Read & Repeat

Michael Lewis's first book, Liar's Poker, is the ultimate case study of misaligned incentives. The book covers the rise of Salomon Brothers as the king of bond trading in the 80s, and the many perverse incentives that later lead to their downfall. Throughout this episode, we learn what NOT to do when running a business, and as Charlie Munger likes to say, invert always invert! We'll di...

Made in Japan is the incredible autobiography of Akio Morita, the cofounder of SONY. Akio Morita started SONY in the rubble of post-WW2 Japan, determined to make Japan known as a country of high quality products. Throughout SONY’s rise, he was always focused on leading the technological transition from real world senses to digital consumption, pioneering fundamental inventions such as the tape rec...

Danny Meyer's book Setting the Table is an instant favorite amongst entrepreneur memoirs, up there with the likes of Creativity Inc and Shoe Dog. Danny Meyer opened his first restaurant, Union Square Cafe, in 1985, and has been prolific since then, building and expanding premier restaurant concepts across NYC and other major markets. In addition to that, he founded and scaled Shake Shack into...

Matthew McConaughey's book Greenlights gives us a valuable metaphor for life: the problems we face today eventually turn into blessings in the rearview mirror of life. I'll discuss how he was able to use visualization and eliminate limiting beliefs to catapult himself into the superstar league of Hollywood actors. McConaughey will also share with us the tough times he experienced along the...

Living with a SEAL is a hilarious & motivating book that chronicles the month Jesse Itzler spent training with Navy SEAL legend David Goggins. Serial entrepreneur Jesse Itzler was looking for a new challenge in life, after starting a private jet pass company and growing the Zico Coconut Water brand. He happened to run into David Goggins at an ultra marathon race and immediately decided that th...

Can't Hurt Me is one of the most inspiring books I've ever read. David Goggins takes us through his tough upbringing and years battling a victim mentality, until he decided enough was enough. He shares how he remarkably lost 106 pounds in only a few months, as he became obsessed with joining the Navy SEALs. Throughout this unbelievable story, Goggins shows us how to develop a calloused min...

Morgan Housel’s fantastic book “The Psychology of Money” is a collection of stories on how we interact with our own money. I really enjoyed reading Housel’s book (for the second time!) because it contains many fundamental lessons on investing psychology. He emphasizes that the true wealth lies not in material possessions or lavish lifestyles, but in the freedom it affords us. The best thing money...

"The Irvine Ranch", by Martin A. Brower, shares the remarkable rise of the Irvine Company from a citrus crop ranch to a local real estate behemoth. The Irvine Company is the closest thing to a monopoly I've found in the largely commoditized world of real estate, where they began by owning 100,000 acres of prime land in the Southern California beach region and have since developed tha...

Vicky Ward’s “The Liar’s Ball” gives us a lens into the famous 2003 sale of the GM Building, one of the most valuable real estate buildings in American history. We’ll see how numerous real estate titans, from William Zeckendorf to Sam Zell, all played a role in this asset’s history - while we’ll particularly focus on the decisions made by the protagonist, Harry Macklowe. Macklowe’s journey to owni...

Michael Mauboussin’s book “The Success Equation” walks through how to distinguish skill from luck and its impact on everything from investing to sports. Mauboussin is the author of one of my favorite books of all time, Expectations Investing, and this one has similarly powerful insights. He teaches us how to develop skill through deliberate practice and how to overcome stronger opponents as an und...

Moneyball, the groundbreaking book by Michael Lewis, forever changed the landscape of professional sports. Moneyball tells the inspiring story of the Oakland A's, a small-market baseball team that defied the odds by leveraging advanced data to gain a competitive edge in the highly traditional world of baseball. The hero of this story is the Oakland A's general manager, Billy Beane, who rep...

Today we'll be discussing "The Club: How the Premier League Became the Richest, Most Disruptive Business in Sports" by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg. Since its inception as a breakaway league in 1992, the English Premier League has risen to become one of the largest and most lucrative sports leagues in the world. Behind the glitz and glamour lies a tale of business owner drama,...

