Greatness comes in various forms: moral revolutions and aggressive pursuits: Great leaders come in diverse forms, with moral revolutions and aggressive pursuits both leaving significant impacts and legacies
Greatness can come in various forms, from moral and nonviolent revolutions led by figures like Mahatma Gandhi, to aggressive pursuits of change like Napoleon Bonaparte. Both approaches have their merits and challenges. While Gandhi's methods were moral and led to India's independence, they also resulted in a genocidal civil war. Napoleon, on the other hand, overthrew kings and tyrants, creating modern public education, public art museums, and the modern legal system, but also engaged in wars and resorted to violence to achieve his goals. History's greatest figures often defy easy categorization and leave complex legacies. Ultimately, it's important to recognize that no single approach holds a monopoly on greatness or positive change.
Insights into the mindset of extreme winners: The book reveals the unconventional friendship between Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs, highlighting their unique mindsets and approaches to business, art, and creation.
Learning from the discussion about "The Billionaire and the Mechanic" by Julian Guthrie is that the book provides insights into the mindset of extreme winners, as demonstrated through the friendship between Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs. Their unconventional and mischievous personalities are highlighted in the anecdote about the peacocks, but their business approaches were radically different. Despite their similarities, such as their adoptive backgrounds, OCD tendencies, and disdain for conventional wisdom, they both faced naysayers and made their ideas work. A notable exchange between them in Larry's garden showcases their differing perspectives on art and creation, with Larry acknowledging Steve's unique ability to make his own art. This exchange provides an insight into Larry's admiration for Steve's talents. Overall, the book offers valuable insights into the mindset of successful individuals and their ability to overcome challenges.
Two Tech Giants, Two Different Approaches: Steve Jobs focused on simplifying life and creating insanely great products, while Larry Ellison was inspired by diverse interests and a win-at-all-costs attitude
Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison, two tech industry giants, had vastly different approaches to business and life. While Ellison, like Michael Jordan in business, was addicted to winning and had a diverse range of interests, Jobs focused relentlessly on designing and redesigning products to make them more useful and beautiful. Ellison was inspired by figures like Howard Hughes, who lived an extravagant life with various interests, while Jobs simplified his life to eliminate distractions. Jobs learned from studying Ellison's designs, such as his plane, and applied that knowledge to his own projects. Both men prioritized learning from history, but Jobs' competitive spirit was driven in part by his desire to eliminate complexity and focus on creating insanely great products.
Larry Ellison's Inspiration from a Teenage Sailor's Journey: Larry Ellison draws inspiration from Robin Lee Graham's solo circumnavigation journey, embracing challenges and using competition as a tool for self-improvement in his personal and professional life.
Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation, was inspired by the story of a teenage sailor named Robin Lee Graham who solo circumnavigated the globe. This story ignited Larry's own passion for sailing and adventure, in contrast to the negative messages he received from his adopted father. Larry's approach to life is to embrace challenges and navigate his own path, just as Graham did on the sea. Additionally, Larry uses competition as a tool for self-improvement, as seen in his involvement in extreme sports and the America's Cup, where he tests his skills against the best sailors in the world. The intense preparation and logistics required for these competitions serve as a challenging and rewarding experience for him.
Larry Ellison's obsession with competition and risk: Larry Ellison saw competition and risk as essential tools for personal growth and pushing boundaries, drawing inspiration from sports and nature.
Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, sought out competition and risk as tools for self-improvement and growth, drawing inspiration from the world of sports and the unpredictability of nature. Ellison's obsession with seeking out competition, which he referred to as "alternative stress," was a unique trait that set him apart from most people. This was evident in his personal life, where he engaged in high-risk hobbies, and in his professional life, where he relentlessly pursued beating his rivals IBM and Microsoft. A notable example of this was during a yacht race in which Ellison and his team found themselves in the eye of a hurricane, an experience that tested their limits and provided a valuable learning opportunity. While some may view such risks as reckless, Ellison saw them as essential for personal growth and pushing the boundaries of what was possible. As George Mallory famously said, "It's not because it's there, it's because we're there, and we wonder if we can do it."
Unconventional partnerships lead to great success: Innovative alliances and non-traditional approaches can unlock new opportunities and help achieve ambitious goals
The mindset of extreme winners, like Larry Ellison, is driven by an innate desire to improve and test themselves. Ellison's quest for control and unwillingness to be told what he can't do led him to form an unconventional partnership with the Golden Gate Yacht Club. This partnership, born out of mutual need, ultimately helped Ellison achieve his goal of competing in the America's Cup. A key lesson from the story is that sometimes, unconventional partnerships and approaches can lead to great success, especially when traditional options don't align with one's goals or values. Additionally, Ellison's determination and unwillingness to settle for the sidelines demonstrate the importance of staying true to one's ambitions and not being afraid to challenge the status quo.
Recognizing shared interests and values: Successfully securing a deal requires understanding the interests and values of the other party and catering to them. Building personal connections and valuing loyalty are also crucial.
Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, was able to secure a deal with a yacht club by recognizing and catering to the shared interests and values of the club's members. Ellison, who was known for his love of racing and wealth, saw an opportunity and sent an email to the club. This simple action led to a successful deal. However, it's important to note that Ellison's relationship with the yacht club and its members was not just transactional. He understood the importance of building personal connections and valued loyalty. Furthermore, Ellison's success story is a testament to his determination and resilience. Despite early struggles and setbacks, he went on to become a billionaire. Even during difficult times, such as the Internet bubble burst in 2001, Ellison remained dedicated to his work and drew inspiration from books and other sources. His fear of failure drove him to work tirelessly and stay engaged, even during challenging times. Overall, the story of Ellison's deal with the yacht club illustrates the power of recognizing shared interests and values, building personal connections, and staying dedicated to one's goals, even in the face of adversity.
Oracle was Ellison's priority over personal relationships and other pursuits: Ellison saw Yahoo as just a webpage and free email service compared to Oracle's value, illustrating his dedication to his company and the concept of creating internal challenges to sustain motivation.
Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, prioritized his company above all else, even over his personal relationships and other pursuits. This is evident in his response to his friend's suggestion of merging Yahoo with Disney. Ellison recognized Disney's value as a media and entertainment giant, but saw Yahoo as just a webpage and free email service. Oracle was his baby, and he had dedicated decades to its success. Another insight gained from the discussion is the concept of a "game within a game." Both Larry Ellison and Michael Jordan, as depicted in the documentary, found ways to sustain their motivation and intensity over long periods by creating internal challenges and goals. Whether it was Ellison's desire to be the number one software company or Jordan's need to prove himself against perceived adversaries, they used these games to keep pushing themselves forward.
Unrelenting drive to win in different domains: Michael Jordan and Larry Ellison, despite their different fields, share a common trait: an unrelenting drive to win, using past conversations as motivation and making tough decisions respectively.
Both Michael Jordan and Larry Ellison, despite their different domains of success, share a common trait: an unrelenting drive to win. Jordan, known for his competitive nature and trash-talking, used past conversations as motivation to fuel his performance. Ellison, a business magnate, made tough decisions and learned valuable lessons from setbacks. Extreme winners, like Jordan and Ellison, respect and admire each other, but have no patience for quitters. Winning is the ultimate goal and source of enjoyment for both figures. The book provides insights into the mindset and preparation strategies of such individuals, offering valuable lessons for anyone striving for success in their chosen field.
Larry Ellison's Values: Human Will and Determination Over Talent: Larry Ellison prioritizes human will and determination over talent, driving him to give his all and make bold decisions, even if it means letting go of team members.
Larry Ellison, known for his competitive spirit and intense desire to win, values human will and determination over talent. This mindset, inspired by Vince Lombardi, drives him to give his all in every aspect of life, whether it's business or personal. Ellison's unwillingness to lose and his relentless pursuit of victory led him to make bold decisions, even if it meant letting go of team members who didn't share his drive. Despite his lack of interest in marriage and authority, Ellison's focus on work and personal growth continues to shape his legacy.
The power of determination and self-improvement: Determination and constant self-improvement are crucial for success. Recognize weaknesses, learn from failures, and refuse to give up. Find inspiration in athletes and be willing to put yourself in uncomfortable situations to grow.
Determination and constant self-improvement are key to success, as illustrated by Larry Ellison's life experiences. Ellison, a billionaire businessman and tech innovator, recognized the importance of finding and addressing one's weaknesses, as evidenced by his notes on the book "Lone Survivor" and his admiration for athletes like Rafael Nadal and Kobe Bryant. He believed that winning the "battle in the mind" and refusing to "wave the white flag" were essential to growth and improvement. Ellison's willingness to put himself in uncomfortable situations, such as racing against professional sailors, further demonstrated his commitment to self-improvement and unwillingness to settle for mediocrity. This mindset, combined with his innovative approach to technology and business, allowed Ellison to achieve remarkable success.
Larry Ellison's addiction to winning and deception: Larry Ellison's drive to win and refusal to be deceived have been key factors in his success in business and sports.
Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle, is deeply addicted to winning and goes to great lengths to ensure his teams have an advantage. He's not afraid of verbal abuse or hard work, as long as it helps him come out on top. His favorite maxim, "the brains primary purpose is deception and the primary person to be deceived is the owner," highlights his need to challenge himself and avoid self-deception. In sports, he finds a clear measure of success and a lack of room for deception. Oracle's success in commercilizing the first relational database came from their determination to do something hard that no one else was attempting, giving them a massive advantage. Larry's admiration for athletes like Jerry West, whom he describes as "charmed and tormented," shows how deeply he connects with the pressure and focus of competition. Ultimately, Ellison's drive to win and his refusal to be deceived have been key factors in his success in business and sports.
Larry Ellison's Obsession with Winning and Filling an Emotional Void: Larry Ellison's relentless pursuit of winning and filling emotional voids led him to set challenging goals and think unconventionally, making him a game-changer and iconoclast.
Larry Ellison, like some of his idols, was driven by an insatiable hunger to win and fill a deep emotional void. This obsession led him to set increasingly challenging goals, keeping the finish line perpetually out of reach. The loss of his close friends Steve Jobs and Tom Lantos, along with a divorce, left him feeling as if essential parts of his life were being taken away. During his friendship with Steve, they would often go for walks to discuss ideas, one of which was taking control of Apple during a time of crisis. This drive and determination, along with his unconventional thinking, are some of the reasons why Larry Ellison is remembered as a game-changer and iconoclast.
Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison's Friendship: Significant Moments and Reflections: Though their friendship had notable moments like a potential business deal, they cherished their shared humor and joyful times. Ellison was disappointed with the portrayal of Jobs in a biography and reflected on life's challenges, cherishing experiences despite adversity.
Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison's friendship was marked by significant moments, including a potential business opportunity where Ellison proposed buying Apple and making Jobs CEO, but Jobs preferred a different approach. Another memorable moment was their shared sense of humor and joyful times together. However, Larry was disappointed that Walter Isaacson's biography didn't portray Jobs as a hero or the Edison of their time. Instead, he saw it as a reflection of a culture that values homogeneity and equality over individual heroes. Ellison also reflected on his own life, acknowledging that he was born with disadvantages but that overcoming them was essential for success. Despite the challenges, he cherished these experiences. The sailboat race, while significant, took a backseat to these deeper reflections on friendship, success, and life's challenges.
Stay focused on the present and problem-solving during challenging situations: During tough times, don't dwell on potential outcomes or concessions. Instead, stay focused on the present and work on solving the problem to turn things around.
During challenging situations, it's essential to stay focused on the present and problem-solving rather than dwelling on potential outcomes or concessions. This lesson comes from the story of Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation, and his team's remarkable comeback in the America's Cup yacht race. When they were down 8 points to 1, instead of preparing concession speeches, Larry and his team, including the extreme and dedicated captain Jimmy, remained in problem-solving mode, ultimately turning the race around. This mindset, inspired by Larry's experience as a licensed commercial pilot and Jimmy's insights from Navy SEAL training, was instrumental in their successful comeback.
