Founders
Episode 329 #329 Charlie Munger (the NEW Poor Charlie’s Almanack)
Founders

Episode 329: #329 Charlie Munger (the NEW Poor Charlie’s Almanack)

Founders

Episode 329

#329 Charlie Munger (the NEW Poor Charlie’s Almanack)

David Senra is the host of Founders, where he studies history's greatest entrepreneurs. This is what he learned from reading the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger.

What I learned from reading the NEW Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charlie Munger

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Listen to this incredible conversation between Charlie Munger and John Collison on Invest Like The Best

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Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com

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(2:00) The practical wisdom of Poor Charlie's Almanack, this ode to curiosity, generosity, and virtue will similarly compound at successive generations of entrepreneurial readers extend his lessons to their own circumstances.

(12:00) Education is the process whereby the ability to lead a good life is acquired.  — Socrates: A Man for Our Times by Paul Johnson. (Founders #252)

(22:00) Trust is one of the greatest economic forces on earth.

(29:00) Charlie is content to trust his own judgment when it runs counter to the wisdom of the herd.

(31:00) Animated: Charlie Munger: The Psychology of Human Misjudgement

(31:30) Aim for durability. Durability has always been a first rate virtue in Charlie’s eyes.

(32:00) Charlie only focuses on great businesses and great businesses have moats.

(33:00) Johnny Carson by Henry Bushkin. (Founders #183)

(42:00) You can flourish in a niche: People who specialize in the business world —and get very good because they specialize— frequently find good economics that they wouldn't get any other way.

(45:00) Being so well known has advantages of scale. This is what you might call an informational advantage. It increases social proof.

(46:30) Business Breakdowns episode on Coca Cola 

(49:00) Occasionally scaling down and intensifying gives you a big advantage. (You can find great profit margins this way)

(50:00) Sam Walton: Made In America by Sam Walton. (Founders #234)

(51:00) Scale and fanaticism combined is very powerful. (Think Sam Walton)

(57:00) I also believed then, as I do now after more than fifty years as a money manager, that the surest way to get rich is to play only those games or make those investments where I have an edge. — A Man for All Markets: From Las Vegas to Wall Street, How I Beat the Dealer and the Market by Ed Thorp. (Founders #222)

(1:08:00) The best thing a human being can do is help another human being know more.

(1:14:00) Optimism is a moral duty. — Edwin Land

(1:17:00) You want to maximize the playing time of your top players.

(1:17:00) The game of competitive life often requires maximizing the experience of the people who have the most aptitude and the most determination as learning machines.

(1:22:00) The most important rule in management is get the incentives right.

(1:25:00) Never, ever think about something else when you should be thinking about the power of incentives.

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Get access to the World’s Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com

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#329 Charlie Munger (the NEW Poor Charlie’s Almanack)

Introduction

I first came across Poor Charlie's Almanack in my 20s when I was trying to learn everything I could about what made successful businesses tick. I found it to be a refreshing rebuttal of conventional financial wisdom delivered with unusual simplicity and candor.

Never before had I heard a venerated businessperson express such trenchant insights about investing, finance and the world more broadly and with such chutzpah. One can't help but read a line like, without numerical fluency, you were like a one-legged man in an a**-kicking contest, and come away not only chuckling, but also a little bit wiser.

I had the privilege of meeting Charlie at his home in Los Angeles. I was delighted to find that he is just as engaging and intellectually curious in person as he is on the page. He also, I discovered, had considerably more stamina than I do. More than four hours into our dinner, I was ready for bed while Charlie showed no signs of flagging.

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