Thomas Jefferson, The Art of Power by John Meacham. So this week, as promised, as advertised, we're going to talk about Thomas Jefferson, not so much in the context of like the, you know, recapping the history of his life, but talking about the things that made him a great leader, allowed him to change the world that we can then implement into our own lives.

So what made him a great leader? Because it's not what you'd think in a lot of ways.

He's antithetical to a lot of leaders, to say a Washington or, you know, he was very unique.

What made him a great statesman? How did he disagree with his opponents, but also make them feel valued so that he could get what he wanted?

What about his philosophy was different and changed the landscape in favor of individuality

and freedom of expression?

And he's just a very unique individual.

And there's a lot here as I'm reading that you can take and apply to your own life.

And so that's what I want to do. I have a handful of topics here as I'm reading that you can take and apply to your own life. And so that's what I want to do.

I have a handful of topics that as I was reading, I kind of highlighted and was like,

this will be useful.

And yeah, so that said, let's just jump right into it.

The first category or idea that's really prevalent throughout the whole book is education.

And this was something that was near and dear to his heart from the time he was a kid to

literally his last days, reading and always educating oneself.

Cicero talks about, and a lot of these guys, you know, they took all of

their, you know, their influence for the United States from Cicero and Locke and Montesquieu and

all these people. You know, it's the idea that human beings, not focusing necessarily on a task,

but on bettering themselves holistically across the board are

incredibly powerful. And that should be the focus, bettering the individual. And so he actually

said it's a pretty cool quote. He said he would take his classical training that his father

arranged from him over the estate his father left him if he had to choose.

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