The Greatest Leader You’ve Never Understood | Doris Kearns Goodwin
The Daily Stoic
Daily Stoic | Backyard Ventures
4.6 • 4.7K Ratings
🗓️ 27 August 2025
⏱️ 74 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What made Lincoln great wasn’t power or genius, it was his moral fiber. Historian and bestselling author Doris Kearns Goodwin joins Ryan to explore why Lincoln stands above the rest, how ambition can be twisted toward selfishness or greatness, and how moments of pain and principle shape true leaders. Ryan and Doris discuss the pressures of writing about legendary figures, Doris’s years working for LBJ, and what it takes to bring history to life for future generations.
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize–winning presidential historian and bestselling author. Her latest #1 New York Times bestseller, An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, is being adapted into a feature film, while her earlier works, Team of Rivals, The Bully Pulpit, and No Ordinary Time, have won some of the nation’s highest literary honors and inspired leaders worldwide. She has served as a White House Fellow to President Lyndon Johnson, produced acclaimed docuseries for the HISTORY Channel, and earned countless awards for her contributions to history and leadership.
She has a new book out called The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became Presidents in which she shares the different childhood experiences of Abraham Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Lyndon B. Johnson, and how they each found their way to the presidency.
Grab copies of Doris’ books Team of Rivals and Leadership at The Painted Porch | https://www.thepaintedporch.com
Follow Doris on Instagram @DorisKGoodwin and check out more of her work on her website doriskearnsgoodwin.com
📕 Books mentioned:
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Gregory Hays Translation)
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Transcript
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