Private Equity Business Builders’ Bookshelf 2024

[00:00:00] Sean Mooney: Welcome to the Karma School of Business, a podcast about the private equity industry, business best practices, and real time trends. I'm Sean Mooney, BluWave’s Founder and CEO. This episode is one of my very favorites of the year, where we aggregate all the really great book recommendations that have made a meaningful impact on our guests, who are among the best business builders in the world.

[00:00:33] As we all know, A more certain way to get better faster is not to try to learn everything yourself on your own and recreate the wheel. So why not copy paste the lessons learned from others? Today our guests are sharing some great books for your collection and for your benefit. Enjoy!

[00:00:58] First up we have a recommendation from Emily Holdman with Permanent Equity in episode 45 Where Emily discusses the book of Charlie by David Von Drehl.

[00:01:12] Emily Holdman: I think I told you earlier I'm a nerd, so I read a lot. Um, I think I'm something like 15, 000 pages into this year. So I'm definitely one of those people. I'm not competitive about it. I read a lot of fiction. And so it's not purely just about, you know, sort of professional advancement. I just think to your point, there are a lot of ways to glean wisdom.

[00:01:33] And part of it is just, you know, having time to be quiet and contemplate. So for me, I think that the book that stuck with me most this year is a book called The Book of Charlie. Have you read it?

[00:01:47] Sean Mooney: No, I haven't.

[00:01:48] Emily Holdman: So it was written by a Washington Post columnist. And the premise of the book is that his kids had been asking him to write a children's book to pass along to grandkids around his wisdom.

[00:02:01] And he kept sitting and trying to write one. And I heard him speak not too long ago. And he said, you know, it turns out writing a children's book, maybe the hardest thing in the writer's perspective, because, you know, you try, you're trying to say, synthesize something into something that a child wants to read.

[00:02:19] That's, that's tough. Right. And so he said that I kept kind of coming to the resolution that like, I just didn't know what wisdom I personally was going to have to offer them. And then one day he looked up and his neighbor was washing his girlfriend's car and his neighbor happened to be 104 years old.

[00:02:36] And he said, you know who I think probably has wisdom. And that was his neighbor, Charlie. And so Charlie lived to be 109 years old in Kansas City and was born, I believe, in 1905. And, and so it's a rather short book. I think it's about 130 pages, but what the premise of it is, and I thought this was you know, applicable to thinking about parenting, to thinking about work and life in general, was that we are going through some sort of, you know, macro environment in which there's a significant amount of change, probably significantly more change than you and I have experienced in our adult lives.

[00:03:16] And, As we're entering into that, and especially for this next generation that is growing up, his thought was, we, you need the wisdom of somebody who lived through that kind of radical change. And if you think about the, you know, first half of the 1900s, That's what was happening, right? The invention of the radio, the invention of television, World War One, World War Two.

[00:03:39] You go through all of those experiences and you have to figure out how to survive, how to develop a career, how to think about how you're going to live through all of that. And Charlie had, uh, pretty, pretty profound wisdom to offer in terms of both how he endured hardship, and then also how he sort of seized various opportunities and how he kind of paved his own way.

[00:04:05] And then ultimately, you know, kind of how you live a life of contentment when you're going to live that long. And so for me, it's just been a book that I have a lot of people who are getting into Christmas gifts this year, and, but it's one of those that just from a wisdom standpoint, I think it, it has a lot to offer and is one of those that kind of, once you read it, it sticks with you.

[00:04:26] Sean Mooney: I can't, I can't wait to read it. So I'm going to, I'm going to click order. It's,

[00:04:30] Emily Holdman: it's, it's one of those, like, I just, I I've shared it with a lot of people. I think, you know, on a more professional level, right? Like I read lots of books about economics and supply chains and stuff like that. And I, I find them all incredibly informative, but I often, like, I rarely find a book these days that I've.

[00:04:49] a hundred percent agree with, right? And so mostly I use books to start conversations and kind of, you know, debate either in my own head with my colleagues or like with other people about, you know, how applicable or how universal the concepts are and where, you know, where there may be other things, but this one I have a hard time debating with.

[00:05:09] Sean Mooney: I love it. And it's, it's, it's kind of reminds me. So there's another book by a Charlie that I wrote that I read this year. That's a similar children's book. And it's, it's called the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse.

[00:05:22] Emily Holdman: Yes. Yes.

[00:05:24] Sean Mooney: It's great. It's so wonderful. I gave it to. Not only my, my kids, but I gave it to every member of our company this year.

[00:05:33] Emily Holdman: Oh, I love that.

[00:05:33] Sean Mooney: And it's such an announced part. We have, we used to have four books and now we have five books that every team member gets in. And that's one of them where it's just this great kind of story about life and journey. Yeah.

