An intense lunch and better speech

I spent the weekend around New Years Eve at Renaissance Weekend, in Charleston, SC. It’s sort of like TED or Summit Series or something like that, except one major difference: You aren’t supposed to talk about it. Not about who was there with you, what you talked about, anything. Yeah, I know, but thats the rule and I agreed to it, so I’ll abide by it.

That being said, the one exception to discussing or posting things publicly is if you have the permission of the person involved, which is what this post is about. I met a bunch of really cool and amazing people there, but one stood out to me:  Simon Sinek.

You might know Simon from his famous TED talk, which was based on his . Through a weird confluence of circumstances (we met through his wonderful girlfriend, who thought she hated me but introduced herself to me anyway and found that we got along great) and ended up having a four hour lunch, that was one of the most intense conversations I’ve had in a long time. I’m not going to talk about that conversation now, but I am sure I will in time. My point about Simon is simple: he’s the real deal. If you haven’t seen his TED talk or read his book, you should. He’s not just some armchair intellectual. He walks his talk.

What I am going to share is something he directed me to on his site. It’s just a simple letter from an Air Force pilot to his superior officers. The pilot is not a writer, and he very much buries the lede, so it might be easier to watch the TEDx talk he gave:

I don’t really have anything to say or add to that. Not using this as a launchpad to discuss anything else. The video moved me, and I thought I’d share.