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Why Shaan Reads Adventure and History Instead of Business Books
Shaan Puri explains that he hasn't read a business book in about five years and now reads adventure, exploration and military stories. He says they put his day-to-day work in perspective, and he previews three books.
- •He says business books bore him and he hasn't read one in about five years
- •He reads about westward expansion, exploration, ship stories and pirates
- •Stories like Shackleton's Antarctic ordeal make business stress feel easy
- •He plans to cover three or four books and how they apply to business
Undaunted Courage: The Lewis and Clark Expedition
Shaan introduces Undaunted Courage, the story of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Jefferson tasked them with exploring the American West, and Lewis was only 31 when he led about 30 men on the two-year trip.
- •Lewis and Clark set out from St. Louis in about 1804 at Thomas Jefferson's direction
- •No American had gone far west of the Mississippi at that point
- •Lewis was 31 and led roughly 30 people on a two-year journey
Punishment and Discipline Create Standards
Shaan argues that tech companies are too nice and too forgiving. He tells the story of Lewis having a man lashed 500 times for breaking a rule, and compares it to the strict kitchen in The Bear, where discipline gives people clear boundaries.
- •He says tech culture, including HubSpot, is too friendly
- •Lewis had a man lashed for sneaking over the fort wall, because the rule had been broken and the Native Americans now knew they could cross it too
- •Public enforcement shows everyone where the line is and what the standards are
- •In The Bear, the cousin comes to crave the discipline of the strict restaurant
- •Shaan concludes that firing people is sometimes necessary
Finding Your Personal Product Market Fit
Shaan draws on Lewis's reflection on his 31st birthday, when he regretted his idle hours and resolved to act. He says people need a personal product market fit, just as companies need one.
- •Lewis was an outdoorsman who then worked an indoor job alongside Jefferson
- •On his 31st birthday he wrote that he had done very little to further human happiness
- •Shaan found that resolve to get after it inspiring
- •He compares finding personal fit to a company finding product market fit
Leading Each Person According to What Motivates Them
Shaan says Lewis understood that each person has individual traits and tailored how he motivated them. Early in his career Shaan treated people like robots, and he now thinks great leaders work out what motivates each person.
- •Lewis knew when to push, encourage, joke or be tough
- •He kept an appropriate distance between himself and his men
- •Shaan used to treat people as human capital and assumed he could just tell them what to do
- •Rewards and punishments should be fitted to each person
The Operator: Courage from SEAL Team Six
Shaan introduces Robert O'Neill's book about the SEAL Team Six mission to kill Bin Laden. The team believed it was a suicide mission, and Shaan takes inspiration from that when he feels afraid to tweet, start a business or make a call.
- •O'Neill writes that the team expected never to see their families again
- •Shaan finds it encouraging, since his fears seem small by comparison
- •He says small stories like this give him inspiration
Commander's Intent and Planning for Failure
The team rehearsed the raid on a model of the compound, but the helicopter crashed and the plan fell apart. Shaan explains commander's intent, a clearly stated desired outcome, and says planning still gives you a fallback and gives people confidence. He applies it to his first business goal of a set amount of money by 30.
- •The SEALs built a model of the house and rehearsed steps and timing
- •The helicopter crashed on landing and the plan was thrown out
- •Commander's intent means verbalizing and writing down the desired outcome
- •Shaan's intent for his first business was a target amount of money by age 30, for financial freedom
- •He used the goal to say no to anything that didn't get him closer to it
Titan: Rockefeller and Standard Oil
After a HubSpot ad read, Shaan admits that Titan, a biography of John Rockefeller, is somewhat business-y. He describes the scale of Standard Oil, which was later broken up into companies like BP, Exxon, Conoco and Mobil.
- •Rockefeller created Standard Oil, active from the late 1800s to around 1930
- •Standard Oil's breakup led to companies such as BP, Exxon, Conoco and Mobil
- •Shaan compares its size to Amazon, Facebook and Google being one company
- •Rockefeller broke Shaan's stereotypes of a vicious businessman
Leverage Other People's Effort and Hire for People Skills
Shaan draws on two Rockefeller quotes. One, about earning 1% of 100 people's efforts rather than 100% of his own, changed his view of solo businesses. The other, about people skills being a purchasable commodity, convinced him he can hire good managers.
- •Rockefeller said he'd rather earn 1% of 100 people's efforts than 100% of his own
- •Shaan's issue with solo businesses is that one person does all the work
- •Rockefeller said the ability to deal with people is as purchasable as sugar and coffee
- •Shaan isn't the best manager but can hire good ones
Learn a Skill First: Rockefeller's Accounting Apprenticeship
Shaan says people should learn a skill before starting a company, as he did with copywriting. He cites Rockefeller's years as an apprentice accountant, which taught him operations, and Robert Greene's Mastery, and says he no longer thinks being a generalist is good.
- •Rockefeller worked as an accountant from about 16 to 19 or 20
- •He was grateful for the foundation his apprenticeship gave him
- •Shaan recommends Mastery by Robert Greene on developing a skill
- •Skills open doors and transfer to unrelated fields
- •Shaan used to believe in being a generalist but no longer does
Vicious but Polite: Rockefeller's Deal-Making and Humility
Shaan describes Rockefeller buying small refineries with an offer to share his accounting, and a warning that those who refused would be crushed. He also tells the story of Rockefeller politely moving his exercise equipment when an accountant who didn't recognize him told him to remove it, and says you can be both kind and vicious in business.
- •Rockefeller told refinery owners to take his fair offer or be crushed
- •Some who accepted got rich, and some didn't
- •He politely moved his exercise equipment instead of saying 'Do you know who I am?'
- •Shaan says being kind and vicious aren't opposites
Listening More and Complimenting Before Correcting
Shaan describes how Rockefeller lay down with his eyes closed in meetings, listening while others talked, and recited a poem about a wise old owl. He also tells how Rockefeller praised people before pointing out mistakes, and then closes by recommending the three books.
- •Rockefeller listened in meetings and said little, so he had the information he needed to decide
- •The owl poem: the less he spoke, the more he heard
- •Shaan used to think a successful businessman should do all the talking
- •Rockefeller complimented an accountant's books before pointing out a big error
- •He avoided insulting people in front of others, and Shaan contrasts that with the TV boss who fires people publicly
- •Shaan recaps Titan, The Operator and Undaunted Courage