[00:05:44] Emily Holdman: I have it. I have it on my shelf at home first. It's great. So

[00:05:47] Sean Mooney: I'll be reading the book of Charlie though, for sure, probably in the next week.

[00:05:52] Next up, in episode 46, Suzanne Yoon with Kinsey Capital discusses the benefits that she derived from the book Traction by Gino Wickman.

[00:06:04] Suzanne Yoon: I actually discovered a book. It's been around for a long time, but I discovered it earlier this year. It's a book called Traction. And it's written by Gino Wickman, and it was the premise of the entrepreneurial operating system. And I've read it now several times. It's almost becoming a little bit of a Bible to me.

[00:06:27] So I actually carry it with me. I reference it constantly. And it's a great leadership book, but also a great guide on how to really create an operating system. Thank you. in a company and to create accountability with every person in the organization. And my feedback from others who have read this book or used the system across many entrepreneurs and executives has been that it has really helped them create true growth and accountable growth.

[00:07:03] In their companies,

[00:07:05] Sean Mooney: I agree. I love that book. I was introduced to it when I was kind of kicking off and running in circles, trying to get going to my brother who started a company. That was 1 of his Bibles. He's like, you've got to read traction and I did. It lays out this wonderful methodology for bringing order and discipline to a company in a way that.

[00:07:23] Almost anyone can if they have a little bit of discipline. I'd be curious, are you using it within your portfolio companies? Are you using it within your firm?

[00:07:32] Suzanne Yoon: I think not unlike portfolio company, we closed our first institutional fund. And that really brought us to a new milestone within the organization.

[00:07:41] And as a leader, when I started the firm, I was doing everything. And now going to a place where I have to get away from direction and more delegation. I've started to implement it at Kinsey amongst my team, but also I've realized that it's a huge plus at our portfolio companies. We actually have a portfolio company where the CEO actually also carries it in his backpack.

[00:08:07] I did not introduce him to it. And, you know, has notes. It's almost like he lives with it. I do think it does work and it's a great guide for really any leader or if, you know, someone doesn't have an operating system in a company, it's a great place to start.

[00:08:23] Sean Mooney: Yes, Suzanne. I love what you said there in that you're using it.

[00:08:27] Within your management company. And it's this in some ways, a quite unique perspective of the business of private equity is actually a business and we're going to run ourselves just like a portfolio company of ours, I think it's a very important and not always common approach yet in some parts of private equity.

[00:08:45] And so I really love that. You're almost like living at yourself within your private equity firm and then bringing it to your portfolio companies. And so I really applaud you for doing that.

[00:08:55] Suzanne Yoon: Well, I couldn't do it without. A team really dedicated to it as well. Culturally at our firm, like one of our core values is innovation and having a growth mindset.

[00:09:09] And I think we have to try these things and make sure that we're in line with our portfolio companies. Cause it's, it's very difficult from a governance standpoint to tell someone to do something that you are not doing yourself. I think about that as a parent. I think about that as a CEO and I certainly think about that as a portfolio manager.

[00:09:29] Co: Today's episode is brought to you by BluWave. Building a business is hard. Top third parties can help you create value with speed and certainty, but it's difficult to know who's best. That's why you need the Business Builders Network. Visit BluWave. w a v e. net to learn more and start a project today.

[00:09:49] Sean Mooney: In episode 50, Tim Schulte with council capital talks about a trio of books from. Yuval Noah Harari, including Sapiens, Homo Deus, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.

[00:10:03] Tim Schulte: So I know I won't be the first of your podcast guests to make mention of Yuval Noah Harari, an author who I have found to be hands down the most thought provoking author. He's got a number of books, Sapiens, Homo Deus, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. Business aside, as a human being, Incredibly interesting, incredibly thought provoking.

[00:10:25] So I would put that at the top of anyone's. And then the other thing I'll mention, so I actually started a book club pretty recently with one of the executives from a portfolio company here in Nashville. So we have met once, but the first two books we read for our meeting was psychology of money and die with zero.

[00:10:44] Both had similar themes around All of us have a finite amount of health, wealth, and time, and all of the decisions that we make are essentially trade offs across those three dimensions, and so we need to be more thoughtful and intentional about what we're giving up and whether it's actually worth it. I bet a lot of people who listen to private equity podcasts, It's prioritized time and energy around probably maximizing wealth one, health two, and time three.

[00:11:12] But I think having control over your time is actually the best predictor of happiness in life. And so, and not necessarily a lot of novel concepts that you didn't know beforehand, but pretty thought provoking around, are you focused on the right things and being intentional about the trade offs that you make?

[00:11:30] And that applies to both business, the projects you work on, how you spend your time, and more importantly, Life outside of it.

[00:11:36] Sean Mooney: I think those are great recommendations and I'm certainly familiar with Yuval Harri, but I haven't read any of his books yet. So literally right after this, I'm clicking one purchase buy on Amazon.

