Elon Musk

Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson

Elon Musk grew up in South Africa, yet his roots their were fairly shallow, with ancestors in US, Canada and England. His father Erol was quite a character and divorced his mother when Elon was young. He initially lived with his mom, but later decided to live with his dad. He has since had a full falling out with his dad, especially after he had two children with a woman that was previously his stepdaughter. His father was also an accomplished engineer with many business endeavors. Musk had many interesting characters in his family history.

As a teenager, Musk went to America. He has since claimed Canadian and American citizenship. He went to school, was involved with computers and started his own software company. He went from that to others, including X.com (which merged with Paypal). SpaceX was his pet project to get people to Mars. Other parts like Starlink are part of that. He became involved with Tesla early on (with a messy discussion of who were the founders). He later founded OpenAI, though had a falling out with the leadership.

Musk has a mission of preserving humanity. Tesla would help stave off global warming with electric cars. SpaceX would bring people to Mars as insurance policy against a global catastrophe. AI efforts are meant to control AI so that it does not control us. He also feels it is important for talented people to reproduce to propagate humanity. Like Bill Gates he has self-diagnosed Aspergers. He works hard and expects every else to put in extra effort like him. He is not somebody known for work-life balance. He is willing to buck the trend. Everything done must have justification. Just because it was done before, does not mean it should keep being done. He has become the world's richest man and first trillionaire, yet has lived at times like a pauper.  At times he doesn't care how people feel about him, while at others he finds it extremely important.

Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America

Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America by Brendan Ballou

Private equity firms has been able to exploit legal loopholes in order to transfer wealth from society to themselves. Their playbook includes mechanisms that insulate themselves from responsibility and allow them to profit even if the companies they acquire eventually fail. Leveraged buyouts will use debt that the company takes on itself in order for private equity to buy the company. The company then pays the firm a fee for the privilege of being managed as well as regular dividends. This necessitates significant belt tightening and leaves companies heavily vulnerable. Financial engineering, such as selling the real estate and leasing it back further harms the company prospects, while also helping to enrich private equity.

This book focuses on the negative wealth extraction and financial engineering performed by private equity. Operational improvements and long-term focus are barely covered. The book talks about failures like Toys R US, without even mentioning successes like Dell. Many of the areas that private equity has infiltrated have additional structural headwinds. Private Equity firms swoop in and separate the assets into good and bad. They make money off the good, then discard the bad. Alas, "discarding" often involves hoisting it on to the government. This type of financial engineering ends up harming society as a whole. Making the businesses lean leaves little buffer for downturns and also hurts customer service. They can also take advantage of industries where there is a big disconnect between who pays. In prisons, governments like the chance to get kickbacks from criminals. In hospitals, there are many parties involved, limited transparency and few options. There are great chances to financial engineer and frew responsibilities for doing so. Public healthcare may be the only true fix for the private equity mess there.

Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life

Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life by Avinash K. Dixit

Applied game theory helps guide decision making and identify some "bad outcomes". People will often alter their decisions based on what others are doing and how they perceive the outcomes will be. Even the type of way a decision is made can significantly impact the outcome. (The Roman method of focussing on possible punishments first will produce different results than American method of deciding guilt first then punishment later.) I recall Chicago's Olympic bid, which was thought to be the overwhelming frontrunner being derailed in part because may thought others would vote for it. That example was way past those in the book which was written decades ago. The book includes many examples from sports hall of fame voting to union negotiations. The "Tragedy of the Commons" even makes an appearance.

 

The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth

The Elements of Power: A Story of War, Technology, and the Dirtiest Supply Chain on Earth by Nicolas Niarchos

There always seems to be a catch with technological solutions to environmental problems. Batteries help us use cleanly produced electrical power. However, modern batteries require rare earth metals which are primarily found in the Congo. A corrupt political regime is keen to extract bribes and kickbacks. Poor miners work in unsafe conditions and are willing to ransack te environment for a few more elements. The government has almost no money and provides little public service. Chinese companies are heavily involved and working to extract value. The few western companies are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they play by all the western rules, the Chinese will corner the market for the elements. If they play by the unwritten Congo rules, they run afoul of the west. There is even an Israeli businessman who is often involved. The whole situation somewhat reminds me of how early America did what it wanted to achieve technological dominance over Great Britain. Now it is China's turn, with the Africans failing to reap the rewards, even as their leaders become rich. 

