Fun story… You watch the Ryder Cup?
Heroes!!
I’ll be sending out an exciting update (with my impossible goal!) TOMORROW!
Keep your eyeballs peeled!👀
(Hint: Get ready for a ton of new Notes.🤓)
Today I have a fun story I’ve been looking forward to telling;
(It got a bit long but I hope you love it!)
Are you into golf?
If so, you’ve heard of the Ryder Cup.
If not, ask a friend you know who is into golf if they know about the Ryder Cup. 🤓
Now…
As you know if you follow golf, the Ryder Cup is a pretty big deal.
Every two years, the best 12 American players play, as a team, against the best 12 European players.
So…
The captain for the winning European Ryder Cup team is Luke Donald—a former world #1 golfer (he and Tiger Woods used to go back and forth).
On June 6th, 2024, I received a text from Luke.
(I just scrolled back through our hundreds of texts to find his very first text. Love that he sent it on D Day as Eisenhower is a hero of mine and his bust is on my desk. Picture and story in PS below.)
Luke let me know he’d been following my work for over a decade and had some questions about Antifragility.
Fun fact: I received his text while on a plane flying home to Austin from Chicago. I had just worked with Marcus Freeman and his Notre Dame football team (Go Irish! ☘️) on Day 1 of their preseason and then got to spend some time with Billy Donovan and his coaching staff for the Chicago Bulls. (Go Bulls and thanks for the invite, Arturas! 🐂)
So…
Long story a little shorter, Luke and I set up a FaceTime to chat. We hit it off. I flew out to Jupiter a couple days later and we spent a few hours chatting about how we could forge some antifragile confidence together.
Then…
I flew out to Scotland a couple weeks after that and kicked off Luke’s mental toughness training at the Scottish Open 444 days before they hit their first tee shot at Bethpage.
I got goosebumps typing that as a) the trip was awesome and b) Luke’s leadership is even MORE awesome.
It’s hard to put into words just how committed Luke was to being his absolute best so he could help bring out the absolute best in the team he was leading.
I’ve never met *anyone* more committed to leading well and/or more coachable on how to go about doing that.
Note: Tied for first would be Marcus Freeman.
Here’s another fun story.
As you know if you’ve been following along, a big part of my philosophy is the fact that we need to move from being fragile past being resilient to being ANTIFRAGILE.
When you’re ANTIFRAGILE, not only do you *not* break when life hits you, you actually get STRONGER when life knocks you around.
As Nassim Taleb (who coined the word “antifragile”) puts it: “Wind extinguishes the candle, but fuels the fire. You want to be the fire and wish for the wind.”
So…
I trained the guys on how to USE the pressure we knew they would feel from a hostile crowd in New York to GET STRONGER.
Note: After sharing the philosophical framework with them (the same objectives I cover in my book Areté—which they all received) to help them win on AND off the field by dominating their protocols in the 444 days leading up to the first tee shot, I basically taught them how to “Flip the Switch” such that every insult from the fans, made them STRONGER rather than weaker.
Fast forward to September 27, 2025.
I’m in New York City with the kids (pics below) to watch the Ryder Cup (and a Yankees game and eat all of the Big Apple we could!).
It’s Saturday night. The Europeans just DOMINATED the Americans.
I’m in the elevator at our hotel with two distraught Americans.
One of them says: “It seems like the worse the crowd gets, the better they play!”
(I just got goosebumps typing that.)
I smiled to myself then sent this text to Luke at 6:49 pm.
Then, shortly after that not too long after, Luke had a press conference that I consider a master class on leadership.
Pay special attention to his mention of ANTIFRAGILITY at the 2:00 minute mark.
OH!!
One more thing you may enjoy as I wrap this long story up.
Here’s an article in the London Times based on the first interview Luke gave following their dominant performance: “Luke Donald reveals secrets of Ryder Cup glory and dismay at USA”
I’m honored that I (and Heroic!) was one of Luke’s secrets for success.🤓
And…
Other exciting news…
At some point (timeline TBD) I’m going to be rebooting my podcast and will interview some of my favorite people.
Luke will be my very first guest. I can’t wait to share more of his Heroic leadership story with you.
Guest #2? Marcus Freeman.
Fired up to share more.
It’s Day 1.
We’re ALL IN.
Let’s go!!
-bri
P.P.S. As per the article above, Luke also worked with Owen Eastwood. Owen is an INCREDIBLE human being. Check out our Notes on his book: Belonging.
He also worked with the elite mental toughness coach Geir Jordet. Check out my Notes on his great book Pressure as well.
P.P.P.S. Here’s the bust of Eisenhower I received from the commander of the USS DWIGHT D EISENHOWER when I flew out to Red Sea to serve him and his 5,000 Heroic Sailors.
Eisenhower led the D Day invasion that turned the tide of World War II. Every time I look at him I think of how we need to win the war between vice and virtue.
Note: I’ve reread this Note on Lead Yourself First at least a DOZEN times. It features a case study on how Eisenhower led. It’s a must read if you want to lead well.
P.P.P.P.S. Here are a few pics of me and the kids on our epic adventure to NYC.
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