[00:11:46] Next up, Eric Hanson with Blue Sea Capital discusses an episode 52, 2 books including the Loop Files by Rick Kimer and the Mosquito Bowl by Buzz Biser.

[00:12:00] Eric Hansen: So I'm a big fan of historical fiction, but I will tell you that I also, we read serious all the time. So I hope this answer is probably not going to satisfy your question, but I'm going to answer it the way I want to answer it. And that is we do read serious. Like we get books in and industry studies and you have to parse every sentence.

[00:12:17] Does that make sense? Is it not? I think it's important to read for pleasure, to kind of exercise your knowledge. Another part of the brain. So stay with me here. I'm a big rock and roll fan. And as a matter of fact, I was in a band in my thirties and forties. For those of you who are in Chicago, I apologize.

[00:12:31] If you ever attended one of our shows, you should probably have gotten your money back. But because rock and roll fan and was in a band in Chicago, right now, I'm reading a book called a loop files, which is an oral history of the most outrageous radio station ever is the title. And I think it was nationwide, but it was in Chicago and it went from 1977 to 2018.

[00:12:51] They actually sold to a Christian conglomerate and their last song they played was highway to hell, kind of send off present, but this was one of the first radio stations really that had the personalities of disc jockeys that you actually listened to. For those of you who are younger, believe it or not, there used to be three television stations.

[00:13:09] There was not Spotify or iTunes or an iPod. And so to listen to music or your favorite artist, your favorite song, you had to listen to the radio and the loop perfected the rock and roll wasn't being played that much early on, but they also names like that were syndicated nationally, like Jonathan Brandmeier, Stephen Gary, which is famous for the disco demolition.

[00:13:26] issue at Comiskey Park, Buzz Killman, Kevin Matthews, all their characters. It's an oral history of that. And it just takes me back to my younger years in Chicago, which were a lot of fun. And it's again, these guys are syndicated nationally, but they were true Chicagoans and they broadcast from the Hancock tower.

[00:13:41] And it was just a neat time and place. So it takes me back. I highly recommend it for those of you who remember the loop, because I think it was syndicated nationally after they got really popular in the eighties and nineties. And certainly some of the disc jockeys who entertained me and were the precursors of podcasts that you're doing, Sean, you could have been a disc jockey, a drive time with Sean Mooney from five to nine.

[00:14:00] I got you on your commute. It'd be a tough followership. But for those of you who remember the looper. Think about that. I'd highly recommend picking that book up. I'm sorry, Sean. It probably wasn't the business book recommendation that you wanted.

[00:14:12] Sean Mooney: No, it's something, I think it's a great point because like we all read so much serious stuff.

[00:14:16] You need to have those lighter moments. And then maybe just for some of our listeners here, there was this thing in earlier days that was called the radio and they had these, there's different channels. So before Spotify, You would have that and it's still on most of your cars. You'll find it. I swear, but it brings me back where I came up through New York.

[00:14:34] This is in the nineties and we're in a cube farm at an investment bank and someone would always have Howard Stern on in

[00:14:40] Darren Herman: the morning

[00:14:41] Sean Mooney: and eventually it was first was earlier. There's music and then there's talking eventually just became talking, but just the outrageousness of that time was so. Unique in ways that I don't think you appreciate until it first came out.

[00:14:53] And it was every once in a while.

[00:14:55] Eric Hansen: When you say that, cause in the cube farm at Pete Marwick, it was okay. Jonathan Bradmire in the mornings and Kevin Matthews in the afternoons. And you just kept it on all day and I find it hard to believe we're that efficient, right? Doing your work papers. And oh, that's so funny.

[00:15:06] And I started thinking about it, but yeah, it is. Again, it was on the dial. It was 97. 9 FM and 1000 AM. I always remember those call numbers, but

[00:15:14] Sean Mooney: that's part of the reason. I think we worked till three in the morning is cause we lost the, the eight till noon slot, everyone's laughing in the cubes.

[00:15:22] Eric Hansen: I hope my former managers and partners at Pete Marwick aren't listening to this.

[00:15:25] Cause I'll be. They're going to want

[00:15:28] Sean Mooney: some bonus money back. And the other thing that I did love that you said is the whole historical fiction. So killer angels is one of my favorite books that describes the battle of Gettysburg, but in some ways I like it so much too, because it's, I would call it broccoli with cheese on it.

[00:15:42] You're getting the facts, but there's a story to it.

[00:15:44] Eric Hansen: It's enjoyable. And on that point, the most. Memorable one of historical nonfiction I've read recently is the Mosquito Bowl, which is by Buzz Bissinger, who did Friday Night Lights. And it's about World War II soldiers on Guadalcanal. They were all American football players and a bunch of got recruited in the Marines.

