Founders

What I learned from reading Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle by Matthew Symonds. ---- [0:01] Although much of my time with him coincided with a period of adversity for Oracle, I never once saw Ellison downcast. His unquenchable optimism and almost messianic self belief never faltered. [5:06] The single most important aspect of my personality is my questioning of convention...

What I learned from reading The Fast Times of Albert Champion: From Record-Setting Racer to Dashing Tycoon, An Untold Story of Speed, Success, and Betrayal by Peter Joffre Nye. ---- [0:01] A brief summary of the life of Albert Champion: Champion had been born in Paris April 2, 1878. By age twelve he was an errand and office boy for a Paris bicycle manufacturer. He became interested in bicycle raci...

What I learned from reading My Years with General Motors by Alfred Sloan. ---- [2:40] There are ideas worth billions in a $30 history book: Henry talked to me on several occasions about a book by the former chairman of General Motors. He told me he had learned a very important concept from that book, which he wished to use in the growth of Teledyne. . .during a very difficult economic time of rece...

What I learned from reading Billy, Alfred, and General Motors: The Story of Two Unique Men, A Legendary Company, and a Remarkable Time in American History by William Pelfrey. ---- [0:01] They were oil and water in all respects. Billy Durant, the high school dropout, was the flamboyant dreamer and gambler, focused on personal relationships and risk. Alfred Sloan, the MIT engineer, was the stern org...

What I learned from reading Billy Durant Creator of General Motors: The Story of the Flamboyant Genius Who Helped Lead America into the Automobile Age by Lawrence Gustin. ---- [0:32] DURANT MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT AUTOMOBILE PIONEER: Of all the colorful men who propelled the United States into the automobile age, Billy Durant was perhaps the most unusual, and from an organizational standpoint in...

What I learned from reading The Dodge Brothers: The Men, the Motor Cars, and the Legacy by Charles Hyde. ---- This is the story of two small town machinists who became enormously successful automobile manufacturers in the early years of the auto industry [0:01] Early life and first jobs [3:02] Moving to Detroit: Arriving at the right place, at the right time, with the right skill set [6:28] Horace...

What I learned by reading My Forty Years With Ford by Charles Sorensen. ---- Henry Ford’s greatest achievement and his greatest failure [0:01] Henry Ford had one, single idea [4:15] Henry Ford’s management style [5:46] The paradox of Henry Ford [8:27] Henry Ford’s greatest advisor [11:30] A great story about The Dodge Brothers [16:20] Why and how Henry Ford bought out all of the shareholders of Fo...

What I learned from reading Born of This Land: My Life Story by Chung Ju-yung. --- For a long time I was known as the bulldozer. [0:01] How Chung’s son remembers him: He had a wonderfully positive disposition and a rigorous work ethic. [3:15] Memories of his father + Half century of struggle + Why he is writing this book [9:25] Running away from home. Four times. [12:15] A different level of pover...

What I learned from reading Samuel Bronfman: The Life and Times of Seagram’s Mr. Sam by Michael R. Marrus. ---- The story of Sam’s rise to fame and fortune from a hard life on the Canadian frontier is inherently dramatic and yet touches a familiar nerve in a broad spectrum of the population. There is something in Sam’s response to his disappointments that most people recognize in their themselves....

What I learned from reading Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson. ---- He was, during his 84 year long life, America’s best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist. [0:01] On Founders #62 I covered Ben Franklin’s autobiography [4:10] The family produced dissenters and nonconformists who were willing to defy authority, although not to the point of becoming z...

What I learned from reading The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Timeby Michael Craig. ---- Some Texas banker was playing poker with over $15 million on the table. 15 million on the table? This much cash would weigh over 250 pounds. [0:01] Founders #38 Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Co...

What I learned from reading Black Titan: A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire by Carol Jenkins and Elizabeth Gardner Hines ---- The grandson of slaves, born into poverty in 1892 in the Deep South, A. G. Gaston died more than a century later with a fortune worth well over $130 million [0:01] A 10 year old’s first business idea [5:35]  A.G. finds a blueprint to follow: A.B. Lov...

