Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holiday
Ryan Holiday is a strategist and writer. He dropped out of college at nineteen to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of “The 48 Laws of Power.” He went on to advise many bestselling authors and multiplatinum musicians.
He served as director of marketing at American Apparel for many years, where his campaigns have been used as case studies by Twitter, YouTube, and Google and written about in AdAge, the New York Times, and Fast Company.
Ryan has written four previous books, most recently “The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph,” which has been translated into seventeen languages and has a cult following among NFL coaches, world-class athletes, TV personalities, political leaders, and others around the world.
His first book, “Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator” — which the Financial Times called an “astonishing, disturbing book” — was a debut bestseller and is taught in colleges around the world.
His second book, is the bestselling “Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising.”
The Host’s Perspective:
Ryan Holiday is the author of two best selling marketing books: “Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator” and “Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising.”
His third book, “The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph” draws its inspiration from stoicism, the ancient Greek philosophy of enduring pain or adversity with perseverance and resilience. The book quickly gained a cult following among NFL coaches, world-class athletes, TV personalities, political leaders, and others around the world.
In “Ego Is The Enemy,” which is the sequel to “The Obstacle is the Way,” Holiday turns his attention inwards, to the greatest impediment any of us faces in our pursuit of success–ourselves.
He draws on a fascinating array of stories and examples from literature to philosophy to history and shows how uncontrolled egos have been the undoing of many people, organizations, countries and civilizations.
The book shows how your ego can be the most destructive force in your life, and the lives of others. But what I found particularly interesting is the number of examples of successful people who fought their egos at every turn, avoided the spotlight and put their higher goals above the desire for recognition. My favorite example was General George C. Marshall.
Ego Is The Enemy offers a brutally honest portrait of how we let our egos seduce us, and offers valuable, practical advice for how to overcome it. If you liked “The Obstacle is the Way” (and everyone who read it did) you will love “Ego Is The Enemy.” And if you read “Ego Is The Enemy” first, the very next book you read will be “The Obstacle Is The Way.” It was for me.
Listen to the Interview:
Show Notes:
“Ego Is The Enemy” by Ryan Holiday
“Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius
“The Fish That Ate the Whale” by Rich Cohen
“The Sun & The Moon & The Rolling Stones” by Rich Cohen
“Mr. Eternity” by Aaron Their
Ryan’s Website (RyanHoliday.net)
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