I have never seen anyone deliver a speech quite like Jordan Peterson. Pacing across the stage, Peterson addressed the crowd seated in Constitution Hall in D.C. on Monday night for just over an hour. His eyes were closed, or nearly closed, for the majority of his speech—seemingly allowing the modern philosopher to avert distraction and articulate each of his arguments with rhetorical mastery. No notes aided him as he spoke out of the book of Exodus on leadership.
Peterson, a 62-year-old Canadian psychologist and author, spent the evening presenting a powerful picture of what makes a leader using the story of Moses from the Bible. Like the roughly 2,000 or so audience members, I sat listening closely to Peterson. But nearly as fascinating to me as Peterson’s words was the crowd that had come to hear him.
After living in Washington for nearly seven years and…