[00:16:01] And they had this football game for these Marines before they went into battles. It was broadcast on all the stations. It was all the all American football players. And unfortunately, most of them ended up perishing. In the Pacific theater. And again, it also recounts the horse. This sounds maybe cheesy and I don't mean it to be, but really that generation, it is the greatest generation and went through World War II because some of the stories that come out in that book are just harrowing.

[00:16:23] So if you like Buzz Bissinger, I like a lot of, I think he's a really good writer, but I'd recommend the mosquito bowl.

[00:16:28] Sean Mooney: Now we have Josh Adams with open 58, talking about three more books.

[00:16:43] Josh Adams: I read enough, but I think it's a lot of business, a lot of what we do day in and day out. I'm dyslexic, so I kind of find myself not reading more than I need to. It really hurts me a little bit too much than I ever probably gave myself credit for. So I've kind of made that big shift where media has, you know, podcasts are huge in my life today.

[00:16:59] I listen to podcasts every morning on the way in if I don't have a call. Or I'm trying to zone out on the way home from work. I'm listening to a podcast or an audio book. And so on the podcast side, I would say the all in podcast. I'm not sure if you're a listener, it's one of the best. I think this happened during COVID for me.

[00:17:14] So during COVID I had to have different types of podcasts. So. I mentioned earlier, I'm a huge golfer. So no laying up is a great podcast. I love them. I know the guys, they've done a phenomenal job. All in gave me my business, my tech, my worldly kind of checkbox, if you will. And then smartless, which is a comedy podcast, which is Jason Bateman and Will Arnett and Sean Hayes.

[00:17:34] That gave me my comedy, which we all needed during COVID. Let's be honest. That was probably my three podcasts, but I think when I've come to like books and reading and all your books in particular, I've been a big fan of. Autobiographies. I love hearing other people's stories. I love when What It Takes by Steve Schwartzman was like incredible.

[00:17:50] So tapering it in the business part of it. Let My People Go Surfing by the founder of Patagonia. It's a phenomenal read. Green Lights. I don't know if you've read Green Lights being from Texas, which is the Matthew McConaughey piece. If you get the chance, I'd ask you to not read it. Listen to it, because he narrates it.

[00:18:05] It's like a movie. It's incredible. It's like, every sentence finishes with green lights. And he is a phenomenal story. I would highly recommend it. So, and then you've got the economic ones like Ray Dalio and others in principle. So I love these things or Shoe Dog with Phil Knight. I consume myself with those, but I, my podcast is probably my biggest way of consuming media today.

[00:18:24] So

[00:18:25] Sean Mooney: those are all great podcasts. Those are great books, many of which I haven't read. And one of the things from this podcast that is the bane of my wife's existence is there's all these great recommendations. And right afterwards I hit the one click order. And so, like, these little boxes just keep on showing up, and so there's gonna be a bunch that show up, and now the daunting thing is I have this pile on my bedside.

[00:18:49] I'm gonna,

[00:18:49] Josh Adams: I'm gonna send you, as a follow up to this, I'm gonna send you Greenlights as an audiobook. I don't know how you consume your audiobooks. I'm gonna send it to you, but like I said, he narrates it, and you just like, It's like you would have paid a lot of money to just listen to him to read his own book.

[00:19:01] I mean, it's incredible. So I'll send it to you.

[00:19:03] Sean Mooney: All right. All right. All right. He was a call out to Scott Hayden, my former namer, who was a fraternity brother with

[00:19:14] Josh Adams: his time back there doing that during in Austin. So yeah, good Texas

[00:19:17] Sean Mooney: Longhorn there. So it warms my Austin, Texas heart where I grew up. So that is wonderful.

[00:19:31] In episode 62, Bob Belkey with Lovell Mennick Partners talks about. I

[00:19:44] Bob Belke: actually read a lot of fiction, but the, I think the couple I'll give you are, I'd say fit more into the category of, How to live a fulfilling life, kind of. I think the couple that were just sort of very impactful for me. They're short reads.

[00:20:01] One I actually just finished not long ago. It's a book called Die With Zero. Have you heard of that one?

[00:20:05] Sean Mooney: I've, it's like the third time I've heard about this book. Oh yeah. Has it been on the podcast more than once? No, no, I haven't read it yet. Oh yeah, okay. So, so I apologize in advance to my wife, Kate, because I'm going to be hitting like the single button purchase.

[00:20:18] Okay.

[00:20:19] Bob Belke: Yeah, it's an easy read. It's written by a guy named Bill Perkins. And simplistically it's okay. Spend all your money before you die. Okay. I kind of get the concept there, but it's more than that, right? It's, it kind of turns the, I'm going to save my whole life for a fulfilling retirement until I get enough money to retire and then live comfortably in my elderly years, that's your life model.

[00:20:41] It kind of turns that on its head a little bit. The idea is you should be investing in. Experiences when you're young and you shouldn't be afraid to, if you think about right, the typical life, you're making most of your money when you're old, when you're older, when you're my age, right? Your fifties is that's your harvesting years.

