What I learned from reading Showboat: The Life of Kobe Bryant by Roland Lazenby.  ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----[9:15] Notes from The Redeem Team documentary:30 seconds into the first practice Kobe is diving for loose balls. That set the tone.Players go clubbing. Come back at 5:30am and see Kobe working out. "This motherfucker Kobe was already drenched in sweat. Yeah he’s different"— LeBron James. By the end of the week the whole team was on Kobe’s schedule.Understand the responsibility. I know I’m not going to fucking lose. I am not going to fucking lose. Not when I’m wearing this (team USA jersey) and not at this time in my career. You’re going to have to fucking shoot me. That’s how I want you to play. — Coach KAt one point you will have a grandkid on your lap and they will ask you weren’t you in the Olympics ? What did you do? You wanna say: Well son, we lost to that fucking Greek team? —Coach KWhen you’re in the Olympic village you're around people who are the best in the world at what they do. That is more special that celebrities in LA because this is athlete to athlete — I understand what they put their body through to get here. There’s so much respect and mutual admiration. —KobeWhat Kobe told team USA going into the 4th quarter: Just think about the play in front of you.[12:07] At every turn his declarations of future greatness have been met with head shaking and raised eyebrows.[14:33]  It's almost like Kobe's insane level of dedication was like compensation for the bad decision making of his father.[15:15] 4 parts to Kobe’s blueprint:Master the fundamentalsImprove your weaknessesStudy the greatsConcentrate[15:12] Listening to Founders is like watching game tape of history's greatest entrepreneurs.[15:40] I used to watch their moves and then I'd add them to my game. It was the beginning of a career-long focus on studying game recordings.[15:48] He would invest long hours each day in breaking down his own performances and those of opponents— far more than what any other NBA player would ever contemplate undertaking.[17:08] Jay Z’ autobiography: Decoded by Jay Z.  (Founders #238)[21:22] If you’re not good, Jeff will chew you up and spit you out. And if you’re good, he will jump on your back and ride you into the ground. —The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone. (Founders #179)[21:58] If you're breaking down tape of Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan and so many other greats, you come to consider them your teachers.[22:39] Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. (Founders #186)[23:00] Jordan and Knight certainly shared a competitive nature that bordered on insanity, Moore added. "If you think Jordan and Kobe are competitive, go meet Phil Knight. He's a no bullshit competitor. It's, 'You play for me or I can't stand you, I will kill you.' That's Phil Knight, full stop. And he's not shy about it.”[29:30]  He studied the game harder than anyone else has ever studied the game.[30:00] One day just before practice, the team was informed that it couldn't have the gym due to flooding.“This is bullshit!” he screamed, slamming a ball off the floor. “This is bullshit! We got practice, I want to practice. This is ridiculous!" (He was in high school)[31:10] Kobe had a closet at home filled with critical research. It held all these VHS tapes of Michael's games. [32:00] Kobe on Michael Jordan: What you get from me— is from him. I don't get five championships without him because he guided me so much and gave me so much great advice.[32:22] Sol Price: Retail Revolutionary & Social Innovator by Robert E. Price. (Founders #107)[35:22] Bryant's workout had been so impressive that for Jerry West, it had revealed his heart. It was there in the skill set alone, in some ways, just the amount of work that a player would have to have done to possess such immaculate moves, the footwork and fakes and execution, the hours that must have been put into that kind of perfection.[37:55] Part of his strategy for keeping his disappointment at bay was to focus on others who had faced far more difficult circumstances. "I read the autobiography of Jackie Robinson," Bryant said. “I was thinking about all the hard times I'd go through this year, and that it'd never compare to what he went through. That just kind of helped put things in perspective."[38:50] Kobe’s favorite book was Enders Game by Orson Scott Card. [39:00] The only way he could keep the whole dream going was to work harder and harder and harder, to spin his fantasies around and around until they wrapped him tight in a new reality.[39:45] Estée Lauder: A Success Storyby Estée Lauder. (Founders #217)[41:00] I think that game was vital to how good he became. That level of embarrassment to happen to somebody like him? The next year he came out like a fucking maniac.[41:15] Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Bertil Torekull. (Founders #104)[46:03] Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby. (Founders #212)[47:00] The best book on the emotional toll entrepreneurs experience:  Against The Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Founders #200)[54:15] Highly competitive personalities like Jordan and Bryant could absolutely kill a team atmosphere with displays of ruthlessness or selfishness.[55:22] He stands up, points around the room and says, You motherfuckers don't belong in the same court with me.You're all shit. And he walked out of the locker room.[56:07] 4 ideas from Kobe:Search for your limitsExtreme personal practiceResourcefullness—find a way.Study the greats[57:39] He was one of the rare few who simply cared far more about the game than anyone else.[1:02:24] The Mamba Mentality: How I Play by Kobe Bryant ----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

