Wrapping up 2019 and looking ahead to next year, I recorded this episode from Brisbane’s Happy Boy Restaurant. Amid ambient café noise, we touch on what it takes to be a genius, socialism versus capitalism, the ascendance of China, man’s search for meaning, LBJ and, of course, our big reads in 2019 and thoughts for 2020.
Show highlights
- Building specialisation – the Federer approach (try lots of things first) versus the Woods approach (specialise early)
- Temperament and grit are more important than IQ – Buffett has outperformed Singleton, despite not being as ‘smart’
- Our summer reading lists
- Michael Crichton’s journey through medical school and how you spend years doing what you don’t want to do, to get where you want to go
- How over 95% of millionaires rated “being well disciplined” as a very important/important component in explaining in their economic success (apologies – in the podcast I said 80%)
- Grit – how stamina counts over intensity
- Controlling our circumstances through choice, optimism, realism, Viktor Frankl’s advice and Man’s Search for Meaning
- Jordan’s fiction reading amounts to children’s books, our shout out to Jerry Seinfeld/Ray Romano lookalike Al Shopov (Jordan’s brother – a source of intellect for the podcasts) and Larry David lookalikes
- Where we got it wrong with predictions for 2019, from higher interest rates to values and capitalism
- Want to reduce environmental impact? Innovation and doing ‘more with less’
- Will China’s domestic politics feature more in the 2020 spotlight?
Resources/People/Articles Mentioned in the Podcast
- Paul Graham’s article on what it takes to become world class
- Matt Ridley lecture
- Jordan’s holiday reading A Man for All Markets
- Jordan’s favourite book of 2019 Man’s Search for Meaning
- Henry Singleton
- We Need a New Science of Progress by Patrick Collison and Tyler Cowen
- The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Volume 1) by Robert Caro
- Red Flag: Waking Up to China’s Challenge (Quarterly Essay 76) by Peter Hartcher
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
- Travels by Michael Chrichton
- The Next Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J Stanley
- The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
- Grit by Angela Duckworth
Image source: AP/Philstar Global