A good conscience is a continual Christmas...

“Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, no example sway thee, no persuasion move thee, to do any thing which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollily; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.” --Ben Franklin

Links

"Wealth is not his that has it, but his that enjoys it." --Benjamin Franklin

Jeff Bezos’s Master Plan (LINK)

Fall 2019 issue of Graham & Doddsville (LINK)

The Heilbrunn Center's Schloss Archive is also worth going back and checking out periodically (LINK)

The Knowledge Project Podcast: #68 Daniel Kahneman: Putting Your Intuition on Ice (LINK)

Exponent Podcast: 175 — The Abyss Stares Back (LINK)

The Next Big Idea Podcast: Malcolm Gladwell and David Epstein on the Keys to Success (LINK)

Related book: Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

Links

"You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think." --Marcus Aurelius

Bill Gates' Professor Hawking Fellowship lecture: Why I think we can predict the future (LINK)

A Value Investor Defends Value Investing (Despite Its Recent Track Record) ($) (LINK)

Joel Greenblatt says if you do good valuation work, the market eventually will agree

Your Stock Trades Go Free but Your Cash Is in Chains - by Jason Zweig ($) (LINK)

The Price of Certainty - by Ian Cassel (LINK)

The China Cultural Clash - by Ben Thompson (LINK)

Leithner Letter No. 241-244 (LINK)

Capital Allocators Podcast: Jonathan Tepper (LINK)

Related book: The Myth of Capitalism

Masters in Business Podcast: Robert Shiller Discusses Narrative Economics (LINK)

Related book: Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events

The Peter Attia Drive Podcast: Jason Fried: Optimizing efficiency and work-life balance (LINK)

Ryan Holiday on EconTalk discussing his new book, Stillness Is the Key (LINK)

What I Learned About Life From Buying a Goat on Craigslist - by Ryan Holiday (LINK)

"Human felicity is produced not as much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen as by little advantages that occur every day." --Benjamin Franklin

Links

Note to readers: I'm traveling with limited internet access over the next week or two, so posting will probably be less frequent than normal.

***

"We think that when we make a decision, there ought to be such a margin of safety that it ought to be so attractive that you don’t have to carry it out to three decimal places." --Warren Buffett (1995)

Beachheads and Obstacles - by Ben Thompson (LINK)

Bubble Yet? (The Brooklyn Investor blog) (LINK)

The Absolute Return Letter - October 2019: How to invest in a low growth world (Part 1 of 2) (LINK)

Michael Bloomberg’s Answer to the U.N. General Assembly - by Evan Osnos (LINK)

Some takeaways from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (LINK)

Kyle Bass: Hong Kong Protests are Chinese Regime’s “Worst Nightmare” in US China Trade War (video) (LINK)

Odd Lots Podcast: How Financial Repression in China Helped Cause the Trade War (LINK)

Hidden Forces Podcast: Financial Fault Lines, Central Banks, and the Law of Unintended Consequences | William White (LINK)

Masters in Business Podcast: Brian Grazer Discusses Imagine Entertainment (LINK)

The James Altucher Show (podcast): 493 -- Frank Abagnale (LINK)

What Got You There Podcast: #158 Brent Beshore (LINK)

The Knowledge Project Podcast -- Jim Collins: Keeping the Flywheel in Motion (LINK)

Externalities: Why We Can Never Do “One Thing” (LINK)

The Messy World of Crime-Solving Genealogists - by Sarah Zhang (LINK)

Links

"Investing is really not complicated. I mean, the basic framework for it is simple. Now, you have to work at it some to find the best pockets of undervaluation.... But you didn’t have to have a high IQ—you didn’t have to have lots of investment smarts to buy junk bonds in 2002 or even to do some of the stuff that was available when LTCM got in trouble. You really just had to have the courage of your convictions. You had to have the willingness to do something when everybody else was petrified. But that was true in 1974 when we were buying stocks at very, very, very low multiples of earnings. It wasn’t that anybody didn’t know that they were cheap. They were just paralyzed for one reason or another." --Warren Buffett (2006)