What I learned from reading Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century by G. Pascal Zachary.----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----[7:31] Acts of importance were the measure of his life and they are the reason that his life deserves study today.[8:10] Suspicious of big institutions Bush objected to the pernicious effects of an increasingly bureaucratic society and the potential for mass mediocrity.[8:20] He believed the individual was still of paramount importance."The individual to me is everything," he wrote  "I would restrict him just as little as possible."He never lost his faith in the power of one.[8:57] Pieces of the Action by Vannevar Bush (Founders #270)[9:32] Dee Hock — founder of VISA episodes:One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization by Dee Hock (Founders #260)Autobiography of a Restless Mind: Reflections on the Human Condition Volume 1and Autobiography of a Restless Mind: Reflections on the Human Condition Volume 2 by Dee Hock. (Founders #261)[9:55] Edwin Land episodes:Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos. (Founders #264)Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #263)A Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ronald Fierstein (Founders #134)Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg (Founders #133)The Instant Image: Edwin Land and the Polaroid Experienceby Mark Olshaker (Founders #132)Insisting On The Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land and Instant: The Story of Polaroid(Founders #40)[10:00] Vannevar Bush and Edwin Land both had a profound belief in the individual capacity for greatness.[12:15] Bush came from an American line of can do engineers and tinkerers, a line beginning with Franklin, and including Eli Whitney, Alexander, Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and the Wright BrothersThe Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin. (Founders #62)Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson. (Founders #115)Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership by Edward Larson. (Founders #251)Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bellby Charlotte Gray. (Founders #138)Edison: A Biography by Matthew Josephson. (Founders #268)The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. (Founders #239)[13:35] The Essential Writings of Vannevar Bush by Vannevar Bush and G. Pascal Zachary[16:30] My whole philosophy is very simple. If I have any doubt as to whether I am supposed to do a job or not, I do it, and if someone socks me, I lay off.[18:00] The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach (Founders #103)[19:00] What Bush learned from reading old whaling logs I’m learning 120 years later reading biographies of founders.[19:45] Books by Sebastian Mallaby:The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future and More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite[21:20] He admired men of action, despised rules, and felt that merit meant everything.[22:32] If something is going to take two years he wants to figure out how to do it in six months or a year. This kind of the mentality he applied to everything.[24:45] Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli (Founders #265)[25:45] I lose my shit when thinking about how all these ideas connnect.[30:45] He remained susceptible to bouts of nervous tension throughout his prime years.[31:50] Advice he gave his sons: Justify the space you occupy.[32:30] Do not emulate the ostrich: For better or worse we are destined to live in a world devoted to modern science and engineering. If the road we are on is slippery, we cannot avoid a catastrophe by putting on the brakes, closing our eyes or taking our hands off the wheel. What is the sane attitude of a scientist or layman? Absence of wishful thinking. No emulation of the ostrich.[35:00] He insisted that discipline must be self applied or will be externally imposed.[33:36] He found romance in adversity and solace in hard work.[36:00] Vannevar Bush on Leonardo da Vinci and Ben Franklin[42:33]  It is being realized with a thud that the world is going to be ruled by those who know how, in the fullest sense, to apply science.[44:45] We want an inventive company rather than an orderly company.[45:38] Tolerate genius. There are very few men of genius. But we need all we can find. Almost without exception they are disagreeable. Don't destroy them. They lay golden eggs.  —Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy. (Founders #89)[48:34] David Ogilvy episodes:The Unpublished David Ogilvy by David Ogilvy. (Founders #189)The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy and the Making of Modern Advertisingby Kenneth Roman. (Founders #169)Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy. (Founders #89)Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy. (Founders #82)[49:00] Bush’s personal motto: Don’t let the bastards get you down.[51:50] The General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer—The Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb by James Kunetka. (Founders #215)[55:15] The more resourceful entrepreneurs are the ones that are going to win.----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