Learning from competition as a valuable teacher: Larry Ellison finds joy in competing, views competition as a valuable teacher, focuses on the present and process, and finds personal growth through pushing limits and learning from failure.
Larry Ellison, the successful businessman and yachtsman, views competition as a valuable teacher in life. He has learned to focus on the present and the process, rather than dwelling on past losses or worrying about the outcome. Ellison's obsession with testing his limits and learning from failure has driven him to compete in high-stakes contests like the America's Cup, despite the significant financial cost. He finds joy in the journey of discovery and the personal growth that comes from pushing himself to new heights. Ultimately, Ellison's love for competition is an addiction that keeps him striving for success, both on and off the water.
#126: Larry Ellison (The Billionaire and the Mechanic)
Recent Episodes from Founders
#365 Nick Sleep's Letters: The Full Collection of the Nomad Investment Partnership Letters to Partners
The best investors are not investors at all. They're entrepreneurs who have never sold. — Nick Sleep
Nick Sleep’s letters are a masterclass on the importance of understanding the underlying reality of a business — what he calls the engine of its success.
I read all 110,000 words of Nick’s letters (twice!) to make this episode and what I found most important is Nick’s ability to develop a deep understanding of “honestly run compounding machines” (like Costco and Amazon) years before everyone else.
Nick explains clearly how Jim Sinegal and Jeff Bezos set up their companies for long term success —from the very beginning — and gives us a few hints along the way on how we can do the same in our business.
And the absolute entrepreneurial history nerd in me loved the references to Henry Ford, Sam Walton, Rockefeller and other greats from the past that are sprinkled throughout Nick’s letters.
No surprise that someone who was able to make $2 billion for his clients has a deep understanding of the great work that came before him.
If you want to read all of Nick Sleep’s partnership letters you can do so here for free
You can also read William Green’s book Richer, Wiser, Happier: How The World's Greatest Investors Win In Markets and Life —which both Nick and I recommend. It has an excellent chapter on How Nick and Zak built their firm.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
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#364 Nick & Zak's Excellent Adventure: How Nick Sleep and Qais Zaharia Built Their Investment Partnership
How Nick Sleep and Qais Zakaria built their radically unconventional investment partnership. From the incredible book Richer, Wiser, Happier: How The World's Greatest Investors Win In Markets and Life by William Green.
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I’m doing a LIVE podcast in New York next Monday with Patrick from Invest Like The Best. It’s FREE to attend because of the great people at Ramp ! Space is limited so register here fast!
Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more.
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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#363 Li Lu and Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett
I sent a friend this text: I'm working on another Li Lu episode but this one is about his remarkable investing career. Can be summarized by: 1. Studied Buffett and Munger. 2. Did that. Last episode was about how Li Lu survived one of the most horrific childhoods imaginable. This episode covers how he thinks about investing and entrepreneurship—in his own words.
Sources:
The forward to the Chinese edition of Poor Charlie’s Almanack written by Li Lu
Li Lu's Colombia Business School lecture 2006
Li Lu’s San Francisco State University lecture 2012
Graham & Doddsville interview with Li Lu
13th Colombia Business Conference 2021
Li Lu's Reflections On Reaching Fifty
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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more.
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Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event
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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here.
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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#362 Li Lu
Charlie Munger said that Li Lu was the only outsider he ever trusted with his money. Decades before Li Lu made Munger half a billion dollars, Li survived one of the most horrific childhoods imaginable:
Born into poverty, abandoned, hungry, beaten, surrounded by death. Persistent. Smart. Disciplined. Intensely curious. Obsessed with reading and learning. Determined to escape. This is a story you absolutely cannot miss.
What I learned from reading Moving The Mountain: My life in China from the Cultural Revolution to Tiananmen Square by Li Lu.
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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more.
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Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event
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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here.
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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#361 Estée Lauder
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger said it was a crime that more business schools didn't study Henry Singleton. I think it's a crime that more entrepreneurs don't study Estée Lauder. She is one of the best founders to ever do it. This is the story of how she went from a childhood obsession, to a single counter in a beauty salon, to a multibillion dollar empire.
This is my third time reading this book. It gets better every time I read it. This episode is what I learned from rereading Estée: A Success Story by Estée Lauder.
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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more.
----
Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event
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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here.
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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#360 Robert Kierlin: Founder of Fastenal
Since its founding in 1967 Fastenal has grown from a small fastener store in Winona, Minnesota, into a multibillion-dollar global organization. How did a small town “nuts and bolts” shop become one of the world's most dynamic growth companies? Whenever asked, company founder Bob Kierlin attributes Fastenal's success to the company's high-quality employees and their commitment to a common goal: Growth Through Customer Service.
What I learned from reading The Power of Fastenal People by Robert Kierlin.
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Ramp gives you everything you need to control spend, watch your costs, and optimize your financial operations —all on a single platform. Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more.
----
Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event
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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here.
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Other books mentioned in this episode:
Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going! by Les Schwab.
Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton.
All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger – A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense by Peter Bevelin.
Bloomberg by Michael Bloomberg.
Born of This Land: My Life Story by Chung Ju-yung.
The Bugatti Story by L’Ebe Bugatti.
Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary by Robert Price.
How To Make A Few Billion Dollars by Brad Jacobs.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#359 The Russian Rockefellers: The Nobel Family Dynasty
The name of Nobel usually calls to mind Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, and the internationally prestigious prizes that bear his name. But Alfred was only one member of a creative and innovative family who built an industrial empire in prerevolutionary Russia. The saga begins with an emigre from Sweden, Immanuel Nobel, who was an architect, a pioneer producer of steam engines, and a maker of weapons.
Immanuel's sons included Alfred; Robert, who directed the family's activities in the Caspian oil fields; and Ludwig, an engineering genius and manufacturing magnate whose boundless energy and fierce determination created the Russian petroleum industry.
Ludwig's son Emanuel showed similar mettle, shrewdly bargaining with the Rothschilds for control of the Russian markets and competing head-on with Standard Oil and Royal Dutch Shell for lucrative world markets.
