The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: Book Review

 Read a surprisingly good book called "The Almanack of Naval Ravikant" based on a friend's recommendation. I went in with low expectations as the the author Eric Jorgenson states upfront that it is a book strung together from the tweets of Naval Ravikant, a successful entrepreneur and investor. The book is made freely available for download by the author and makes for a very engaging read.

There are many many pearls of wisdom in the book and a few stuck in my head very strongly

1) Getting rich is not about earning money and it is important to distinguish between money and wealth. Renting your time will not make you rich. You need equity for that. Wealth is businesses and assets that can earn when you sleep.

2) Leverage is everything. Naval builds on Archimedes aphorism that says "Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the earth" and shows low leverage in the form of capital or teams or products that are working for you are the ways to create your fortune.

3) When you combine leverage with good judgment then you can truly unlock value. Imagine the big investor with good judgment where even a few percentage points of better judgment leads to much higher returns. Or the very successful CEO who happens to be the person with the big leverage of people and products who can create value due to his/her better judgment

4) Be a Contrarian optimist - A contrarian doesn't always object — that’s a conformist of a different sort. Do not be a conformist and do not oppose as a pessimist. Optimistic contrarians are the rarest breed

5) Happiness is all about living in the present moment. At any point in time only a very small percentage of your brain is focused on the present moment. The rest is planning for the future or regretting the past. The more we bring our focus to the present, the happier we become. What if this life is the paradise we were promised, and we’re just squandering it by not living the present moment?

6) Happiness is being satisfied with what you have. Success comes from dissatisfaction. Choose ! and happiness is built through good habits

7) Invest in your health. Nothing like a health problem to turn up the contrast dial for the rest of life.

Naval's recommended books at the end is a nice bonus. Overall, time well spent reading this book.

What It Takes : Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence : Book Review

 Fortuna Favi Fortus or Fortune Favors the Brave, is the simplest way I can summarize Stephen Schwarzman's memoir titled "What It Takes : Lessons in the Pursuit of Excellence".

The book starts on a rainy day in 1987 at MIT's campus in Boston, Massachusetts where Stephen and his partner Pete Peterson get stood up by MIT's endowment board when they went there to raise funds for the fund they just started called 'Blackstone'. And ever so poetically, ends at MIT itself with MIT's President Rafael Reif saying that a standing ovation is something he has never seen happen at MIT as Schwarzman makes one of his biggest ever contributions to academia to set up 'MIT Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing' to contribute to the global opportunities and challenges presented by the rise of Artificial Intelligence. His persistence won yet again and his impact today is far reaching from MIT, to Oxford to Tsinghua University and the million or so employees of the companies Blackstone invested in and unlocked value from.

Giving is something that Schwarzman seems to have has an enduring quality as he narrates his life story along with the story of developing Blackstone in to a corporation with over 500 billion in assets. The best lesson for me was about setting higher aspirations for oneself which Schwarzman states beautifully this way - "It’s as easy to do something big as it is to do something small, so reach for a fantasy worthy of your pursuit, with rewards commensurate to your effort." The book full of innumerable lessons for people who not only aspire to be entrepreneurs or fund managers but for every professional who wants to make it worthwhile. 

In true corporate style, he leaves us with his 25 rules for work and life worth pinning up our desks. Yes his last name is a mouthful, his life experiences more than a handful but the book leaves you motivated and heartful.