Phil Knight's memoir "Shoe Dog” shares his incredible entrepreneurial journey that transformed a small business selling running shoes in Oregon into the global behemoth we know today as Nike. From his ultra risk-taking mentality to deep passion for shoes, Knight was able to create an entire new running market when casual runners were mocked before. He endlessly experimented with his cofou...

Phil Jackson’s book "Eleven Rings" shares his insights on leadership after winning 11 championships in 20 seasons! Studying coaches can teach us about leadership in any domain, spanning from delegating authority and suggestively nudging those you lead to differentiating from competitors. We’ll see repeated themes from past episodes, including John D. Rockefeller, Ed Catmull, HBO, Bill Wa...

Kobe Bryant's book "The Mamba Mentality" teaches us vital lessons about studying the greats who came before us, working hard in the dark to shine in the light, and why we need obsession to reach the level of greatness. After listening to his insights, you will walk away feeling inspired to outwork your competitors and revel in the process. Kobe's powerful Mamba Mentality guided h...

Today we'll cover the phenomenal book "Michael Jordan: The Life" by Roland Lazenby. Michael Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time, having won six NBA championships, five NBA MVPs, and expanding the game of basketball to the global stage. You could put all the best directors and writers in a room and they wouldn’t be able to create the story of MJ… But...

Today we’re gonna explore the fascinating life of William Zeckendorf, one of the most influential real estate developers in American history, as he shares his remarkable journey of revitalizing cities like New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, and Denver through his ambitious visionary designs. Zeckendorf's book is full of insights and lessons that still resonate today. He was a master at spot...

“The Score Takes Care of Itself” by Bill Walsh details the rise of a legendary coach who changed the NFL and led the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles in just 10 years. Walsh revolutionized the game with his West Coast Offense, which, against all odds and conventional wisdom, emphasized a pass-first strategy in an era dominated by the run game. We’ll explore key takeaways throughout t...

Today we're going to dive into the mind of Coach John Wooden, the all-time great who led UCLA Basketball to 10 championships over a 12-year period. We’ll discuss Wooden’s Pyramid of Success in detail and highlight qualities that made the famous coach stand out. Wooden emphasized that excellence is not a fixed destination, but a journey that requires constant hard work and self-improvement. Fro...

I'm excited to dive deeper into the "zig when others zag" philosophy of Henry Singleton with my guest today, Aleem Choudhry. Aleem worked with William Thorndike to study Henry Singleton - one of the best Capital allocators over the last century - during his time at HBS in the early 2000s. He’s since gone on to become an impact investor focusing on the education and healthcare sectors...

In "Hit Refresh", Satya Nadella shares his rise to the top of Microsoft as they were struggling competitively, and the drastic changes he made to reinvent the culture of the company around a growth mindset. Since taking over in 2014, Nadella has redirected the company away from its declining Windows PC business and towards enterprise services & cloud computing, making strategic acqui...

Jon Acuff's book "Soundtracks" explores how our negative thoughts and overthinking can become like broken soundtracks, playing on repeat in our minds. When we consistently listen to these broken soundtracks, they become ingrained in our psyche and lead to inaction. Acuff argues that we need to actively shift to more positive soundtracks if we want to reach our goals and live a more e...

In my conversation with Dr. Anna Lembke, we discuss many of the core insights from her influential book Dopamine Nation, such as the pleasure-pain seesaw, the DOPAMINE framework, and how leaning into pain can lead to a restored pleasure balance. She shares numerous tools we can use in avoiding our compulsive urges, such as time restraints, exercise, cold immersion, and community. We also touch on...

In today’s episode, we'll be discussing the management philosophy and investment strategies of Mark Leonard, the CEO of Constellation Software. Over the years, Leonard has developed a cult following for his unique approach to acquiring mission-critical vertical software businesses, which has led to impressive 30% annualized returns for shareholders. Leonard's decentralized management style...

Mark Robichaux’s phenomenal book “Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business” dives into the fascinating evolution and history of the cable industry through the lens of its robber baron pioneer, John Malone. Much like John D. Rockefeller, Malone exerted control over his industry peers by buying cable operators and investing in the cable programs, giving him power over the...