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by Chris Day @ Fully Managed™ I had the opportunity to read Seymour Schulich's "Get Smarter" en route (and back) from a recent HTG event in Canmore, AB. I gained a couple of interesting perspectives on life and business which I'd like to share with you. This was a very quick and easy read - I got through 200 of the 254 pages on my short flight from Vancouver to Calgary, polishing the rest off on my return home. I would highly recommend reading the appendices, particularly Appendix II which goes through Schulich's amazing story of becoming a Canadian billionaire. Here are a few of the concepts that caught my attention:
I have yet to try this process out, but it looks to be very logical. Basically, when faced with an important decision you simply list all of the good points on one side of the page, and the bad points on the other. You then allocate a score of 1 to 10 to each point (on each side). If the good points outweigh the bad by a factor of two-to-one, then you go with it. If not, you avoid it. I think we all do this internally, but this method allows you to formalize it. Schulich claims that he's used this over and over throughout his career and it has yet to fail him once.
My favorite rule in here is "Nobody is thinking about you". It's very true that people do spend a lot of time worrying about what other people are thinking about them - when in reality, for the most part, these are often paranoid thoughts.
Seymour's points seems obvious, but they're worth considering: 1) Exercise three times per week, strength training twice per week 2) don't smoke (unless you want to die ten to twenty years before your time). Personally, I shoot for four visits to Crossfit each week which has been just fine for me!
As a poker fan myself, I love this quote: "They say in a poker game if you can't figure out who the weak players (patsies) are at the table within thirty minutes then you're the patsy. I have never quite thought of things this way, but I've always believed that you must question everything in life and business - never take a promoter's word for it, and always get your own proof.
This section provides a very interesting analysis perspective on China - "Those who can figure out how to supply China with what it needs - whether it's oil, commodities, gold, or financial expertise - and who invest to take advantage of its rapid development will prosper." As a Vancouver-based technology services provider, we're definitely considering how we might fit in to their explosive economy.
The analogy of how as a young man Schulich never cleaned his father's car which he drove for 3 years. The moment he had a vested interest (i.e. his own car), he washed it religiously. Schulich cautions against investing in a company where the officers and directors don't have any substantial upside (or downside, as the case may be). I think he's dead on with this one.
"It's easy to print money. It's not easy to find and produce gold economically..." It's a very interesting thought that this particular hard metal provides a stable and consistent return on investment. I'd definitely feel safer betting on gold than the US dollar, at least for the next little while!
"Philanthropy is about giving back. You can give time, talent, or treasure (the three Ts)." This section was particularly interesting to me because it made me consider which of those I would be most willing to give away. Which form most interests you and why?
This book was a great, quick read which provided me with several interesting insights from an extremely successful Canadian investor. I'd highly recommend it if any of the headings above have peaked your interest.