"When you have a huge convulsion...you get a lot of weird behavior.... And if you can be wise when everybody else is going crazy, sure, there will still be opportunities. But that may give you long, dull stretches if that’s your strategy." --Charlie Munger (2006)

Stay in the Game (LINK)

Buy and Hold: Simple, NOT Easy - by Vishal Khandelwal (LINK)

While Studying Bonds, Why Credit Rating Analysts Should Keep an Eye on the Stock Price (LINK)

Invest Like the Best Podcast: Chuck Akre – The Three-Legged Stool (LINK)

To Hack or Not To Hack - by Peter Zeihan (LINK)

The Knowledge Project Podcast: Leading Above the Line (LINK)

Revisiting Benjamin Franklin and Socrates (LINK)

"The investor trying to buy right and hold on could buy as many different stocks as appealed to him. The difference is not in the focussing of investment money but in the intent of the buyer. The trader believes that in a swift-moving, rapidly changing world, with visibility always limited, he can make a series of commitments with better chance of success than trying to decide which companies will do well for the next twenty years. The investor dedicated to buying right and holding on picks managements, products, and processes he thinks able to cope with the unforeseeable as it hoves into view. " --Thomas Phelps (via 100 to 1 in the Stock Market)

Related Quotes (envy and vanity)

"It is not greed that drives the world, but envy." --Warren Buffett

"The idea of caring that someone is making money faster [than you] is one of the deadly sins. Envy is a really stupid sin because it’s the only one you could never possibly have any fun at. There’s a lot of pain and no fun. Why would you want to get on that trolley?" --Charlie Munger

"Almost all the parts of our bodies require some expense. The feet demand shoes, the legs stockings, the rest of the body clothing, and the belly a good deal of victuals. Our eyes, though exceedingly useful, ask when reasonable, only the cheap assistance of spectacles, which could not much impair our finances. But the eyes of other people are the eyes that ruin us." --Benjamin Franklin (via A Benjamin Franklin Reader)

When a man's actions are just and honorable...

From Benjamin Franklin: An American Life:

Through it all, Franklin remained sanguine about the possibility of spies in his midst, even though, shortly after his arrival, he had been warned to be wary by a Philadelphia woman then living in Paris. “You are surrounded with spies who watch your every movement,” she wrote. With an eye more to extolling his virtues than addressing the problem, he sent what became a famous response: 

I have long observed one rule which prevents any inconveniences from such practices. It is simply this: to be concerned in no affairs I should blush to have made public, and to do nothing but what spies may see and welcome. When a man’s actions are just and honorable, the more they are known, the more his reputation is increased and established. If I was sure, therefore, that my valet de place was a spy, as he probably is, I think I should probably not discharge him for that, if in other respects I liked him.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas...

“Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, no example sway thee, no persuasion move thee, to do any thing which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollily; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.” --Ben Franklin

Links

"You may delay, but Time will not." --Ben Franklin

Berkshire invests in JPMorgan, Oracle as Buffett puts cash to work (LINK)

The GE End Game: Bataan Death March or Turnaround Play? - by Aswath Damodaran (LINK)

CNBC's full interview with Ray Dalio (~16 minutes) (LINK)

Short-seller Bass says China needs 'reset' as Trump talks tariffs (LINK)

Is there a financial time bomb in sight? - by Sebastian Mallaby (LINK)

Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis (LINK)

Who does Facebook fire after a bombshell New York Times investigation? (LINK)

Michael Lewis, whose books often highlight the growing role of data, sees the opportunity in trucking [H/T Linc] (LINK)

4 Strategies For Becoming a Master Persuader - by Robert Greene (LINK)

Deep freeze impact: Scientists find a huge asteroid impact crater under Greenland’s ice (LINK)

A Bold New Strategy for Stopping the Rise of Superbugs - by Ed Yong (LINK)

"A Change of Fortune hurts a wise Man no more than a Change of the Moon." --Ben Franklin

Links

CNBC's full interview with John Malone (~55 minutes) (LINK)

Real Vision has made the full interview with Stanley F. Druckenmiller, which was filmed in early September, freely available for all (LINK)

How This All Happened - by Morgan Housel (LINK)

The story of how America evolved from 1945 to 2018.