The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant

The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant by Tae Kim

There were many times in the early days where Nvidia almost went belly-up. They had some strategic decisions that didn't pan out. They bet on new, better technology, but had slow software translation to the old technology. The company would strive to excel technically, while not disgarding the lower levels of the market. The organization structure is extremely flat with the CEO having a large staff. Employees from the CEO down put in crazy amounts of hours of work. They always viewed themselves as being one bad mistake away from oblivion.

Things really started to boom for Nvidia after the company received an XBox contract. Later the company coined the term GPU to describe their programmable graphics chips, but let the term be used generally. They released programming tools and were able to dominate the GPU market. Nvidia saw the potential for GPUs to be used in artificial intelligence work and have been able to ride the AI boom to record valuations. They also got a nice lift from Bitcoin mining and they are still popular with gamers. Nvidia has been able to become the world's highest valued company thanks toa confluence of hard work and being in the right place at the right time.

Source Code: My Beginnings

Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates

Bill Gates had the perfect childhood to set himself up to launch Microsoft. His parents were dedicated to their family, but gave their children significant autonomy. His mom was highly involved in community organizations and had many connections. His father was a lawyer. There were entrepreneurs in his family tree as well as a doting grandma that helped teach logical thinking through games. He enjoyed learning what he wanted to learn and struggled in school and socially. He would have been diagnosed on the autism spectrum today. His parents didn't give up on him or try to force him in a certain path. They had him engage in common youth activities. They let him learn on his own terms. He ended up enjoying some of the "punishments" he received in school (such as working in the library.) His parents helped him to "fall up" out of the public school to attend private Lakeside school. There he was able to find another socially awkward friend as well as other "geeks" who would help found Microsoft.

Lakeside was one of the few places that had a computer for students to access. Gates was drawn to the computer. He would spend time thinking in code and how to program. Through connections, he and some friends were able to get access to other computers at companies and the University of Washington. He had friends in older grades, such as Paul Allen that could get access. They were able to work on business projects finding bugs and coding - all while still in high school. Their parents helped support them as well as get them further connections. He was able to get into Harvard and explore other academic interests. There he met others with complementary skills. Then the first real home computer came out. He and his friends had experience and created a basic interpreter. They were able to sell it and create an appropriate contract that would help them defend their rights. They would later be able to defend their rights to allow the company to continue. 

Bill Gates was at the right place at the right time and had the proper support as well as the personal interest and drive to keep with his company. There are so many ways that Microsoft could have failed to be, yet it somehow managed to be the behemoth it is today.  

The Big Store: Inside the Crisis and Revolution at Sears

The Big Store: Inside the Crisis and Revolution at Sears by Donald Katz

Sears was the Amazon.com of its time. It started as a mail order company with a giant catalog. It then went into the physical store business. It was a huge business that dominated the retail sector. However, it became stuck in its ways and started to fade as shopping habits changed. It went through various attempts to improve its financial position. Attempts at international expansion fizzled out after showing potential. Acquisitions and non-retail business lines also showed potential. Sears invested heavily in computer systems. The company also realized that they sat on a treasure-trove of data that would allow cross-selling insurance and other financial products. 

The book primarily covers the Telling leadership of the company. He started shortly after the move to the Sears tower and had a "different" style of leadership. The book ends with the choosing of Brennan as the new leader. There are many different personalities involved, with the ups and downs of a company trying to find its way. Seas seemed to be finding its way through the struggles at the end. It is interesting toread about "classic" business practices. However, the book was written in 1987. Since then Lampert acquired the company and fully drove it into ground. Will this be the fate of Amazon? Despite Sears being nearly non-existant, past components like Allstate are still thriving.

Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America's Eyeballs

Netflixed: The Epic Battle for America's Eyeballs by Gina Keating

Netflix was founded by Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings in the late 1990s. They had worked at a software company together that was acquired by IBM. Randolph was the primary force behind the initial idea and wanted to do something Amazon with video. Netflix was somewhat lucky that the potential competitors like Amazon and Blockbuster were inept, allowing Netflix to grow. An "activist investor" was busy trying to pull money out of Blockbuster preventing them from putting enough money into the DVD delivery operation to compete with Netflix. Blockbuster also had to struggle with the possibility of cannibalizing their existing store's revenue model - including the reliance on late fees. Netflix had optimized fast delivery of DVDs through the mail system to locations where their customers were. This seemed simple, but was difficult for others to copy. This book was written more than a decade ago, so only touches the surface of the pivot to streaming. Netflix did not do things perfectly, but was able to learn from mistakes and pivot to continue succeeding.

High Output Management

High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove

This is an older management book from a boss at Intel. The chip business was booming in the day, though there were plenty of pivots and changes that the company went through. There are some insights that seem funny today. Email was seen as a powerful tool that helped enable communication throughout the company. This would give American companies the similar "real time" communication similar to Japanese companies where everybody sits at a table together. Well that has come and gone. We have even gone through the open office trend, instant messaging and other real time communication tools. Now the college is often to get more focussed.

There was some good discussion on 1:1 meetings. It is good for both sides to take notes. Look at problems. Plan actions and get to the bottom of things.

In spite of the changes in technology many key aspects of management remain similar.

Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist

Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist by Jason Mendelson and Brad Feld

This book explores the details of venture capital financing. It goes through the process of completing a term sheet, getting financing, and then experiencing the exit. The authors point out areas that they see as important and others that don't really matter. The stress is on what entrepreneurs will need. However, plenty of background on VCs and their challenges are faced. The negotiations should end up with partners rather than adversaries because the VCs and entrepreneurs will be in it for the long haul. To tie it all up, the book includes discussion on negotiation. The book did get a bit technical, but that felt necesary for some of the topic.

The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change

The Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and Change by Camille Fournier

The author did a NanoWriMo book on her experience transitioning from engineer to management. People still need to remain a bit technical as the rise up. First steps are typically working as a mentor to interns. Other steps include doing more people work and less coding. Even those on a technical track still need to have a little people experience. The best technical people are not necessarily the best managers. The book is a nice tech-focused book on management and rising up the career ladder. (Which sometimes is best done at places that do not have a ladder!) Management is different at different companies and at different phases of growth as are the opportunities.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni

This short business books provides an example of a fictitious Half-Moon Bay tech company in a state of disfunction. A new boss is brought in to clean things up. She identifies many of the causes of dysfunction as she works to clean it up. At first, it appears she is not doing much. However, she does begin to enforce rules, dismisses a team member and changes part of the reporting structure. There are some concerns at first, but there is eventual buy in and success. After the story, the book has a brief section with details on the disfunction types.

The Butterfly Impact: Resilience, Resets, and Ripples

The Butterfly Impact: Resilience, Resets, and Ripples by Mark Brigg

This is a fairly generic business book. I missed the whole butterfly metaphor, even though it was brought up multiple times in the book. It took a turn towards superficial diversity that didn't help. As a whole the book was not bad, but did not really add anything.

Cracking the PM Career: The Skills, Frameworks, and Practices to Become a Great Product Manager

Cracking the PM Career: The Skills, Frameworks, and Practices to Become a Great Product Manager by Gayle Laakmann McDowell and Jackie Bavaro

What is a Product Manager? The role is primarily present in technology companies. It primarily involves providing direction and managing a "product" rather than people. Product managers don't have people authority and must rely on "soft" authority to get done. They often have both a computer science and business background. This book is written with Silicon Valley in mind. There are discussions of big tech, startups and VCs. The entire career is covered, with expectations for fresh-out-of-school product managers up to those that have transitioned to CEO. Product management is most often a "mid-career" position. People will transition into it and later move to management. It involves working both outwards to understand the market and customers as well as inward to the development teams. It can be a fun for those interested. The book ends with interview advice and bios from a number of people that have worked as product managers.