What I learned from reading Plagued by Fire: The Dreams and Furies of Frank Lloyd Wright by Paul Hendrickson.  ---- [0:01] Frank Lloyd Wright suffered a personal catastrophe that would have destroyed a man of lesser will and lesser ego.  [7:20] Ben Franklin writing about vanity 250 years ago: Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarte...

What I learned from reading The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood by Tom King.  ---- He told me he had recently read Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, Buffett was Geffen's hero. Geffen—with searing focus, unyielding drive, and outlandish nerve—had devised and implemented strategies to propel himself to the top of the heap of Hollywood powerbrokers. I use...

What I learned from reading Distant Force: A Memoir of the Teledyne Corporation and the Man Who Created It by Dr. George Roberts.  ---- Henry was much more than a salesman, mathematician, engineer, inventor, and chess champion. He was a student. An observer of the history of manufacturing, of the progress and growth of corporations from the days of Henry Ford, the growth of General Motors, the man...

What I learned from reading Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and The Family Feud That Forever Changed The Business of Sports by Barbara Smit. ---- This story begins at a time in history when money and sports were still two separate worlds [0:01] A family business struggling to survive / drafted into WWI / Adi Dassler’s EXTREME resourcefulness and personality / [3:15] Ea...

What I learned from reading The Man Who Solved The Market: How Jim Simons Launched The Quant Revolution by Gregory Zuckerman  ---- The story of the greatest moneymaker of all time [0:01] Simons prefers to move in silence [1:40] Unknown Unknowns > Known Knowns / Wise people always know exactly why something won’t work. That is why I never employ an expert in full bloom. —Henry Ford [2:42] A one wor...

What I learned from reading Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary & Social Innovator by Robert E. Price. ---- What was it about this man that engendered so much admiration and respect? [0:01] Sol Price’s early life  [4:39] Sol Price was a misfit / “If you want to understand the entrepreneur, study the juvenile delinquent. The delinquent is saying with his actions, "This sucks. I'm going to do my own thi...

What I learned from reading The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership by Bill Walsh.  --- [0:01] I believe it’s much the same in one’s profession: Superb, reliable results take time.  [4:55] How Jack Dorsey describes The Score Takes Care of Itself: He took at team that was at the bottom and brought them to the top. He focused on the details. He didn’t say you need to win games. H...

What I learned from reading Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going! by Les Schwab.  ---- 16 ideas from the book:  Intensity is the price of excellence —Warren Buffett I am 68 years old now. And I've run it in overdrive my whole life. I've always wanted to be the best tire dealer, not necessarily the largest tire dealer. The people serving your customers are the most important people in you...

What I learned from reading Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Ingvar Kamprad and Bertil Torekull. ---- [0:01]  He aims to give his company eternal life  [3:45] Early life and entrepreneurship   [8:00] The beginning of IKEA  [11:40] Learning entrepreneurship by imitating  [16:30] IKEA almost dies in infancy / how Ingvar worked his way through it  [26:00] Ingvar’s greatest regret in life: Neglect...

What I learned from reading The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach.  ---- [0:10] She was  the smartest woman on Wall Street, a financial genius, a railroad magnate, a real estate mogul, a Gilded Era renegade, a reliable source for city funds. [0:19] “I have had fights with some of the greatest financial men in the country. Did you ever hear of any of them gett...

What I learned from reading Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony by Akio Morita.   --- [0:01] Forty years ago, a small group gathered in a burned-out department store building in war-devastated downtown Tokyo. Their purpose was to found a new company, their optimistic goal was to develop the technologies that would help rebuild Japan's economy. [5:00] I was born the first son and fifteenth-generati...

What I learned from reading The Tao of Warren Buffett by David Clark and Mary Buffett.  --- [0:01]The more I heard Warren speak, the more I learned. Not only about investing, but about business and life.  [4:02] The great personal fortunes in this country weren’t built on a portfolio of fifty companies. They were built by someone who identified one wonderful business.  [5:45] It is impossible to u...

What I learned from reading The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder. ---- [0:01] What he was teaching were the lessons that had emerged from the unfolding of his own life  [4:35] The dichotomy of Warren Buffett  [9:20] Warren Buffett wants to be remembered as a teacher  [11:52] Buffett’s idea of Inner scorecard vs Outer scorecard  [13:49] Warren Buffett’s early fam...