How Warren Buffett Is Expanding His Overseas Real Estate Empire [H/T Linc] (LINK)

Why I love fertilizer - by Bill Gates (LINK)

How to Weigh Your Options and Decide Wisely: Benjamin Franklin’s Pioneering Pros and Cons Framework (LINK)

How Amazon Picked HQ2 and Jilted 236 Cities ($) (LINK)

A Reckoning With the Dark Side of the Restaurant Industry ($) [H/T @trengriffin] (LINK)

On the other hand, young cooks’ heightened expectations don’t always take into account low wages or difficult labor, restaurateurs say. Dreams of fame and fortune have driven growth in culinary schools and programs and encouraged thousands of students to finance this education with debt. 

Last year, 672 culinary programs were accredited by the ACF, compared with roughly 100 in 1998, Ms. Brust says. More than 39,000 students matriculated from two-year or four-year culinary degree programs accredited by the ACF last year. Yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts the creation of only 14,100 new chef and head-cook jobs by 2026. There will be 10 times as many “cook” jobs, but these pay half as much. 

Restaurant cooks make a median wage of $12.10 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Culinary-school graduates are no exception, even at top-tier restaurants in expensive cities, a number of restaurateurs say. While some top chefs can earn six figures, the median annual wage for chefs and head cooks is $45,950, according to the BLS.

Focused Compounding Podcast: Talking MicroCap Investing with MicroCapClub's Ian Cassel (LINK)

Capital Allocators Podcast: Michael Lombardi – Leadership Through Football (LINK)

Related book: Gridiron Genius

Seth Godin talks about his new book on his podcast (LINK)

Jocko Podcast 151: How to Really Implement Change. Different Leadership Styles. Balancing Discipline. Different Jiu Jitsu Styles. (LINK)

The Myth Of the Traumatized Neanderthal - by Ed Yong (LINK)

More from Charlie Munger on opportunity cost...

From the 2006 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting: 

In the real world, you have to find something that you can understand that’s the best you have available. And once you’ve found the best thing, then you measure everything against that because it’s your opportunity cost. That’s the way small sums of money should be invested. And the trick, of course, is getting enough expertise that your opportunity cost — meaning your default option, which is still pretty good — is very high.... Most people aren’t going to find thousands of things that are equally good; they’re going to find a few things where one or two of them are way better than anything else they know. And the right way to think about investing is to act thinking about your best opportunity cost. 

Reviewing the comments from Buffett and Munger on opportunity costs over the years has made me make a slight change to my investment process. Now, multiple times a week I go over the key aspects and thesis (about a paragraph or two in length) for each of the things I am actually invested in. This serves two key purposes:

1. Opportunity Cost: Like the quote from Munger above, it allows me to always have my opportunity cost at the top of my mind when looking at new ideas, thus helping to improve the idea-filtering process.
2. Disconfirming Evidence: By constantly reviewing my reasons for owning something, I hope to be able to more quickly identify evidence that may opposed to those reasons, thus increasing my ability to recognize mistakes faster as well as using the practice of searching for disconfirming evidence as a way to train myself to be more objective. 

For those looking to grow a money management business, it can also help in one's marketing efforts. While many people may want to conclude that just finding great ideas will lead to a successful business, or that being able to tell every bit of minutiae about a given holding can display one's skill—the truth is that more often than not, being able to clearly articulate the key points in a thesis is what will get someone's initial attention. From there, the level of detail one goes into will vary by potential investor, but showing some clarity helps the marketing which helps drive one's business. And as Ben Franklin said, "Drive thy business or it will drive thee."

