Bruce Craven on Game of Thrones and Leadership

The Power of Bold

As we are in the thick of the final exhilarating season of Game of Thrones, we are delighted to share our discussion with Bruce Craven. Regardless of your interest in the series, Game of Thrones offers a wealth of insights on leadership—from Daenerys Targaryen's quest to "break the wheel" to Sansa Stark's evolution to a leader in Winterfell.

Bruce is the perfect person to discuss leadership lessons from Game of Thrones. He has spent decades studying the links between fiction and leadership, even designing his own course (appropriately titled Leadership Through Fiction) at Columbia University. Most recently, he published a book focused on Game of Thrones titled Win or Die: Leadership Secrets from Game of Thrones. In this episode, Bruce shared his thoughts on some of the seminal characters in the series, what we should emulate and avoid from those characters, and his thoughts on the final season of the show.

02:49 - How Bruce built a career bridging topics in fiction and leadership.

09:48 - Why Game of Thrones provides so many lessons about leadership and power.

12:59 - How Sansa Stark transformed from a "piece" to a "player."

17:34 - How we can make a similar transformation in our lives.

20:41 - Why Cersei Lannister, Petyr Baelish, and Samwell Tarly are some of the most adaptable people in Westeros.

25:59 - How we can all become more adaptable.

32:57 - How Daenerys Targaryen (and other incoming managers) can build goodwill with employees.

37:50 - Bruce's take on the most satisfying ending to Game of Thrones (from a leadership perspective).

41:10 - The best and worst leader on the show.

44:14 - One decision in the Game of Thrones universe that Bruce would redo.

For show notes and a transcript of our interview with Bruce Craven, visit www.thepowerofbold.com.