Perhaps no family in history has played so decisive a role in building an industrial empire in an underdeveloped but resource-rich nation. Yet the achievements of the Nobel family have been largely forgotten. When the Bolsheviks came to power, Emmanuel had to flee the country disguised as a peasant.
The Nobel empire with its 50,000 workers lay in ruins. An empire which had taken eighty years to design and build, was nearly destroyed, bringing a sudden and bitter end to one of the most remarkable industrial odysseys in world history.
This episode is what I learned from reading The Russian Rockefellers: The Saga of the Nobel Family and the Russian Oil Industry by Robert Tolf.
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Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more.
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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here.
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Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#358 I had dinner with John Mackey, Founder of Whole Foods
What I learned from having dinner with John Mackey and reading his autobiography The Whole Story: Adventures in Love, Life, and Capitalism.
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Make history's greatest entrepreneurs proud by going to Ramp and learning how they can help your business control your costs and save more.
----
Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here.
----
Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#357 Haruki Murakami
What I learned from reading What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami.
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Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast.
Get access to Founders Notes here.
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Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event
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(3:01) No matter how mundane some action might appear, keep at it long enough and it becomes a contemplative, even meditative act.
(4:00) Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
(4:00) The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand anymore is up to the runner himself.
(10:00) You can't fake passion — someone else, that really loves the job, will out run you. Somebody else sitting in some other MBA program has a deep passion for whatever career path you're going down, and they are going to smoke you if you don't have it yourself. — Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love
(12:00) What’s crucial is whether your writing attains the standards you’ve set for yourself. Failure to reach that bar is not something you can easily explain away.
(14:00) Big ideas come from the unconscious. This is true in art, in science and in advertising. But your unconscious has to be well informed, or your idea will be irrelevant. Stuff your conscious mind with information, then unhook your rational thought process. You can help this process by going for a long walk, or taking a hot bath, or drinking half a pint of claret. Suddenly, if the telephone line from your unconscious is open, a big idea wells up within you. — David Ogilvy
(16:00) If you absolutely can't tolerate critics, then don't do anything new or interesting. — Jeff Bezos
(16:00) So the fact that I’m me and no one else is one of my greatest assets.
(19:00) Failure was not an option. I had to give it everything I had.
(19:00) My only strength has always been the fact that I work hard and can take a lot physically. I’m more a workhorse than a racehorse.
(22:00) I was more interested in having finished it than in whether or not it would ever see the light of day.
(26:00) I’m the kind of person who has to totally commit to whatever I do.
(29:00) The entrenched professional is always going to resist far longer than the private consumer. — James Dyson
(34:00) You really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you should divide up your time and energy. If you don’t get that sort of system set by a certain age, you’ll lack focus and your life will be out of balance. I placed the highest priority on the sort of life that lets me focus on writing,
(37:00) You can’t please everybody. If one out of ten enjoyed the place and said he’d come again, that was enough. If one out of ten was a repeat customer, then the business would survive. To put it the other way, it didn’t matter if nine out of ten didn’t like my bar. This realization lifted a weight off my shoulders. Still, I had to make sure that the one person who did like the place really liked it. In order to make sure he did, I had to make my philosophy and stance clear-cut, and patiently maintain that stance no matter what. This is what I learned through running a business.
(40:00) The reason we're surprised is that we underestimate the cumulative effect of work. Writing a page a day doesn't sound like much, but if you do it every day you'll write a book a year. That's the key: consistency. People who do great things don't get a lot done every day. They get something done, rather than nothing. — How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)
(41:00) When you follow what you are intensely interested in this strange convergence happens where you're working all the time and it feels like you're never working. — How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)
(43:00) No matter how strong a will a person has, no matter how much he may hate to lose, if it’s an activity he doesn’t really care for, he won’t keep it up for long.
(44:00) Nobody ever recommended or even desired that I be a novelist—in fact, some tried to stop me. I had the idea to be one, and that’s what I did.
(45:00) I decided who I want to be, and that is who I am. — Coco Chanel
(46:00) Once, I interviewed an Olympic runner. I asked him, “Does a runner at your level ever feel like you’d rather not run today, like you don’t want to run and would rather just sleep in?” He stared at me and then, in a voice that made it abundantly clear how stupid he thought the question was, replied, “Of course. All the time!”
(47:00) I pity the poor fellow who is so soft and flabby that he must always have "an atmosphere of good feeling" around him before he can do his work. There are such men. And in the end, unless they obtain enough mental and moral hardiness to lift them out of their soft reliance on "feeling," they are failures. Not only are they business failures; they are character failures also; it is as if their bones never attained a sufficient degree of hardness to enable them to stand on their own feet. There is altogether too much reliance on good feeling in our business organizations. — Henry Ford’s Autobiography
(50:00) If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I’d never run again.
(51:00) Focus and endurance can be acquired and sharpened through training.
(54:00) Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
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#356 How The Sun Rose On Silicon Valley: Bob Noyce (Founder of Intel)
What I learned from reading The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce: How the Sun Rose on Silicon Valley by Tom Wolfe.
Read The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World's Most Important Company by Michael Malone with me.
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(1:00) America is today in the midst of a great technological revolution. With the advent of the silicon chip, information processing, and communications, the national economy have been strikingly altered. The new technology is changing how we live, how we work, how we think. The revolution didn't just happen; it was engineered by a small number of people. Collectively, they engineered Tomorrow. Foremost among them is Robert Noyce.
(2:00) Steve Jobs on Robert Noyce: “He was one of the giants in this valley who provided the model and inspiration for everything we wanted to become. He was the ultimate inventor. The ultimate rebel. The ultimate entrepreneur.”
(4:00) When you read biographies of people who've done great work, it's remarkable how much luck is involved. They discover what to work on as a result of a chance meeting, or by reading a book they happen to pick up. So you need to make yourself a big target for luck, and the way to do that is to be curious. Try lots of things, meet lots of people, read lots of books, ask lots of questions. — How To Do Great Work by Paul Graham. (Founders #314)
(7:00) Bob Noyce had a passion for the scientific grind.
(10:00) He had a profound and baffling self-confidence.
