Weekly Highlights #17
5 things I found interesting, fun or useful this week.
📚 Books
When you want somebody to do something for you or because it’s the right thing for them to do you need to appeal to their interest, not to reason:
"I watched the brilliant and worthy Harvard Law Review-trained general counsel of Salomon Brothers lose his career there. When the able CEO was told that an underling had done something wrong, the general counsel said, "Gee, we don't have any legal duty to report this, but I think it's what we should do. It's our moral duty."
The general counsel was technically and morally correct, but his approach didn't persuade. He recommended a very unpleasant thing for the busy CEO to do and the CEO, quite understandably, put the issue off, and put it off, not with any intent to do wrong. In due course, when powerful regulators resented not having been promptly informed, down went the CEO and the general counsel with him.
The correct persuasive technique in situations like that was given by Ben Franklin. He said, "If you would persuade, appeal to interest, not to reason." The self-serving bias of man is extreme, and should have been used in attaining the correct outcome. So the general counsel should have said, "Look, this is likely to erupt into something that will destroy you, take away your money, take away your status, grossly impair your reputation. My recommendation will prevent a likely disaster from which you can't recover." That approach would have worked. You should often appeal to interest, not to reason, even when your motives are lofty."
- Charles T. Munger, Poor Charlie’s Almanack
📜 Articles
I recently published my key takeaways from Peter Thiel’s magnificent book Zero to One. A must-read for founders and business people:
The 7 Most Important Lessons from Reading Zero to One
Almost 20% of businesses fail in the first year, 45% fail within 5 years and 90% of small businesses fail. Period.
🎧 Podcasts
This podcast is full of so much wisdom i bought the book after listening to it. J Paul Getty’s essays are summarised in the below podcast:
💭 Quotes
"Victory awaits him who has everything in order― luck, people call it."
- Roald Amundsen
"If you can identify a delusional popular belief, you can find what lies hidden behind it: the contrarian truth."
- Peter Thiel
❓ Questions
What book or essays would you like me to provide you with the best insights from? Comment below :)
Until next time, Karl (The School of Knowledge).
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📚 I read and share about history’s greatest minds, leaders and achievers, distilling their insights into actionable advice for everyday life.💡
*Photo by Florian Kriechbaumer: https://www.pexels.com/photo/baby-orangutan-on-tree-26926257/