Ep. 131 - Marine Cmdr. Jake Harriman Shares Unifying Wisdom
Release Date: 08/21/2025
Be the Kind of Leader People Remember | A Wisdom Conversation with Bethany Meighen
The Main Thing Podcast
The People Who Shape Us The people who leave the deepest mark on our lives rarely do it with grand gestures. More often, they are parents, mentors, teachers, coaches and friends whose quiet encouragement shapes who we become. Dr. Bethany Meighen has spent her life learning from people like these—and becoming one herself. As President of Concord University, she now helps prepare a new generation of students while preserving the close-knit community that makes Concord distinctive. In this warm and thoughtful conversation, Bethany reflects on the mentors who invested in her, the lessons they...
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What's Life Trying to Teach You? | A wisdom conversation with Rick Barron
The Main Thing Podcast
Welcome back to The Main Thing Podcast! The Teachers We Never Chose Sometimes our greatest teachers don’t stand at the front of a classroom. They arrive disguised as hardship, disappointment, illness, financial pressure, failure or seasons we never would have chosen. When fellow podcaster Rick Barron accepted my invitation to join me on The Main Thing, I expected to hear great stories from his remarkable 42-year career in Silicon Valley. What I didn’t expect was to come away thinking about failure, gratitude, resilience and the unexpected teachers that shape a life. Rick’s journey...
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The Practice of Living Well - A Wisdom Conversation with Jacquie Bowen
The Main Thing Podcast
Most of us spend our lives looking ahead—to the next goal, the next responsibility, or the next season. But what if wisdom begins by giving our full attention to the moment we're already living? In this thoughtful conversation, Skip sits down with longtime optometrist, respected leader, wife, mother, and lifelong student of wisdom, Dr. Jacquie Bowen. Through stories of family, leadership, adversity, and personal reinvention, Jacquie reminds us that presence, grace, and faithful attention aren't lofty ideals—they're daily decisions. She shares the deeply personal story of launching an...
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Ep. 146 - Kate Reed | What Happens When We're Forced to Slow Down?
The Main Thing Podcast
What Happens When We’re Forced to Slow Down? Wisdom Revisited with Wellness Entrepreneur Kate Reed Three years after first sharing her wisdom to “slow down” on The Main Thing Podcast, Kate Reed returns for a deeply personal conversation. Together, she and Skip explore entrepreneurship, burnout, recovery, mindfulness, and what changed after a traumatic brain injury forced her life into a different rhythm. Kate opens up about leaving a longtime career to build Wonder and Grow full time, learning healthier boundaries around work and family, protecting friendship inside business...
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Ep. 145 - Skip's Quips: Who Do We Stop For?
The Main Thing Podcast
Ep. 145 – Skip’s Quips: Who Do We Stop For? There’s a strange thing that happens to us when we drive. Over time, certain people begin to fade into the scenery—not because we are cruel, but because the human brain is constantly filtering what deserves our attention and what can safely blur into the background. In this short “Skip’s Quips” episode, Skip reflects on a cold spring morning in Appalachia, a man named Jim sitting near an interstate exit, and an unexpected encounter involving two stray dogs on a grassy hillside. Along the way, this essay explores attention, habituation,...
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Ep. 144: The Casket Maker's Secret to a Good Life | Marcus Daly
The Main Thing Podcast
My Wisdom Conversation with Marcus Daly What does a casket maker know about life? More than you might expect. In this deeply thoughtful conversation, Marcus Daly shares how a life spent building caskets has shaped the way he thinks about living, loving, and what ultimately matters. What begins as a conversation about craft and career unfolds into something far more meaningful—touching on loss, purpose, faith, and the quiet choices that shape a good life. A Bit More About Our Wise Guest Marcus is the founder of Marian Caskets, a husband and father of eleven. He’s a former commercial...
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Ep. 143 - She Built Green Goo. Then It Was Gone | Jodi Scott
The Main Thing Podcast
What happens when the thing you built gets taken away? Jodi Scott founded Green Goo with a simple mission: create clean, all-natural first aid products that actually work. What started in her kitchen grew into a nationally recognized brand. And then—just like that—it was gone. A financing deal fell apart. Ownership slipped away. And Jodi found herself on the outside of the very company she created. Most people would walk away. Jodi didn’t. In this episode, Jodi shares the hard-earned wisdom from the fight to reclaim what was hers—and what that battle revealed about resilience,...