(15:00) They called Shockley’s personalty reverse charisma. — Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, Creator of the Electronic Age by Joel Shurkin. (Founders #165)
(25:00) What the beginning of an industry looks like: Anywhere from 50 to 90% of the transistors produced would turn out to be defective.
(33:00) Young engineers were giving themselves over to a new technology as if it were a religious mission.
(41:00) Noyce's idea was that every employee should feel that he could go as far and as fast in this industry as his talent would take him. He didn't want any employee to look at the structure of Intel and see a complex set of hurdles.
(43:00) This wasn't a corporation. It was a congregation.
(43:00) There were sermons. At Intel everyone, Noyce included, was expected to attend sessions on "the Intel Culture." At these sessions the principles by which the company was run were spelled out and discussed.
(45:00) If you're ambitious and hardworking, you want to be told how you're doing.
(45:00) In Noyce's view, most of the young hotshots who were coming to work for Intel had never had the benefit of honest grades in their lives. In the late 1960s and early 1970s college faculties had been under pressure to give all students passing marks so they wouldn't have to go off to Vietnam, and they had caved in, until the entire grading system was meaningless. At Intel they would learn what measuring up meant.
(49:00) When you are trying to convince an audience to accept a radical innovation, almost by definition the idea is so far from the status quo that many people simply cannot get their minds around it. They quickly discovered that the marketplace wasn’t just confused by the concept of the microprocessor, but was actually frightened by its implications. Many of my engineering friends scoffed at it was a gimmick. Their solution? The market had to be educated. At one point, Intel was conducting more seminars and workshops on how to use the microprocessor than the local junior collage’s total catalog of courses. Bob Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove became part of a traveling educational roadshow. Everyone who could walk and talk became educators. It worked. — The Intel Trinity: How Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andy Grove Built the World's Most Important Company by Michael Malone.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
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Related Episodes
#238 Jay Z: Decoded
What I learned from reading Decoded by Jay Z.
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[1:39] I would practice from the time I woke in the morning until I went to sleep
[2:10] Even back then I though I was the best.
[2:57] Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography (Founders #219)
[4:32] Belief becomes before ability.
[5:06] Michael Jordan: The Life (Founders #212)
[5:46] The public praises people for what they practice in private.
[7:28] Lock yourself in a room doing five beats a day for three summers.
[7:50] Sam Walton: Made In America (Founders #234)
[9:50] He was disappointed in the world, so he built one of his own — from Steven Spielberg: A Biography (Founders #209)
[12:47] The Pmarca Blog Archive Ebook by Marc Andreessen (Founders #50)
[13:35] I'm not gonna say that I thought I could get rich from rap, but I could clearly see that it was gonna get bigger before it went away. Way bigger.
[21:10] Over 20 years into his career and dude ain’t changed. He’s got his own vibe. You gotta love him for that. (Rick Rubin)
[21:41] Against The Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Founders #200)
[25:27] I believe you can speak things into existence.
[27:20] Picking the right market is essential.
[29:29] All companies that go out of business do so for the same reason – they run out of money. —Don Valentine
[29:42] There are two things in business that matter, and you can learn this in two minutes- you don’t have to go to business school for two years: high gross margins and cash flow. The other financial metrics you can forget. —Don Valentine
[31:54] I went on the road with Big Daddy Kane for a while. I got an invaluable education watching him perform.
[33:12] Everything I do I learned from the guys who came before me. —Kobe
[34:15] I truly hate having discussions about who would win one on one or fans saying you’d beat Michael. I feel like Yo (puts his hands up like stop. Chill.) What you get from me is from him. I don’t get 5 championships without him because he guided me so much and gave me so much great advice.
[34:50] Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography (Founders #214)
[37:20] This is a classic piece of OG advice. It's amazing how few people actually stick to it.
[38:04] Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success(Founders #56)
[39:04] The key to staying on top of things is to treat everything like it's your first project.
[41:10] The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley (Founders #233)
[44:46] We (Jay Z, Bono, Quincy Jones) ended up trading stories about the pressure we felt even at this point in our lives.
[45:22] Competition pushes you to become your best self. Jordan said the same thing about Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
[46:43] If you got the heart and the brains you can move up quickly. There's no way to quantify all of this on a spreadsheet, but it's the dream of being the exception.
[52:26] He (Russell Simmons) changed the business style of a whole generation. The whole vibe of startup companies in Silicon Valley with 25 year old CEOs wearing shell toes is Russell's Def Jam style filtered through different industries.
[54:17] Jay Z’s approach is I'm going to find the smartest people that that know more than I do, and I'm gonna learn everything I can from them.
[54:49] He (Russell Simmons) knew that the key to success was believing in the quality of your own product enough to make people do business with you on your terms. He knew that great product was the ultimate advantage in competition.
[55:08] In the end it came down to having a great product and the hustle to move it.
[56:37] Learn how to build and sell and you will be unstoppable. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness (Founders #191)
[58:30] We gave those brands a narrative which is one of the reasons anyone buys anything. To own not just a product, but to become part of a story.
[59:30] The best thing for me to do is to ignore and outperform.
[1:01:16] Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. (Founders #90)
[1:06:01] Tao of Charlie Munger: A Compilation of Quotes from Berkshire Hathaway's Vice Chairman on Life, Business, and the Pursuit of Wealth With Commentary (Founders #78)
[1:08:42] Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products(Founders #178)
[1:11:46] Long term success is the ultimate goal.
[1:12:58] Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love - Bill Gurley
[1:15:11] I have always used visualization the way athletes do, to conjure reality.
[1:18:14] The thing that distinguished Jordan wasn't just his talent, but his discipline, his laser-like commitment to excellence.
[1:19:42] The gift that Jordan had wasn't just that he was willing to do the work, but he loved doing it because he could feel himself getting stronger and ready for anything. That is the kind of consistency that you can get only by adding dead serious discipline of whatever talent you have.
[1:21:37] when you step outside of school and you have to teach yourself about life, you develop a different relationship to information. I've never been a purely linear thinker. You can see it to my rhymes. My mind is always jumping around restless, making connections, mixing, and matching ideas rather than marching in a straight line,
[1:27:41] Samuel Bronfman: The Life and Times of Seagram’s Mr. Sam (Founders #116)
[1:34:15] The real bullshit is when you act like you don't have contradictions inside you. That you're so dull and unimaginative that your mind never changes or wanders into strange, unexpected places.