What I learned from reading Pieces of the Action by Vannevar Bush.----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----Outline: Pieces of the Action offers his hard-won lessons on how to operate and manage effectively within complex organizations and drive ambitious, unprecedented programs to fruition.Stripe Press Books:The Dream Machine by M. Mitchell WaldropThe Making of Prince of Persia: Journals 1985-1993 by Jordan Mechner.] Endless Frontier: Vannevar Bush, Engineer of the American Century by G. Pascal Zachary— Any exploration of the institutions that shape how we do research, generate discoveries, create inventions, and turn ideas into innovations inevitably leads back to Vannevar Bush.— No American has had greater influence in the growth of science and technology than Vannevar Bush.— That’s why I'm going to encourage you to order this book —because when you pick it up and you read it —you're reading the words of an 80 year old genius. One of the most formidable and accomplished people that has ever lived— laying out what he learned over his six decade long career.— A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age by Jimmy Soni and Rob Goodman (Founders #95)— Bootstrapping: Douglas Engelbart, Coevolution, and the Origins of Personal Computing by Thierry Bardini— I don’t know what Silicon Valley will do when it runs out of Doug Engelbart’s ideas. —  The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson. (Founders #157)— Bush points out that tipping points often rest with far-seeing, energetic individuals. We can be those individuals.— I went into this book with little more than a name and came out with the closest thing to a mentor someone you've never met can be.— We are not the first to face problems, and as we face them we can hold our heads high. In such spirit was this book written.The essence of civilization is the transmission of the findings of each generation to the next.This is not a call for optimism, it is a call for determination.It is pleasant to turn to situations where conservatism or lethargy were overcome by farseeing, energetic individuals.People are really a power law and that the best ones can change everything. —Sam HinkieThere should never be, throughout an organization, any doubt as to where authority for making decisions resides, or any doubt that they will be promptly made.You can drive great people by making the speed of decision making really slow. Why would great people stay in an organization where they can't get things done? They look around after a while, and they're, like, "Look, I love the mission, but I can't get my job done because our speed of decision making is too slow." — Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos by Jeff Bezos and Walter Isaacson.(Founders #155)Rigid lines of authority do not produce the best innovations.Research projects flowered in pockets all around the company, many of them without Steve's blessing or even awareness.They'd come to Steve's attention only if one of his key managers decided that the project or technology showed real potential.In that case, Steve would check it out, and the information he'd glean would go into the learning machine that was his brain. Sometimes that's where it would sit, and nothing would happen. Sometimes, on the other hand, he'd concoct a way to combine it with something else he'd seen, or perhaps to twist it in a way to benefit an entirely different project altogether.This was one of his great talents, the ability to synthesize separate developments and technologies into something previously unimaginable. —Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader by Brent Schlender and Rick Tetzeli (Founders #265)He was so industrious that he became a positive annoyance to others who felt less inclined to work.  —Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power by James McGrath Morris. (Founders #135)Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and The Secret Palace of Science That Changed The Course of World War II by Jennet Conant. (Founders #143)If a man is a good judge of men, he can go far on that skill alone.All the past episodes mentioned by Vannevar Bush in this book:General Leslie Groves: The General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer—The Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb by James Kunetka. (Founders #215)J. Robert Oppenheimer: The General and the Genius: Groves and Oppenheimer—The Unlikely Partnership that Built the Atom Bomb by James Kunetka. (Founders #215)Alfred Lee Loomis: Tuxedo Park: A Wall Street Tycoon and The Secret Palace of Science That Changed The Course of World War II by Jennet Conant. (Founders #143)J.P. Morgan: The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow. (Founders #139)The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism by Susan Berfield. (Founders #142)Orville Wright: The Wright Brothers by David McCullough. (Founders #239)Birdmen: The Wright Brothers, Glenn Curtiss, and the Battle to Control the Skies by Lawrence Goldstone. (Founders #241)Edwin Land: Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It by Peter C. Wensberg. (Founders #263)Instant: The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bonanos. (Founders #264)Henry J. Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West by Mark Foster. (Founders #66)Professional Amateur: The Biography of Charles Franklin Kettering by Thomas Boyd (Founders #125)Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bellby Charlotte Gray. (Founders #138)Difficulties are often encountered in bringing an invention into production and use.An invention has some of the characteristics of a poem.It is said that a poet may derive real joy out of making a poem, even if it is never published, even if he does not recite it to his friends, even if it is not a very good poem. No doubt, one has to be a poet to understand this.In the same way, an inventor can derive real satisfaction out of making an invention, even if he never expects to make a nickel out of it, even if he knows it is a bit foolish, provided he feels it involves ingenuity and insight. An inventor invents because he cannot help it, and also because he gets quiet fun out of doing so. Sometimes he even makes money at it, but not by himself. One has to be an inventor to understand this. One evening in Dayton, I dined alone with Orville Wright. During a long evening, we discussed inventions we had made that had never amounted to anything. He took me up to the attic and showed me models of various weird gadgets. I had plenty of similar efforts to tell him about, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Neither of us would have thus spilled things except to a fellow practitioner, one who had enjoyed the elation of creation and who knew that such elation is, to a true devotee, independent of practical results.So it is also, I understand, with poets.Against The Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Founders #200)When picking an industry to enter, my favorite rule of thumb is this: Pick an industry where the founders of the industry—the founders of the important companies in the industry—are still alive and actively involved. — The Pmarca Blog Archive Ebook by Marc Andreessen. (Founders #50)If a company operates only under patents it owns, and infringes on no others, its monopoly should not be disturbed, and the courts so hold. An excellent example is Polaroid Corporation. Founded by Edwin Land, one of the most ingenious men I ever knew (and also one of the wisest), it has grown and prospered because of his inventions and those of his team.I came to the realization that they knew more about the subject than I did. In some ways, this was not strange. They were concentrating on it and I was getting involved in other things.P.T. Barnum: An American Life by Robert Wilson. (Founders #137)We make progress, lots of progress, in nearly every intellectual field, only to find that the more we probe, the faster our field of ignorance expands.All the books from Stripe Press----Founders Notes gives you the superpower to learn from history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. You can search all my notes and highlights from every book I've ever read for the podcast. Get access to Founders Notes here. ----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested so my poor wallet suffers. ” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