Links

"So many people think if they just hire somebody with the appropriate labels they can do something very difficult. That is one of the most dangerous ideas a human being can have.... You don’t have to hire out your thinking if you keep it simple." --Charlie Munger (1994 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting)

"You don’t have to do — we’ve said this before — but you don’t have to do exceptional things to get exceptional results. And some people think that if you jump over a seven-foot bar that the ribbon they pin on you is going to be worth more money than if you step over a one-foot bar. And it just isn’t true in the investment world, at all.... The big thing to do is avoid being wrong." --Warren Buffett (1994 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting)

7 surprising things you’ll learn on Dollar Street - By Bill Gates (LINK)

Don’t Fake It ‘Till You Make It. Do This Instead. - by Ryan Holiday (LINK)

My god. It *is* full of stars. - by Phil Plait (LINK)

The Man Who Changed the World, Twice  - by David Brooks (LINK)

***

I've mentioned Carl Van Doren's biography of Benjamin Franklin before (thank you Daniel for the recommendation), and as I go through the old Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting videos and transcripts, this comment from Munger about the book caught my eye:

"I am rereading a book I really like, which is Van Doren’s biography of Benjamin Franklin, which came out in 1952, and I’d almost forgotten how good a book it was. And that’s available in paperback everywhere. We’ve never had anybody quite like Franklin in this country. Never again."

Links

"There's integrity, intelligence, experience and dedication. That's what human enterprises need to run well." --Charlie Munger

Brian Koppelman’s Career Capital (LINK)

An excerpt from John Doerr's new book Measure What Matters (LINK)

2018 Antitrust and Competition conference - Digital Platforms and Concentration (video) (LINK) [Ben Thompson's opening remarks with slides are available HERE.]

Happiness & the Gorilla - By Scott Galloway (LINK)

The Reinvention of America [H/T @StevenLevy] (LINK)

Book of the day [H/T @svafier]: The Go-Giver Influencer

"After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wise." --Ben Franklin [H/T CIO]

Benjamin Franklin's Closing Speech at the Constitutional Convention, September 17, 1787

Mr President,

I confess that I do not entirely approve this Constitution at present, but sir, I am not sure I shall never approve it: for having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others. Most men indeed as well as most sects in religion, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them it is so far error. Steele, a Protestant in a dedication tells the pope, that the only difference between our two churches in their opinions of the certainty of their doctrine, is, the Romish church is infallible, and the Church of England is never in the wrong. But though many private persons think almost as highly of their own infallibility, as of that of their sect, few express it so naturally as a certain French lady, who in a little dispute with her sister, said, I don’t know how it happens, sister, but I meet with no body but myself that’s always in the right. Il n’y a que moi a toujours raison.

In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution, with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general government necessary for us, there is no form of government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other. I doubt too whether any other convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution: for when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected? It therefore astonishes me, sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded, like those of the builders of Babel, and that our states are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats. 

Thus I consent, sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad. Within these walls they were born, and here they shall die. If every one of us in returning to our constituents were to report the objections he has had to it, and endeavor to gain partisans in support of them, we might prevent its being generally received, and thereby lose all the salutary effects and great advantages resulting naturally in our favor among foreign nations, as well as among ourselves, from our real or apparent unanimity. 

Much of the strength and efficiency of any government in procuring and securing happiness to the people depends on opinion, on the general opinion of the goodness of that government as well as of the wisdom and integrity of its governors. I hope therefore that for our own sakes, as a part of the people, and for the sake of our posterity we shall act heartily and unanimously in recommending this Constitution, wherever our influence may extend, and turn our future thoughts and endeavors to the means of having it well administered.

On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a wish, that every member of the convention, who may still have objections to it, would with me on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility, and to make manifest our unanimity put his name to this instrument.

***

[via A Benjamin Franklin Reader]

Links

"The struggle ends when gratitude begins." -Neale Donald Walsch [H/T Ferriss]

"For me, Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo da Vinci have the same life lesson, which is: be interested in everything.... If you can be interested in everything, if you can be cross-disciplinary, then you can see the patterns of our cosmos, and how we connect to them. And that's the magic of Ben Franklin, but even of Steve Jobs...and of course the ultimate of that is Leonardo da Vinci, who was the greatest creative genius in history because he spanned disciplines." -Walter Isaacson [In his answer to the first question in podcast below.]