[1:36:25] There are extreme levels of drive and pain tolerance in the history of entrepreneurship.
[1:38:45] Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business
[1:42:24] I love sharp people. Nothing makes me like someone more than intelligence.
[1:44:17] They call it the game, but it's not. You can want success all you want but to get it you can't falter. You can't slip. You can't sleep— one eye open for real and forever.
[1:51:49] The thought that this cannot be life is one that all of us have felt at some point or another. When a bad decision and bad luck and bad situations feel like too much to bear those times. When we think this, this cannot be my story, but facing up to that kind of feeling can be a powerful motivation to change.
[1:54:18] Technology is making it easier to connect to other people, but maybe harder to keep connected to yourself.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#234 Sam Walton: Made In America
What I learned from rereading Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton.
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[1:56] The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone. (Founders #179)
[5:45] We just got after it and stayed after it.
[6:06] Foxes and Hedgehogs
[6:39] Hedgehogs may not be as clever as foxes but they obsessively measure and track everything about their business, and over time, they acquire deep, relevant knowledge and expertise. Their single minded approach may appear risky at times but they are conservative by nature. Hedgehogs don’t speculate or make foolish bets. If all their eggs are in that one proverbial basket, they follow Mark Twain’s advice – and watch that basket very carefully.
[7:17] The thing with Hedgehogs is that they never give up. They keep at it – and they don’t ever get bored because they just love what they do – and they have a lot of fun along the way.
[7:28] Hedgehogs are the ones who build great, lasting companies. As entrepreneurs, they are the rarest of breeds – those who can start something anew, make it work, stick with it, and build something special, and ultimately, inspire others along the way, with their determination, dedication and commitment.
[8:49] At first, we amazed ourselves. And before too long, we amazed everybody else too.
[9:26] Think about how crazy this is. He died weeks after that writing this. His last days were spent categorizing and organizing his knowledge so future generations can benefit.
[12:32] Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger(Founders #90)
[12:56] "It's quite interesting to think about Walmart starting from a single store in Arkansas – against Sears, Roebuck with its name, reputation and all of its billions. How does a guy in Bentonville, Arkansas, with no money, blow right by Sears? And he does it in his own lifetime – in fact, during his own late lifetime because he was already pretty old by the time he started out with one little store. He played the chain store game harder and better than anyone else. Walton invented practically nothing. But he copied everything anybody else ever did that was smart – and he did it with more fanaticism. So he just blew right by them all. —Charlie Munger
[17:11] What motivates the man is the desire to absolutely be on the top of the heap.
[17:32] Practice your craft so much that you're the best in the world at it and the money will take care of itself.
[18:44] We exist to provide value to our customers.
[21:18] A Conversation with Paul Graham
[22:32] It never occurred to me that I might lose; to me, it was almost as if I had a right to win. Thinking like that often seems to turn into sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
[26:42] Time to Make the Donuts: The Founder of Dunkin Donuts Shares an American Journey by William Rosenberg. (Founders #231)
[29:35] It didn’t take me long to start experimenting—that’s just the way I am and always have been.
[30:56] Do things that other people are not doing.
[33:13] The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni. (Founders #233)
[33:41] I think my constant fiddling and meddling with the status quo may have been one of the biggest contributions to the later success of Wal Mart.
[34:10] Our money was made by controlling expenses. I gotta read that again because it's so important. Our money was made by controlling expenses.
[37:49] Sam Walton: The Inside Story of America's Richest Man (Founders #150)
[38:37] I’ve always thought of problems as challenges, and this one wasn’t any different. I didn’t dwell on my disappointment. The challenge at hand was simple enough to figure out: I had to pick myself up and get on with it, do it all over again, only even better this time.
[42:47] Four Seasons: The Story of a Business Philosophy by Isadore Sharp. (Founders #184)
[45:12] The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie by Andrew Carnegie (Founders #74)
[47:08] Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary & Social Innovator by Robert E. Price. (Founders #107)
[49:56] Sam had a really simple hypothesis for the first Wal Mart: We were trying to find out if customers in a town of 6,000 people would come to our kind of a barn and buy the same merchandise strictly because of price. The answer was yes.
[52:19] I have always been a Maverick who enjoys shaking things up and creating a little anarchy.
[54:23] In business we often find that the winning system goes almost ridiculously far in maximizing and/or minimizing one or a few variables. —Charlie Munger
[55:02] He does something really smart here. And this is something I missed the first time I read the book. He finds a way to force himself to know the numbers for every single store.
[56:13] Distant Force: A Memoir of the Teledyne Corporation and the Man Who Created It by Dr. George Roberts. (Founders #110)
[58:11] Driven From Within by Michael Jordan and Mark Vancil. (Founders #213) I’m not so dominant that I can’t listen to creative ideas coming from other people. Successful people listen. Those who don’t listen, don’t survive long. —Michael Jordan
[58:43] We paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to the way things were supposed to be done, you know, the way the rules of retail said it had to be done.
[1:03:15] Estée: A Success Story by Estée Lauder. (Founders #217)
[1:04:00] One thing I never did—which I’m really proud of—was to push any of my kids too hard. I knew I was a fairly overactive fellow, and I didn’t expect them to try to be just like me.
[1:06:38] I was never in anything for the short haul.
[1:10:36] Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby. (Founders #212) Like so many NBA players, Drexler was operating mostly off his great store of talent, absent any serious attention to the important details of the game. Jordan had been surprised to learn how lazy many of his Olympic teammates were about practice, how they were deceiving themselves about what the game required.
[1:11:56] And you can think about Sam constantly learning from everybody else, visiting stores —that is a form of practice. Every single craft has a form of practice. It just is not as obvious as it is in sports.
[1:13:26] He proceeds to extract every piece of information in your possession.
[1:15:37] He has just been a master of taking the best of everything everybody else is doing and adapting it to his own needs.
