Profile
- Partner at BlackStone
Personal effectiveness
- the bigger the goals the more significant the consequences
- since you can only do one important thing at a time, always pick the most important one to start with
- most important lessons are learned at inflection points between when failure turns into success
- the best executives are made not born, they absorb info, study their own experiences, learn from mistakes and evolve
- The goal of education (questioning and thinking) as a discipline is to learn how to think, it only ends when you die
- there are as many realities as individuals, study more individuals
- find a great mentor
- Cultivate inner fortitude: Helps preserve morality and ethics in the face of fear and greed
- The harder the problem the more limited the competition
- The first job is foundational. Always look for one with a steep learning curve and strong training.
- when caught in a tight spot, don't become fixated on your own problem but on someone else's
- when seeing a huge transformative opportunity don't worry that no one else is pursuing it.
- never get complacent
- make decisions when you are ready not under pressure
- objectively assess the risks of every opportunity.
On finance and trading
- master uncertainty: finance is a dynamic world where you will need to adjust to situations, people and new information quickly
- build a model to explain a certain phenomena and then test it
- do not mistake interest in making money versus interest in psychological comfort
- market tops
loose credit conditions and a rising tide
- buyers generally overconfident
- number of people you know who become "accidentally" become rich
- number of IPOs increase at the top, so does the valuations and size
- market bottoms
very hard to bring companies to IPO
- difficult to detect
- markets are declining and economy weakens
- most buy too early or under-estimate the severity of recessions
- usually takes a year or two for market to get out of recession. even then asset value takes time to recover
- risk is the least after a crash
- best time to enter is after position has experienced 5-10% recovery from a crash
- practice discipline and sound risk assessment
wait till the cycle fully plays out
- Cycles are powered by supply and demand characteristics
understand and quantify them
- e.g. real estate top is when building is valued significantly above replacement cost
- Sometimes a trend especially negative ones will exhibit symptoms spread across various territories (escalating land prices Spain, India and US prior to 2008)
On building a company
- fund raising from an LP for a new fund you are starting yourself will be harder than the prior company whom the LP already has a relationship with.
- make sure there is not sole decision maker for important decisions to avoid getting blind sided
- Accessing an idea
big enough for you to devote your life
- unique enough as an offering that people will want it
- timing must be right
- transition from gut to system during the middle of the life cycle to continue further scaling
- a business is an integrated system. Understand how one part works by itself as well as in relationship with other parts. Information is the most important asset in business
On management
- being a strong and accurate accessor of talent is the most critical skills of entrepreneurship.
- look for cultural fit.
- Get the candidate into conversation mode
- its as hard to start and run a small business versus a big one. Choose one with potential to be huge. Why waste time asking for 5-10 million USD when you can ask for 50-100 million USD?
- find people who sense problems, design solutions and takes the business in new directions
- be proactive in addressing personal differences over day to day operations
On deal making
- ultimately comes down to a few key critical points
- clear away the clutter and focus on these points to be effective
- learn to slow things down
- practice intense listening
Related readings
- *Outliers*, Malcom Gladwell