[00:21:01] And that's when you're supposed to be at the peak of your career. And so you have enough money so that when you retire, right, you can then spend your money. And, but the, here's the problem. You don't have your health. You may have your health, but there's limits to how long you're going to have your health.

[00:21:16] And frankly, you never know when you're going to die. So if you sort of back up and you say, no, when you're young, you may not have as much money or as much free time, but look, you have your health and there are a lot of things that you should be doing. It sort of balances out. You know what? Maybe I shouldn't be throwing all my savings into the 401k early, and maybe I should actually be going to do the aggressive mountain climb that I'm not going to be able to do or whatever it is.

[00:21:42] And having the mindset throughout your life of investing in life experiences is kind of like the philosophy. And I thought, and look, I just read it. I'm, you know, 53 and I just read it now, but it struck me as It's a good way to think about things.

[00:21:59] Sean Mooney: I really, I, I appreciate that perspective and it kind of resonates on several fronts in a couple things.

[00:22:05] My daughter's now 16 and she's going off to college, and that's, at least for me, the first time I've thought about, whoa, we've been in this chapter of our life forever and suddenly, like both of our kids will be going to college. And you're like, my wife's gonna be stuck with me. And so we're like, Oh, we got to do more than trips to Florida and like do some things meaningfully with our kids.

[00:22:27] And then in that same vein, I was having a conversation with my brother in law Milford, who's a orthopedic surgeon. And he goes, what are your hobbies? What do you do to have fun? And then I said, I don't have any hobbies. I work and I spend time with family. That's all I have time for. And he kind of took me aside.

[00:22:41] He's like, you need to like do things that are more than just work and family. Cause to your point, he goes time and time again, I have patients who wanted to wait. And they wanted to do all these things and they thought they would climb the mountain or do this sport or learn something. And then their bodies just start giving.

[00:23:02] And he was like dead serious and a hundred percent right. And he's like, I'm going to call you. This was just not too long ago. I'm going to call you six months. You better have a hobby. Like, okay, well maybe seven months I'll have a hobby. But we get it. We're all in this hamster wheel where it's just time.

[00:23:20] So I can't wait to read it.

[00:23:21] Bob Belke: Doug, you got to try your best to pull back. I definitely international. I've done a lot of travel in the last 10 years when I will take time off and one you can, of course you're connected from everywhere. So, I mean, you can even be connected in a mountain or we are on safari or whatever, the world is right now, but on the other hand, it actually allows you to do some of those things that you might not have been able to do so easily.

[00:23:44] But I find that to be tremendously fulfilling to get into, to immerse yourself into other cultures and to really kind of do your best to live it as opposed to staying at the fancy hotel and eating the American dinner.

[00:23:58] Sean Mooney: Yeah. A hundred percent. I'm curious, Bob, any other things that you've been reading that you think are also, yeah,

[00:24:05] Bob Belke: the other one I'll give you, and I've read this one quite a while ago, the monk who sold his Ferrari.

[00:24:10] Have you ever heard of that one? No. It's like a, it's like a fable. It's kind of like a fable about how to live a fulfilled life. And it's, and I know there's a lot of just really interesting things that it's very, it's things that you can sort of directly do it. You actually can sort of, you finish that book and say, Oh, I can actually do X, Y, and Z.

[00:24:30] And then a lot of it is around self empowerment. That's sort of. You have to have that as the way you choose to think, right? It's the mindset and the way you choose to think day in and day out. You can sort of think your way to happiness. There's sort of a lot written about that subject. I've always been a big believer in that, that your thoughts ultimately become your life, right?

[00:24:52] And I believe that you can do whatever you want to do, whatever you put your mind to, but you need to It all starts with what's running through your mind every minute of every day.

[00:25:02] Sean Mooney: That's another great point. And it's this idea of positivity, kind of making your life simpler and letting go of things. I don't think things have never brought me happiness other than momentarily.

[00:25:14] So, and the moments are great, but most of the things that I buy just to be completely candid are junk from Amazon. Uh, to fulfill a gizmo and gadget kind of fetish that I have.

[00:25:28] Bob Belke: I can see that from your background, by the way, Sean. I see all your gadgets behind you.

[00:25:35] Sean Mooney: There's that dopamine that hits when there's like a little thing that costs 10 that will hold my iPhone on the plane.

[00:25:42] Bob Belke: Oh yeah, gotta have that, gotta have that.

[00:25:47] Sean Mooney: Hey, as a quick interlude, this is Sean here. I wanted to address one quick question that we regularly get. We often get people who show up at our website, call our account executives and say, Hey, I'm not private equity. Can I still use BluWave to get connected with resources?