Walter Isaacson talks with Tim Ferriss (podcast) (LINK)

Related book: Leonardo da Vinci

The Case Against Bridgewater Isn't Proven - by Matt Levine (LINK)

Mohnish Pabrai with a brief interview on ET NOW last week (video) (LINK)

How China’s first ‘silk road’ slowly came to life – on the water [H/T Claire Barnes] (LINK)

What Killed Post-Break Up AT&T? What Lessons can be Learned from this Titanic Modern Failure? - by Tren Griffin (LINK)

Waymo Safety Report  (an overview of how their cars work) [H/T Recode] (LINK)

Scott Galloway's Ask Me Anything on Reddit (LINK)

Related book: The Four

The scale of tech winners - by Benedict Evans (LINK)

a16z Podcast: Platforming the Future (LINK)

Related book: WTF?: What's the Future and Why It's Up to Us

Exponent Podcast: Episode 127 — The Worst-Case Scenario (LINK)

FT Alphachat Podcast: Richard Florida on geographic inequality (LINK)

Related book: The New Urban Crisis

Adventures in Finance Podcast: 37 - Hours from Oblivion: Inside the White House During The Cuban Missile Crisis (LINK)

Atul Gawande: "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" | Talks at Google (LINK)

Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman: "A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age" | Talks at Google (LINK)

Darwin's Backyard: "How Small Experiments Led to a Big Theory" | Talks at Google (LINK)

Octopus-Inspired Material Can Change Its Texture - by Ed Yong (LINK)

How a Quarter of Cow DNA Came From Reptiles - by Ed Yong (LINK)

The Ancient Origins of Both Light and Dark Skin - by Ed Yong (LINK)

Links

“The ancients tell us what is best; but we must learn of the moderns what is fittest.” -Benjamin Franklin [H/T CIO]

The Knowledge Project podcast: Rory Sutherland on The Psychology of Advertising, Complex Evolved Systems, Reading, Decision Making (LINK)

Rory Sutherland (@rorysutherland) is the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Group, which is one of the largest advertising companies in the world.  This interview was recorded live in London, England.  Rory started the behavioral insights team and spends his days applying behavioral economics and evolutionary psychology to solve problems that conventionally advertising agencies haven't been able to solve.  In this wide-ranging interview we talk about: how advertising agencies are solving airport security problems, what Silicon Valley misses; how to mess with self-driving cars, reading habits, decision making, the intersection of advertising and psychology, and so much more.  Enjoy this amazing conversation.

Proximate vs Root Causes: Why You Should Keep Digging to Find the Answer (LINK)

London Value Investor Conference Notes 2017: Parames, Roden, Channon & More (LINK)

Invest Like the Best podcast: The Human Blitzkrieg, with Dave Chilton (LINK)

Debt pile-up in US car market sparks subprime fear (LINK)

Strains have been evident for at least a year at the bottom end of the auto-loan market, in the world of subprime. But in prime debt, too, delinquencies are beginning to pick up, forcing big banks such as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase to pull back. 

Carmakers are now boosting discounts and cutting production to address rising inventories on dealer lots. Falling used car values, in turn, are pushing up defaults, as people find themselves stuck in loans they cannot afford but can’t trade out of because they still owe more than the vehicle is worth. 

“Here we are again,” says Janet Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance, a Chicago-based consulting firm. Car loans are a smaller market than mortgages, she notes, which total about $9tn. But they could still do a lot of damage if consumers keep missing payments. 

The share of auto debt more than 90 days overdue rose to 2.3 per cent in the first quarter, the highest in six years, according to the New York Federal Reserve. “It’s a new mini-Big Short,” she says, alluding to traders who made billions by betting on a housing collapse a decade ago. 

...Some of the most rapid growth has occurred at specialist subprime lenders such as Exeter Finance of Irving, Texas, owned by Blackstone, and Skopos Financial, also of Irving, which is owned by Lee Equity Partners, a New York private equity firm. Lenders like these have pumped out billions of dollars of loans, which have been bundled together, then sliced into securities by the likes of Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase.

According to Morgan Stanley, the share of auto securities tied to “deep subprime” loans — those given to borrowers with scores below 550 on the commonly-used FICO creditworthiness scale — rose from 5.1 per cent of total subprime deals in 2010 to 32.5 per cent last year.

