#353 How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty

What I learned from reading How To Be Rich by J. Paul Getty. ---- Build relationships with other founders, investors, and executives at a Founders Event ---- "Learning from history is a form of leverage." — Charlie Munger. 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. You can also ask SAGE (the Founders Notes AI assistant) any question and SAGE will read all my notes, highlights, and every transcript from every episode for you. A few questions I've asked SAGE recently: What are the most important leadership lessons from history's greatest entrepreneurs? Can you give me a summary of Warren Buffett's best ideas? (Substitute any founder covered on the podcast and you'll get a comprehensive and easy to read summary of their ideas) How did Edwin Land find new employees to hire? Any unusual sources to find talent? What are some strategies that Cornelius Vanderbilt used against his competitors? Get access to Founders Notes here. ---- (2:00) My father was a self-made man who had known extreme poverty in his youth and had a practically limitless capacity for hard work. (6:00) I acted as my own geologist, legal advisor, drilling superintendent, explosives expert, roughneck and roustabout. (8:00) Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby. (Founders #212) (12:00) Control as much of your business as possible. You don’t want to have to worry about what is going on in the other guy’s shop. (20:00) Optimism is a moral duty. Pessimism aborts opportunity. (21:00) I studied the lives of great men and women. And I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the jobs they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work. (22:00) 98 percent of our attention was devoted to the task at hand. We are believers in Carlyle's Prescription, that the job a man is to do is the job at hand and not see what lies dimly in the distance. — Charlie Munger (27:00) Entrepreneurs want to create their own security. (34:00) Example is the best means to instruct or inspire others. (37:00) Long orders, which require much time to prepare, to read and to understand are the enemies of speed. Napoleon could issue orders of few sentences which clearly expressed his intentions and required little time to issue and to understand. (38:00) A Few Lessons for Investors and Managers From Warren Buffett by Warren Buffett and Peter Bevelin. (Founders #202) (41:00) Two principles he repeats: Be where the work is happening. Get rid of bureaucracy. (43:00) Years ago, businessmen automatically kept administrative overhead to an absolute minimum. The present day trend is in exactly the opposite direction. The modern business mania is to build greater and ever greater paper shuffling empires. (44:00) Les Schwab Pride In Performance: Keep It Going!by Les Schwab (Founders #330) (46:00) The primary function of management is to obtain results through people. (50:00) the truly great leader views reverses, calmly and coolly. He is fully aware that they are bound to occur occasionally and he refuses to be unnerved by them. (51:00) There is always something wrong everywhere. (51:00) Don't interrupt the compounding. It’s all about the long term. You should keep a fortress of cash, reinvest in your business, and use debt sparingly. Doing so will help you survive to reap the long-term benefits of your business. (54:00) You’ll go much farther if you stop trying to look and act and think like everyone else. (55:00) The line that divides majority opinion from mass hysteria is often so fine as to be virtually invisible. ---- “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 ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ---- “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