[00:26:01] And the short answer is yes. Even though we're mostly and largely used by hundreds of private equity firms, thousands of their portfolio company leaders, every day we get calls from everyday top proactive business leaders at public companies, independent companies, family companies. So absolutely you can use this as well.

[00:26:19] If you want to use the exact same resources that are trusted and being deployed and perfectly calibrated for your business needs, give us a call. Visit our website at BluWave. net. Thanks. Back to the episode.

[00:26:34] Now we have Jon Stewart with Middle Ground Capital on episode 65, talking about a book called Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte.

[00:26:45] John Stewart: If I had more time to like do this or do that, I could do this and you know, I could grow my business like this. If I had more time, I could focus on this. And I came across this really interesting book by Tiago Forte called Building a Second Brain. And I considered that I had a lot of like processes. I have all my email like automatically gets routed, it automatically is going and prioritizing in the different folders and all kinds of automations and stuff and like how I do things.

[00:27:13] And I thought I've done things really well. I still was this guy like to carry the notebook around with him and take notes and because I just remember it better if I write it down and then being able to recall it and then you got notebooks all over the place. I made the transition into an iPad and found a couple of really good apps.

[00:27:32] One is Asana, which is a project management tool, and we use it to track everything like decisions that we make, our investment process, and then GoodNotes. If you're a Mac user, which I am, and use an iPad or an iPhone, the apps like sync and they're always continuously updated. You can share these folders and files and documents with one another.

[00:27:54] But it's a basically a note taking an organizational app and this whole book is about how to use the technology and how to store and store all of your information so that you can easily access it because you can have all of this data and information, but if you can't put your fingers on it quickly.

[00:28:14] It's just inefficient for you to be able to do that. And so it kind of walks you through like this whole methodology that he uses. And it's almost like a reference book. I've read the book multiple times over the last three months. I usually read three to four different books a month. But I keep going back to this one as a reference.

[00:28:34] And keep making some adaptations and changes. And one of the things I like about the tools that I use in good notes, it's really neat. You can actually search and it'll search your handwritten notes. So like when you search for a word, you must have good handwriting. Handwriting is terrible. Really? No, but the technology is really good.

[00:28:55] Of course, it'll do like your handwritten text in the type text. If you want to be organized, but. What's really good is being able to have that search function. And when you go to search something, it's able to search your handwritten notes. Oh, that's cool. And, like, point you in the right direction. And so, having all of that information at your fingertips and being able to use the tool to, like, capture information.

[00:29:19] And so, I'll go into a management presentation and I've got the sim pulled up on one side of my iPad. I've got my GoodNotes pulled up on the other. I'm, like, clipping images out of the sim. I'm, like, It helps me with every aspect of everything that I do inside the firm. And then all of our meetings are like captured and a lot of people don't like to record Like on zoom and those types of things and we do that We record all the meetings that way if somebody's not there They can re watch the meeting that way if we agreed on something and someone says we didn't agree on something We can go back and check roll back the tape the red flag Everyone's got a flag in their pocket and they

[00:29:57] Sean Mooney: get to throw it.

[00:29:58] John Stewart: Yeah It's a great book. I highly recommend that because being more efficient and embracing technology, a lot of people, they have this really powerful piece of technology, their phone in their pocket, and they don't really utilize it as well as they could. Even young people, I find that young people are very slow to adapt some of these like technologies that make their lives easier.

[00:30:23] I grew up, In the world of Franklin Covey. Yeah, yeah, of

[00:30:26] Sean Mooney: course, the little notebooks.

[00:30:28] John Stewart: Yeah, the little notebooks and all that. We kind of went through that organization phase. They have everything kind of already digitized and being able to bring all of those both worlds together and being able to like, really have the power of all of that information, all of those notes, everything all in one place where you can search and index them and When you need to go to look for something, it helps you to do that.

[00:30:51] So it's a really good book and I recommend it to everybody.

[00:30:54] Sean Mooney: I love that idea in that book. And particularly from a personal perspective with each year, we're actually not that too far apart on age. And what I found is with every year, the leak at the bottom of my bucket, it seems to let more and more water go through it.

[00:31:10] In terms of the flow of thoughts every day. And so the leaky bucket is getting leakier and I need something exactly like that.

[00:31:16] John Stewart: No, I can't tell you how many times I wake up from a really vivid dream. Cause I keep my iPad right next to my bed and I got a. Get that information down when it hit me and wherever it hit me and being able to have that That you can take across all your devices and have it synced and then also share it with other people

[00:31:34] Sean Mooney: In episode 68 eric ginsburg with slate capital group talks about a great book called leadership and self deception by the arvinger institute

[00:31:45] Erik Ginsberg: There's one book that I often recommend to people and I send to people, and it's very short. It's a book called Leadership and Self Deception by the Arbinger Institute. And the whole book is basically one insight, but they take you through the example of a small company and it's actually quite an interesting read.