Ways to Dismiss Technology and Predict Change - by Benedict Evans (LINK)

Mark Zuckerberg's Commencement Address at Harvard (video) (LINK)

Token Summit I - Final Fireside Chat with Fred Wilson and William Mougayar (video) (LINK)

Faceless Publishers - by Ben Thompson (LINK)

Choosing your spot - by Seth Godin (LINK)

Odysseus and the Epicureans (LINK)

Related book: From Villain to Hero: Odysseus in Ancient Thought

The Spider Web That Gets Stronger When It Touches Insects - by Ed Yong (LINK)

Links

The Merchandising of Virtue – by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (LINK)

One Powerful Success Secret from Ben Franklin that Changed My Life - by Vishal Khandelwal (LINK)

Economist David Ricardo — One of the Most Successful Quants in History - by Jason Zweig (LINK)

A Dozen Lessons on Building a Business from Sarah Tavel - by Tren Griffin (LINK)

Homeowners Again Using Their Houses as Cash Registers [H/T @jasonzweigwsj] (LINK)

Thoughts on Tokens - by Balaji S. Srinivasan and Naval Ravikant (LINK)

Tokens are early today, but will transform technology tomorrow.

A review of Geoffrey West's book Scale (LINK)

How I Built This podcast -- TOMS: Blake Mycoskie (LINK)

Brian Greene on the Masters in Business podcast (LINK)

We knew Jupiter was weird. Now we're finding out HOW weird. - by Phil Plait (LINK)

Rules for Modern Living From the Ancient Stoics - by Massimo Pigliucci (LINK)

Related book: How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life

Links

If you'd like to listen to the Code Conference talks in a podcast app, they are available via the 'Recode Replay' podcast.

Bill and Melinda Gates at Code Conference 2016 (video) (LINK) [I don't see a complete video yet, but the full discussion appears to be on the podcast.]

Elon Musk at Code Conference 2016 (video) (LINK)

Sundar Pichai at Code Conference 2016 (video) (LINK)

Mary Meeker's 2016 internet trends presentation (LINK)

London Value Investor Conference Notes 2016 (LINK)

Bruce Greenwald and Joseph Stiglitz discussed the state of the economy at Columbia Business School's 2016 Reunion (video from mid-April) (LINK)

Ben Franklin and the Virtues and Ills of Pursuing Luxury (LINK)

Books of the day:

How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know

How Brands Grow: Part 2: Emerging Markets, Services, Durables, New and Luxury Brands

Links

A Dozen Things Learned from Benjamin Franklin About Money and Investing (LINK)

How Maritime Insurance Built Ancient Rome (LINK)

Hardcore History podcast: Kings of Kings II (LINK)

From Biblical-era coup conspiracies to the horrific aftermath of ancient combat this second installment of the series on the Kings of Achaemenid Persia goes where only Dan can take it. For better or worse…

The Knowledge Project podcast: Alexander Shelley (LINK)

On this episode of the knowledge project you'll learn about what goes through conductor Alexander Shelley's mind as he walks from the dressing room to the podium, the architecture of music, why Beethoven's 5th Symphony is so popular, the necessity of art and culture in our busy world and so much more. 

Masters in Business podcast: Bethany McLean (LINK)

In our latest Masters in Business podcast, we speak with Bethany McLean, Vanity Fair contributing editor, and author of numerous books, most famously The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron.

Exponent podcast Episode 071: Pickaxe Retailers (LINK)

Ben and James discuss the connection between Amazon’s business model and organizational structure, why Dropbox shouldn’t have left AWS, and why Apple should buy Dropbox. Plus, does WeWork’s valuation make sense, and why such company’s are exciting.

A good conscience is a continual Christmas...

“Let no pleasure tempt thee, no profit allure thee, no ambition corrupt thee, no example sway thee, no persuasion move thee, to do any thing which thou knowest to be evil; so shalt thou always live jollily; for a good conscience is a continual Christmas.” –Ben Franklin