There is one book I recommend more than any other, and I'm ashamed to share the name...
I swear to god, this is an incredible, well-written, thoughtful book.
It's called 'How To Get Rich' 🤦♂️
It was written by a magazine publishing magnate named Felix Dennis in 2008...
Ignore the title. Seriously. It's great.
He is a character. In the 90's he blew $100MM+ on alcohol and crack cocaine, then become a full-time poet in the early 2000's.
It encompasses most of the important lessons of starting and operating a large business.
Here's a few bits:
Fish where the fish are:
“If you wish to become rich, look carefully about you at the prevailing industries where wealth appears to be gravitating. THEN GO TO WHERE THE MONEY IS!”
Hire smart people and leave them to it:
“When you come across real talent, it is worth allowing them to create the structure. In nine cases out of ten, by inviting them to take responsibility and control for a new venture, you will motivate them to do great things.”
Delegate:
“If you want to get rich, then learn to delegate. Don’t learn to pretend to delegate. Delegation is not only a powerful tool, it is the only way to maximise and truly incentivise your most precious asset – the people who work for you."
Fight to hire the best:
“Stupid people are easy to hire.”
Ideas > Execution:
“If you never have a single great idea in your life, but become skilled in executing the great ideas of others, you can succeed beyond your wildest dreams. Seek them out and make them work. They do not have to be your ideas. Execution is all in this regard.”
Retain ownership:
"Every single percentage point of anything you own is crucial. It is worth fighting for, tooth and claw. It is worth shouting and banging on the table for. It is worth begging for and grovelling for.”
Money ≠ Happiness:
“Happiness? Don't make me laugh. The rich are not happy. I have yet to meet a really rich happy man or woman—and I have met many rich people. The demands from others to share their wealth become so tiresome, that they nearly always insulate themselves."
I first read this back in 2008 and have read it annually since then.
In reality, while it is about how to get rich, it's REALLY about why you probably don't want to get rich and the myriad ways it messed up his life.
Here's a big list of incredible Charlie Munger quotes from Buffett's annual letter.
"The world is full of foolish gamblers, and they will not do as well as the patient investor."
"If you don't see the world the way it is, it's like judging something through a distorted lens."
"All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there. And a related thought: Early on, write your desired obituary – and then behave accordingly."
"If you don't care whether you are rational or not, you won't work on it. Then you will stay irrational and get lousy results."
"Patience can be learned. Having a long attention span and the ability to concentrate on one thing for a long time is a huge advantage."
If you give someone a chance to do something that is a big swing/has low probability of success, then you need to be 100% ready to have them hate your guts with a passion....
This is counter to what we want to believe.
We want to believe that people will respect us for taking a chance on them.
For seeing an opportunity. For doing something unique.
But the world doesn't usually reward that, it punishes.
People don't like to fail.
It's deeply uncomfortable.
So they craft narratives about why mistakes were made....
But not by them.
Often you become the target of that.
It would have worked if only you hadn't "X, Y, Z".