[00:32:01] But the self deception in the title is, basically, when we know what the right thing to do is, but we don't do it, we then deceive ourselves, and in fact betray ourselves, and then to justify that, we end up telling stories to ourselves that We heighten our virtue and we make other people the bad guy to sort of feel better about the situation.

[00:32:24] And I read this book, I want to say it must have been 15, 20 years ago, really when my kids were young. And it's a business book, but it's also a personal book. And it's, you know, an example would be you're sitting on a plane and you put a bag next to you to try to save the seat. Right. And you know, you shouldn't be doing that.

[00:32:40] Because the mistake you're making is you're overestimating the importance of what you need and you're not seeing other people as human beings worthy of the same kind of consideration. And the way to stop behaving this way is to stop doing that, is to see everybody. I'll stop there, but it goes into applications and implications for organizations and organizations often break down when people behave that way.

[00:33:01] It's a very quick read, but I found it pretty profound. Something I applied in my life in addition to in business. So I would recommend that to anybody.

[00:33:08] Sean Mooney: In Episode 71, Darren Harmon from Bain Capital talks about two great books, including Startup by Jeffrey Kaplan and Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.

[00:33:21] Darren Herman: In the early 90s, I believe, a book came out called Startup, and it was written by a gentleman by the name of Jerry Kaplan. And the book is written in diary style, most pages are, about the diary of a CEO founder who's building a technology company. And I was given it by one of my mentors who was trying to tell me that not every day is a sunny day in Philadelphia, so to speak.

[00:33:51] This is a CEO going through building a pen computing company. And every single day he's checking and writing in his diary. And what's amazing to me is the amount of business lessons. This gentleman learning along the way is the CEO. You think CEOs know every business lesson there is? No, they don't.

[00:34:10] You're just humbled by what he's learning as he goes through building this company. You learn about this is a company that goes from 0 to 100 really fast. It's playing into macro trends that are on the right side of history at the time. Not anymore today. You learn about scale because you're playing into that.

[00:34:29] The third, and I won't give it away too much, but you learn about failure. You put all three of those together and there's a lot of business lessons in that. I guess the book that I always loved growing up in the grade school was Catcher in the Rye. The way that J. D. Salinger wrote that book, to me, in almost like a conversational like tone, that the way Use of English in that book would never stand up at like Oxford or any other literary school.

[00:35:02] But it was written in a literary tone that I actually have adopted ever since I read that book. And that's kind of my style. And when I read Startup by Jerry Kaplan, it was very similar. It just hit me and I was like, wow, I haven't bonded with a book since I read Catcher in the Rye like this. And just the conversation and reading this diary and just understanding what's going through his CEO's mind was just fascinating.

[00:35:25] I haven't gone back to read it in the last 15 years, but I did read it in the mid two thousands as I was starting another business and that's a bunch of humble pie and you learn a lot from it. So I always recommend it to anyone starting a business or thinking about starting a business, which is there are a lot of lessons in that book that you could learn from and hopefully not make the same mistakes twice.

[00:35:47] Sean Mooney: I can't wait to read that. It's probably something I wish I had eight years ago, because it's like the thing, particularly in people who are listening to this and come out of private equity, you'll get this, but you're never allowed to fail. And it's the most daunting thing because then you can't take chances.

[00:36:03] And so it turned me at least, I felt like in this pressure pot and I'm like, I've got to evolve, but I'm not allowed to fail and I got to do all these other things. It's just like this vicious circle you get caught in, in this kind of washing machine. And so kind of what you're articulating is exactly kind of what.

[00:36:18] I felt like I went through, and the biggest mind shift I had to go through in starting BluWave was being comfortable with failure. The flip side of that coin was in asking for help. And once I figured that out, then it became something that was so liberating, freeing, and fun. And so. People have always asked me, but I think particularly peers of mine from other PE firms back in the day, they're like, what's it like doing a startup and doing your own thing?

[00:36:42] And I was like, well, it's the highest highs and the lowest lows seven times a day, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else.

[00:36:51] Darren Herman: Absolutely.

[00:36:52] Sean Mooney: What you shared just kind of brought me back not only to the eight years ago, but to the current exhilaration of doing these things. And rounding out our collection of great books recommended by our guests in 2024 for this wonderful aggregate episode, Christian Bullitt from Raymond James brings us home with a book called The Fund by Rob Copeland.

[00:37:16] Christian Bullitt: The one I just finished and everyone in finance should read this is The Fund. I think the author's name is Aaron Copeland and it's about Bridgewater Associates in Connecticut, the largest hedge fund. It is a very eye opening and harrowing tale of what their culture was like. Our leader, our group head, the woman who founded the business that Raymond James acquired, her name's Sunaina Sinha, she worked there and she experienced that unique culture firsthand.

