About this episode
Allie Canton interviews Blake Murphey about his unconventional career path and the insights gained from his experiences in the Navy and elite college culture.
What does it actually cost to take the road less traveled — and what do you get back? In this episode, I sit down with my Amherst classmate Blake Murphey: liberal arts kid, former finance intern, and US Navy intelligence officer of 13 years. Blake's career reads like something out of a novel — aircraft carrier Intel cells in the Persian Gulf, supporting a SEAL Team deployment in East Africa, NATO in Sicily (yes, on the slopes of Mount Etna), the Pentagon, and now working alongside the people who literally defuse bombs for a living. But what strikes me most isn't the résumé. It's how Blake thinks about time — not as a backdrop to ambition, but as the whole point. We wander through the invisible curriculum of elite college culture: why so many brilliant people funnel into finance (spoiler: it's not just the money), what it actually felt like to leave that path, and what 13 years of high-pressure intelligence work teaches you about staying present when your amygdala is running the show. We also talk about the song Blake sings in his head when everything goes blank under pressure. It's Bob Seger. It works. And honestly, it makes complete sense. This is a conversation about the…
People in this episode
Host: Allie Canton
Guest: Blake Murphey
Topics covered
- career paths
- intelligence work
- elite college culture
- finance
- personal growth
- success stories
Keywords
- resume
- career choices
- Navy intelligence
- elite colleges
- personal development
- success
- finance
- pressure management
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: US Navy
Books & works: Bob Seger
Places: Persian Gulf, East Africa, Sicily, Mount Etna, Pentagon, Amherst
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