[1:18:52] We were serious operators who were in it for the long haul, that we had a disciplined financial philosophy, and that we had growth on our minds.
[1:19:54] Most people seem surprised to learn that I've never done much investing in anything except Walmart.
[1:20:42] He's like I just figured out the Walmart's worked. And then all I did was focus on making more of them. You don't have to over-complicate it.
[1:23:04] If you ask me if I'm an organized person, I would say flat out, no, not at all. Being organized would really slow me down. (Optimize for flexibility)
[1:24:26] The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison by Mike Wilson (Founders #127): My view is different. My view is that there are only a handful of things that are really important, and you devote all your time to those and forget everything else. If you try to do all thousand things, answer all thousand phone calls, you will dilute your efforts in those areas that are really essential
[1:26:15] I think one of Sam's greatest strengths is that he is totally unpredictable. He is always his own person. He is totally independent in his thinking.
[1:26:45] If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. —Bruce Lee
[1:28:40] You can’t possibly know the TAM. You are in the middle of inventing the TAM.
[1:30:08] There is no speed limit by Derek Sivers
[1:31:54] Built From Scratch: How A Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion (Founders #45)
[1:41:35] I like to keep everybody guessing. I don't want our competitors getting too comfortable with feeling that they can predict what we're going to do next.
[1:42:25] He ties that investment int technology with the compounding savings and over the long-term, he's going to destroy his competition just off this one metric alone.
[1:43:39] Big Brown: The Untold Story of UPS by Greg Niemann. (Founders #192)
[1:47:56] Sam’s 10 Rules for Building A Business
[1:48:04] One thing I don’t even have on my list is “work hard.” If you don’t know that already, or you’re not willing to do it, you probably won’t be going far enough to need my list anyway.
[1:48:51] Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else. I think I overcame every single one of my personal shortcomings by the sheer passion I brought to my work.
[1:50:54] Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. For twenty-five years running—long before Wal-Mart was known as the nation’s largest retailer—we ranked number one in our industry for the lowest ratio of expenses to sales. You can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of business if you’re too inefficient.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
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#98 Enzo Ferrari (the making of an automobile empire)
What I learned from reading Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and the Making of an Automobile Empire by Luca Dal Monte.
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[0:01] Ferrari was animated by an extraordinary passion that led him to build a product with no equal
[3:52] Lee Iacocca on why Enzo Ferrari will go as the greatest car manufacturer in history: "Ferrari spent every dollar chasing perfection."
[8:50] Business lessons from his father
[11:47] Enzo Ferrari was not interested in school. He wanted to start working immediately.
[16:36] The deaths of his father and brother
[18:20] No job. No money. No connections. A young man desperate to succeed in life.
[23:06] He learned something that he would never forget for the rest of his life: Not even the best driver had any chance of victory if he was not at the wheel of the best car.
[24:20] Starting his first business which ends in bankruptcy.
[28:31] Enzo learned from those who already accomplished what he was trying to do.
[31:10] He does the best possible job at whatever task he is given. Even if he doesn't want to do it. Enzo focuses on being useful.
[33:35] A young Enzo Ferrari is plagued with doubts and close to a nervous breakdown.
[38:28] The large leave gaps for the small: The start of Scuderia Ferrari.
[49:38] Enzo Ferrari at 33 years old.
[51:30] For Enzo Ferrari it was always day 1.
[52:33] Alfa Romeo pulls the plug/the end of Scuderia Ferrari, the birth of Ferrari.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#249 Steve Jobs In His Own Words
What I learned from reading I, Steve: Steve Jobs In His Own Words by George Beahm.
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[1:05]
On Steve Jobs
#5 Steve Jobs: The Biography
#19 Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
#76 Return To The Little Kingdom: Steve Jobs and The Creation of Apple
#77 Steve Jobs & The NeXT Big Thing
#204 Inside Steve Jobs' Brain
#214 Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography
#235 To Pixar And Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History
Bonus Episodes on Steve Jobs
Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple's Success (Between #112 and #113)
Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs (Between #110 and #111)
On Jony Ive and Steve Jobs
#178 Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products
On Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs
#34 Creativity Inc: Overcoming The Unseen Forces That Stand In The Way of True Inspiration
On Steve Jobs and several other technology company founders
#157 The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution
#208 In the Company of Giants: Candid Conversations With the Visionaries of the Digital World
[3:13] We're not going to be the first to this party, but we're going to be the best.
[4:54] Company Focus: We do no market research. We don't hire consultants. We just want to make great products.
[5:06] The roots of Apple were to build computers for people, not for corporations. The world doesn't need another Dell or Compaq.
[5:52] Nearly all the founders I’ve read about have a handful of ideas/principles that are important to them and they just repeat and pound away at them forever.
[7:00] You can oftentimes arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don't put in the time or energy to get there.
[8:09] I think of Founders as a tool for working professionals. And what that tool does is it gets ideas from the history of entrepreneurship into your brain so then you can use them in your work. It just so happens that a podcast is a great way to achieve that goal.
[8:48] Tim Ferriss Podcast #596 with Ed Thorp
[8:50] A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market by Ed Thorp. (Founders 222)
[10:43] In most people's vocabularies, design means veneer. It's interior decorating. It's the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.
[12:05] The Essential Difference: The Lisa people wanted to do something great. And the Mac people want to do something insanely great. The difference shows.
[14:21] Sure, what we do has to make commercial sense, but it's never the starting point. We start with the product and the user experience.
[15:57] Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli. (Founders #19)
[16:41] We had a passion to do this one simple thing.
[16:51] And that's really important because he's saying I wasn't trying to build the biggest company. I wasn't trying to build a trillion dollar company. It wasn't doing any of that. Those things happen later as a by-product of what I was actually focused on, which is just building the best computer that I wanted to use.
[17:14] In the Company of Giants: Candid Conversations With the Visionaries of the Digital World by Rama Dev Jager and Rafael Ortiz. (Founders #208 )
[17:41] It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done and then try to bring those things in to what you're doing. Picasso had a saying: good artists copy, great artists steal. And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas.
[20:29] Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets.
