Dear supporters, Recently, Spirit of America CEO Jim Hake had the honor of being a guest on The Leadership Podcast, hosted by Jan Rutherford and Jim Vaselopulos. Jim’s episode, titled “Special Forces Resourcefulness Parallels the Spirit of American Entrepreneurism,” explores how his idea for combining private sector support with the American mission came to fruition in Spirit of America (8:01).

“I wanted to do something to help us and the ideals and freedoms for which America stands…I wanted that to be substantial and to make a meaningful difference. But I had no idea what that would actually be.”

Jim also details SoA’s conception in response to the attacks of 9/11 and talks about some of SoA’s recent successes (17:12). He also gets a chance to share the lessons he’s learned about being a leader from mentors George Shultz (35:35) and General Mattis (29:01).

“He [General Mattis] is great at boiling down complex subjects into understandable and repeatable ideas… Ideas have to transfer down; even in the best of circumstances guidance works its way through a chain of command…to be able to have it be repeatable word-for-word is real brilliance.”

Take a listen! We’d love to hear your thoughts. You can share comments or ask us questions by responding to this email. Only have time for the key takeaways? Read them here. Thanks for staying involved! The Spirit of America team