[00:37:54] And it's very much reflected in the culture that she's in. She has in her team now, which has gotten quite big. I'll say it's without a doubt, the best culture that I've ever worked in professionally. Lots of great things about my former colleagues, but this is by far the most team oriented and team success focused culture that I've ever been a part of.

[00:38:18] And it was clearly evident that a lot of that is a reflection of the craziness of Bridgewater Associates. It's very successful, but very chaotic culture at that firm. It's wild. I can't even begin to start describing the stories of what happened there. There's some debauchery, but it's more about the internal culture of feedback and watching everybody else.

[00:38:45] I can't even begin to describe it, but it's wild. It's a great read. It's not super long. And I recommend a lot of managers of people should read it.

[00:38:53] Sean Mooney: It's really interesting. So before moving to Nashville, when we started BluWave, I lived in Darien, Connecticut. And so there's a lot of Bridgewater people in and around that area because Westport is just right up I 95.

[00:39:06] And there's so much intrigue. It's also a culture where they don't really talk about it. They're not allowed. So I've always was like, what's it like there? And at one point I was even recruited. It's like, do you want to come work here? And I'm like, I don't know, I haven't heard, but I don't know what it's about.

[00:39:21] So I didn't really go far, but A, they've been tremendously successful, but there's certainly a lot of intrigue about how it works. So I'm extremely curious to read this book to get kind of that inside lens because it's so much that's just been kind of confidential.

[00:39:38] Christian Bullitt: It's wild. That's all I can say.

[00:39:41] Sean Mooney: And what is it about your culture here that it sounds like it borrows some of the tenets but not all at Raymond James and your group that you think really works in terms of that pivot?

[00:39:51] Christian Bullitt: We recognize that it's a team sport. It's not an individual sport. I can originate and find as many great GPs but I'm not the one raising the bulk of the money or I'm not the one executing the deal and we have this very large project management team. Um, They're all very talented people. They're just ninjas about process and scheduling and moving a very large process along and keeping a lot of distribution and sales folks up to speed on what's happening.

[00:40:22] It's a fully team approach. That is the first thing you learn is that there's no room for people who want. The spotlight solely on themselves. We open every full team call on Monday morning with what we call values in action, where we basically give shout outs to people on the team. And so it can be a senior team member saying, I'd like to give out a shout out to Sean, he worked on this pitch in a very short timeframe, he crushed it.

[00:40:53] It was just a really great deck. And I just wanted to thank him for all his hard work. Or it can be from a junior person saying, I want to give a shout out to somebody else for covering me while I was away or for so and so and helping to help get work done, answer some questions and be grateful and helpful in getting my work done.

[00:41:16] It's a habit that everybody gets into and it really fosters an environment of collegiality that we all know we're sort of going towards the same goal.

[00:41:26] Sean Mooney: I love that. And in some ways it reminds me, as we talk about the business of private equity turning into a business, and we're starting to see that same kind of cultural metamorphosis in many of the PE firms we work with.

[00:41:39] And similarly, most of the PE firms came from the investment banking trees, and it sounds like the business of investment banking is also kind of turning into a business in certain spots as well. Where you're doing the things that you would hope your former port codes would have done and treating your business group there just like you would a company and being kind of culture and values first as part of an overarching strategy.

[00:42:02] I love that. It is unique. I think still to this day. In. This whole ecosystem, but also it's good to hear that your group is kind of like leading with this as well. But like all of the maniacs we both worked with in like the early 2000s, it's good to hear like some of those are now being turned into books and that's where they they've stopped.

[00:42:24] Christian Bullitt: No, it's I'm having a lot of fun and it's a great place to be.

[00:42:30] Sean Mooney: Thanks for listening. You can find links to each of the books discussed today in the episode notes. Please continue to look for the Karma School of Business podcast anywhere you find your favorite podcasts. We truly appreciate your support. If you like what you hear, please follow 5 Star Rate, review, and share.

[00:42:50] This is a free way to support the show. And it really helps us when you do this. So thank you in advance. In the meantime, if you want to be connected with the world's best in class, private equity grade professional service providers, independent consultants, interim executives that are deployed and trusted by the best business builders in the world, including hundreds of private equity firms, thousands of their portfolio companies, public companies, independent companies, and you can do the same.

[00:43:14] Give us a call or visit our website at BluWave. net. That's B L U W A V E. And we'll support your success onward.

Private equity insights for and with top business builders, including investors, operators, executives and industry thought leaders. The Karma School of Business Podcast goes behind the scenes of PE, talking about business best practices and real-time industry trends. You'll learn from leading professionals and visionary business executives who will help you take action and enhance your life, whether you’re at a PE firm, a portco or a private or public company.

BluWave Founder & CEO Sean Mooney hosts the Private Equity Karma School of Business Podcast. BluWave is the business builders’ network for private equity grade due diligence and value creation needs.