The podcast delves into Sam Zell's mindset, emphasizing authenticity, urgency, and commitment in decision-making. It explores the balance between work and personal life, highlighting the importance of relationships and staying true to oneself. Zell's entrepreneurial journey showcases the power of strategy in asset acquisition and the downfall of corporate excess. The narrative also touches on personal challenges, resilience, and the transformative nature of both personal and professional experiences.

Discover John Malone's relentless pursuit of long-term value in the cable industry. From his unorthodox business tactics to prolific M&A deals, Malone's frugality and strategic vision set him apart. Explore the rise of the cable industry, Malone's complex personality, and the fascinating world of industry pioneers.

Explore the intertwined legacies of Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and Henry Ford. Edison's early fascination with invention, resourcefulness, and reading habits. His determination, struggles, and success in the telegraph industry. The importance of leadership styles, product demos, and curiosity in innovation. A look at influential founders through the lens of Thomas Edison.

Exploring Henry Ford's philosophy on business centered around providing service to others and the importance of customer obsession. The podcast delves into Ford's revolutionary idea of mass-producing affordable cars, his relentless pursuit of continuous improvement, and his approach to balancing low prices, high wages, and investments in human capital.

Explore the evolution of Steve Jobs from a reckless youth to a visionary leader, his resilience amidst failures, and the importance of trusted outsiders in leadership. Dive into his focus on customer interaction and innovation, work-life balance, and family involvement in business. Discover how his early influences shaped his mindset and success beyond financial metrics.

Explore the parallel journeys of Polaroid and Apple, focusing on the visionary leadership of Edwin Land and Steve Jobs. Delve into Land's innovative spirit and strategic talent recruitment. Discover Polaroid's branding efforts, risky ventures, and power struggles. Learn about Land's dedication to creating products that transcend commercial value and his departure from Polaroid.

Explore the unconventional methods of Edwin Land at Polaroid, his profound influence on Steve Jobs, and his intense dedication to innovation. Discover the birth of the instant camera, his relentless pursuit of excellence, and his legacy of visionary entrepreneurship.