What If Anger Is the Answer?: A Harvard Marine's Guide to Shaping Aggression - Book Review

In What if Anger Is the Answer?, Mike LeBlanc—a decorated Marine Corps Major, Harvard Business School graduate, and "Unicorn" startup founder—challenges the modern assumption that anger is a purely negative emotion.  Drawing on his research into Ancient Greek philosophy, Shakespearean tragedy, and primatology, LeBlanc argues that our culture has been "lied to" by a world that wants us to choose balance over excellence. He writes from the perspective of a man who moved from a working-class background to "high society" only to find that the classics he studied actually championed the shaping of aggression rather than its suppression.

The book’s central argument draws on Socrates’s metaphor of the soul, made up of a “small man” (the mind), a “hydra” (the appetites), and a “lion” (anger). LeBlanc explains that while untrained anger is a destructive vice—one that results in “hangovers of apologies and regret”—a disciplined, trained “lion” is necessary for a “good and beautiful life.” This thumos, or spiritedness, is the element of the soul that claims what belongs to us, defends what we care about, and fuels our ambitions.

For people struggling with anger issues, this book does not fuel uncontrolled rage; instead, it offers a path toward discipline and integration. LeBlanc suggests that treating anger as a monster to be suppressed only causes it to erupt in fits.  His advice is to train the "lion" to become an ally of the "small man," using it to police our base appetites and stay bold in the face of "analysis paralysis."  He champions "Neanderthal Logic"—a method of cutting through nonessential details to get to the heart of a decision. 

This book will be deeply appreciated by aspiring leaders, entrepreneurs, and those navigating "broken worlds" of cynical colleagues and ambiguous missions [Part IV Title, 431]. LeBlanc uses his experience in Afghanistan to show how "princely" leaders must balance the nobility of a hero with the calculating "fox-like" craft of a politician to turn strangers into allies.  Ultimately, LeBlanc offers a "book of weapons" for anyone who wants to stop making "comfort-based decisions" and start building something meaningful out of life’s broken parts.