[21:06] A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman (Founders #95) “A very small percentage of the population produces the greatest proportion of the important ideas. There are some people if you shoot one idea into the brain, you will get half an idea out. There are other people who are beyond this point at which they produce two ideas for each idea sent in.”
[22:29] Edwin land episodes:
Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid (Founders #40)
The Instant Image: Edwin Land and The Polaroid Experience by Mark Olshaker. (Founders #132)
Land’s Polaroid: A Company and The Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg. (Founders #133)
A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald K. Fierstein. (Founders #134)
[25:01] Macintosh was basically this relatively small company in Cupertino, California, taking on the goliath, IBM, and saying "Wait a minute, your way is wrong. This is not the way we want computers to go. This is not the legacy we want to leave. This is not what we want our kids to be learning. This is wrong and we are going to show you the right way to do it and here it is and it is so much better.
[27:47] Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Productsby Leander Kahney. (
(Founders #178)
[29:00] Enzo Ferrari: Power, Politics, and the Making of an Automobile Empire by Luca Dal Monte (Founders #98)
[34:39] On meeting his wife, Laurene: I was in the parking lot, with the key in the car, and I thought to myself: If this is my last night on earth, would I rather spend it at a business meeting or with this woman? I ran across the parking lot, asked her if she'd have dinner with me. She said yes, we walked into town, and we've been together ever since.
[37:26] It's not about pop culture, and it's not about fooling people, and it's not about convincing people that they want something they don't. We figure out what we want. And I think we're pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That's what we get paid to do.
[41:29] Constellation Software Inc. President's Letters by Mark Leonard. (Founders #246)
[42:30] Made in Japan: Akio Morita and Sony by Akio Morita. (Founders #102)
[44:36] Victory in our industry is spelled survival.
[45:21] Once you get into the problem you see that it's complicated, and you come up with all these convoluted solutions. That's where most people stop, and the solutions tend to work for a while. But the really great person will keep going, find the underlying problem, and come up with an elegant solution that works on every level.
[48:15] Churchill by Paul Johnson (Founders #225)
[48:25] I would trade all my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.
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“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers. ”— Gareth
Be like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast
#265 Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader
What I learned from rereading Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli
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[3:11] His mind was never a captive of reality.
[5:16] A complete list of every Founders episode on Steve Jobs and the founders Steve studied: Steve Jobs’s Heroes
[7:15] Steve Jobs and The Next Big Thing by Randall Stross (Founders #77)
[9:05] Steve Job’s Commencement Address
[9:40] Driven and curious, even when things were tough, he was a learning machine.
[10:20] He learned how to manage himself.
[12:45] Anything could be figured out and since anything could be figured out anything could be built.
[14:10] It was a calculation based on arrogance. — The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America's Banana King by Rich Cohen (Founders #255)
[18:00] We were no longer aiming for the handful of hobbyists who liked to assemble their own computers. For every one of them there were a thousand people who would want the machine to be ready to run.
[17:40] He was a free thinker whose ideas would often run against the conventional wisdom of any community in which he operated.
[19:55] He had no qualms about calling anyone up in search of information or help.
[20:40] I've never found anybody who didn't want to help me when I've asked them for help.
I've never found anyone who's said no or hung up the phone when I called. I just asked.
Most people never pick up the phone and call. Most people never ask.
[21:50] First you believe. Then you work on getting other people to share your belief.
[24:55] All the podcasts on Edwin Land:
Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #263)
A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald Fierstein (Founders #134)
Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #133)
The Instant Image: Edwin Land and the Polaroid Experienceby Mark Olshaker (Founders #132)
Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid (Founders #40)
[25:00] My friend Frederick’s newsletter I was interviewed for
[30:20] He was an extraordinary speaker and he wielded that tool to great effect.
[31:00] Never underestimate the value of an ally. — Estée Lauder: A Success Story by Estée Lauder. (Founders #217)
[32:50] If you go to sleep on a win you’re going to wake up with a loss.
[33:00] Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire by James Wallace and Jim Erickson (Founders #140)
[34:20] Software development requires very little capital investment. It is basically intellectual capital. The main cost is the labor required to design and test it. There's no need for expensive factories. It can be replicated endlessly for practically nothing.
[38:10] He cared passionately and he never dialed it in.
[39:45] To Pixar And Beyond: My Unlikely Journey with Steve Jobs to Make Entertainment History by Lawrence Levy (Founders #235)
[42:58] Time carries most of the weight.
[43:30] People that are learning machines and then refuse to quit are incredibly hard to beat. Steve jobs was a learning machine who refused to quit.
[44:17] Steve Jobs and The Next Big Thing by Randall Stross (Founders #77)
[49:40] Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull
[50:30] There were times when the reactions against Steve baffled Steve.
I remember him sometimes saying to me: Why are they upset?
What that said to me was that he didn't intend to get that outcome. It was a lack of skill as opposed to meanness. A lack of skill of dealing with other people.
[55:50] Creative thinking, at its best, is chalk full of failures and dead ends.
[56:40] Successful people listen. Those that don’t listen don’t last long. —Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby. (Founders #212)
[58:40] You can't go to the library and find a book titled The Business Model for Animation. The reason you can't is because there's only been one company Disney that's ever done it well, and they were not interested in telling the world how lucrative it was.
[1:01:20] The company is one of the most amazing inventions of humans.
[1:02:25] The only purpose for me in building a company is so that the company can make products. One is a means to the other.
[1:04:00] Personal History by Katherine Graham (Founders #152)
[1:10:11] Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs by Ken Kocienda
[1:11:12] What am I focusing on that sets me apart from my competitors?
[1:13:00] The channel? We lost $2 billion last year. Who gives a fuck about the channel?
[1:15:21] Time carries most of the weight. Stay in the game as long as possible.
[1:16:41] The information he'd glean would go into the learning machine that was his brain. Sometimes that's where it would sit, and nothing would happen. Sometimes he'd concoct a way to combine it with something else he'd seen, or perhaps to twist it in a way to benefit an entirely different project altogether. This was one of his great talents, the ability to synthesize separate developments and technologies into something previously unimaginable.
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