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Ep. 142 - Seeing Life Clearly: Wisdom from Dr. Brad Lane
The Main Thing Podcast
Welcome back to The Main Thing Podcast — your wisdom podcast where we explore insights, stories, and ideas that help us get a little bit better at life. In this episode, host Skip Lineberg sits down with optometrist, author, and community leader Dr. Brad Lane for a thoughtful conversation about mindset, perception, and the power of intentional focus. Brad shares how a simple journaling practice reshaped his daily life, how gratitude and reflection can transform our outlook, and why the human brain often finds exactly what it is looking for. Drawing from both neuroscience and...
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Ep. 141 - Switching Microphones with Chip VanAlsburg
The Main Thing Podcast
When the Mic Turns Around What happens when interviewer becomes interviewee? In this special role-reversal episode of The Main Thing, longtime friend Chip VanAlsburg steps in as host to turn the microphone on Skip Lineberg. Together, they explore the origin story behind the podcast, the deeper spiritual motivation driving it, and what it really takes to distill knowledge into wisdom that helps people get better at life. Pulling Back the Curtain on The Main Thing From childhood conversations with elders to the “Holy Spirit moment” that birthed the show. And from the unseen,...
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Ep. 140: An Enlightened Look at the Southern Border – with Gil Gillenwater
The Main Thing Podcast
Wisdom, Perspective and Hope on the Border: A Wisdom Conversation with Gil Gillenwater Welcome back to The Main Thing Podcast. We recently engaged in a meaningful and transformative conversation with Gil Gillenwater, a trailblazing humanitarian leader. Gil has devoted his life to serving people in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. This conversation offers listeners a deeper, more grounded understanding of the southern border, beyond headlines, politics, and talking points. Let’s be clear from the outset: if you think this episode is about free handouts or opening up our borders to...
info_outlineFrom Combat Zones to Community Hubs: Jake Harriman's Journey of Servant Leadership
I first heard about Jake Harriman by way of his guest appearance on The Jocko Willink Podcast. Immediately I was drawn to his mission, heart and bias for action. Jake Harriman is a former US Marine Commander who spent more than a decade abroad defending our nation from enemies, terrorism and other global threats. But when Jake retired from active military duty and returned to America, in his words, he no longer recognized the nation he had spent so many years defending. Jake quickly saw that Americans were at war with one another. Rather than just lamenting this sad situation, Jake decided to do something about it, and you'll learn all about that in today's episode.
More About Our Wise Guest - Jake Harriman
Jake Harriman graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy and served seven and a half years in the US Marine Corps as a platoon commander in both the infantry and force recon. Following his service in the military, Jake enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Following his service in the military, Jake enrolled at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. While at Stanford, he founded Nuru International to eradicate extreme poverty in the world's most unstable, vulnerable regions, to help end violent extremism. Jake also played a vital role in drafting, introducing and passing groundbreaking new legislation called the Global Fragility Act of 2019 that equips America with new authorities and resources to prevent conflict and stabilize some of the most fragile regions around the world.
Today, Jake is the founder and president of More Perfect Union, a veteran-led civic organization that works to unite the country and strengthen our communities through social connection, service and civic engagement.
Resources
More Perfect Union website
Nuru International website
Jake Harriman on LinkedIn
Credits
Editor + Technical Advisor Bob Hotchkiss
Brand + Strategy Advisor Andy Malinoski
PR + Partnerships Advisor Rachel Bell
Marketing, Social Media and Graphic Design Chloe Lineberg
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Episode Chapters
[0:03:55] - Wisdom gleaned in West Virginia
[0:05:25] - Transformed by combat
[0:06:30] - Jake has an epiphany in Southern Iraq
[0:11:23] - Lasting meaningful choices; a life focused on mitigating poverty
[0:13:40] - Jake’s move to Kenya; challenges, establishing roots, making impact
[0:15:55] - A pivotal conversation with Philip
[0:17:38] - Jake returns to America; a heartbreaking realization
[0:25:38] - Jake shares his Main Thing
[0:30:19] - An all-hand-on-deck time for America and its citizens
Episode Keywords
Wisdom, Servant, Leadership, Marines, Naval Academy, Commander, Poverty, Conflict, Military, More Perfect Union, Community Engagement, West Virginia, Resilience, Integrity, Combat, Iraq, Force Recon, Kenya, Service, Civics, Dehumanization