision-making models get outdated as we increase our experience in this second edition of our "4 Minutes Underwater" minisode series (4MUW). notes The book Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath (Amazon) Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet + @sri_actually Intro...
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#63: 4 Minutes Underwater (ELON'S SHOWER)
In this new format, Sri offers 4 minutes of musings on stoicism, abundance, and pursuing unbound upside. notes: Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb 📌 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...
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#62: Find Your North Star
Sri and Edmund Hillary talk about the Japanese concept of Ikigai: how to figure out what to achieve & how to persevere in the face of adversity. notes Errata: Ugh, I think I said "Dorgay" instead of "Norgay." Apologies. Man on Wire: Amazing documentary about the tightrope walker who crossed…
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#61: Getting Naked with Will Branum, Navy SEAL Entrepreneur
"Water boils at 212 degrees. I was at 210." Will Branum is a former Navy SEAL who founded Naked Warrior Recovery based on his own struggles with anxiety. Sri talks with Will about veteran suicide (see charities below!) and leadership lessons from the military. After never wanting to be a leader,...
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#60: Work the Problem
A deep dive on some of the concepts from Sri's interview with Nat Thompson on episode #57. Namely, what it means to "cultivate appropriate levels of tribalism" on your team -- and examples of "work the problem" in combat and crisis. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet +...
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#59: Navy SEAL Nat Thompson on Growing New Leaders
Nat Thompson, Sri's longtime brother from the SEAL Teams, teaches us how to hire and develop new leaders. Plus, how to nurture a sense of team exceptionalism without becoming Colonel Kurtz. Nat's experience ranges from conducting strategic military operations in austere environments to revamping...
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UPDATE: Exciting Changes
Sri emerges from his cave and sees six early weeks of spring -- plus exciting changes coming to the podcast soon. Thanks for your patience!!! 📌 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...
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#58: Back to Basics: What is Leadership?
Sri distinguishes leadership from, well, other things. notes Related episodes: #48: Leader as Therapist Intro and/or outro music in most episodes is by Paul Sridhar ( Spotify ). Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet + @sri_actually Disclaimer: Any audio clips are included with…
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#57: Purely Consensual
You can't compete if you don't have the best people. But interview processes are all the same these days. As a society we've converged on a method that is safe, supposedly rigorous, and predictable. But are the same old proxy checks, phone screens, power days, and consensus calls really helping…
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#56: Great Mistakes
Listen before you make your 2021 resolutions! Oriah's 'The Invitation," tips to garden rare lettuces, and boot camp. 📌 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...
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#55: Focus Pocus
Focus is all the rage in self-help culture, but what does it really mean? And what does true focus entail? "Tools and techniques" of successful people amount to self-help porn, which is worse than regular porn because of how easy it is to tell yourself you're being productive. Successful people…
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#54: The Dark Quadrant
Sri talks about a type of knowledge that is largely ignored relative to its siblings: the unknown known. Connect with Sri on Instagram: @sri_the_warrior_poet + @sri_actually notes Wikipedia description of the Donald Rumsfeld press conference that brought the concept of "known knowns" (etc) to…
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#53: Tandem Jump
Organizations tend to value displaying coordination than truly being coordinated. Operating at world-class levels demands trust, mission orientation, clear division of responsibility, direct communication, and lack of BS. Contrast that with inefficient organizations, which prize meetings…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
**Get yourself unstuck and be a leader.** Andrew "Sri" Sridhar is a former Navy SEAL, Harvard MBA, Wall Street escapee, and technologist. He interviews top military leaders, academic thinkers, and business phenoms to up your game. The Warrior Poet is a tightly woven tapestry of leadership expertise, philosophical inquiry, and pop culture. It's a portmanteau of Brainpickings, Wait But Why, and (Sri only wishes) Seinfeld. Yes, Sri sometimes writes haikus.
HOSTED BY
Sri
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Warrior Poet have?
The Warrior Poet currently has 103 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Warrior Poet about?
**Get yourself unstuck and be a leader.** Andrew "Sri" Sridhar is a former Navy SEAL, Harvard MBA, Wall Street escapee, and technologist. He interviews top military leaders, academic thinkers, and business phenoms to up your game. The Warrior Poet is a tightly woven tapestry of leadership...
How often does The Warrior Poet release new episodes?
The Warrior Poet publishes regularly with 103 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Warrior Poet?
You can listen to The Warrior Poet on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Warrior Poet?
The Warrior Poet is created and hosted by Sri.
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