Samsung Rising: The Inside Story of the South Korean Giant That Set Out to Beat Apple and Conquer Tech

Samsung Rising: The Inside Story of the South Korean Giant That Set Out to Beat Apple and Conquer Tech by Geoffrey Cain

Samsung is not one company, but a group of affiliated companies that span multiple industries. They all trace their history to the single founder and remain controlled by the same family. It is the largest of the Korean chaebols and is "too big to fail." Leaders of Samsung have been convicted of crimes, such as bribery, but are often pardoned "in the interest of the country". Organizations such as a pension fund will vote out of their best interests to support Samsung. (In one case, they took a big loss in order to help support a complicated succession plan.) The company has been around for less than a century, being founded shortly before World War II. It has been involved in more mundane activities such as groceries. With support of Korean government it grew and expanded to other fields. It saw opportunities in electronics and microchips and took the plunge. Initially the products were low quality imitations, but gradually it grew to improve quality and marketing. It has a huge share of the market for certain chips and cell phones.

Despite its position, Samsung remains firmly controlled by family. (Though people have been sued for comparing the leader of Samsung to the leader of North Korea.) When things go wrong, the tendency is to deflect blame. The company quickly launched a recall, but focussed on blaming a certain supplier. When replacement ones failed, they were left with a big problem that they did not handle well.

Samsung has also had trouble with acquisitions. They tend to implement their top down control even if that causes problems with the acquired company. The Samsung culture is very hard working. However, it does have difficulty responding to external criticism. Samsung is tries to stay out of media which it cannot fully control. 

Dream With Your Eyes Open: An Entrepreneurial Journey

Dream With Your Eyes Open: An Entrepreneurial Journey by Ronnie Screwvala

The author started out convincing Indians that they needed toothpaste before branching out into media production. The book is filled with the standard "Here is what I did to succeed in business. You can do it too". There did not seem to be much original about what he wrote. It may be more interesting to those that are familiar with the media empire that he created in India.

Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream

Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream by Megan Greenwell

This is a "make you mad at private equity" book. It provides a few examples of private equity in low income apartments (in D.C. area), retail (Toys 'R Us), newspapers and rural hospitals (in Wyoming). It is easy to get mad and worked up about the cases. However, it feels like part of the story is missing.  All of these industries were distressed in some way. Did private equity just change the timelines for failure? Private Equity firms are big and seem to take advantage of a number of regulatory loopholes. However, most of the "solutions" advocated simply entrench them more in power. (See the case of healthcare that has become more and more expensive, consolidated and regulated at the same time.)

The book ends with some success cases. The Toys 'R Us workers were able to get a little bit of severance. A group in rural Riverton, Wyoming was able to get funding to open a new hospital. Though I do need to wonder how it will pan out? Will the deep pocketed hospital may be challenging. Would they just operate at a loss to kill the competitor, and then go back? The case of the housing is also challenging. Rent control is nice for those that get it. But it doesn't help those that still don't have a place to live. Renter unions may seem nice, but the problems spread across housing types. In Seattle, Bellweather housing is a nonprofit provider of affordable housing. Yet residents have a tenants union and have demanded better maintenance, security and keeping promises made to residents. Private equity may come in to real estate to earn money, but the problems are deeper. Enabling more 3-flats and other small multi-unit housing would make home ownership more affordable. However, we may be eliminating this path by creating universal rental regulations. A business with thousands of units can afford to deal with a few scofflaws, but a small time landlord will take a much greater hit. 

The Myth of Multitasking, 2nd Edition: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done

The Myth of Multitasking, 2nd Edition: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done by Dave Crenshaw

Multitasking is usually just "switch-tasking". We work on one task for a bit, then switch to another. Then switch back. There are costs involved in switching. The end result is that we end up accomplishing much less than if we just focussed on a single task for a period of time. This is exactly what "multi-tasking" computers were set up to do. They provide the illusion of working on many different things, but are really just switching from task to task. Alas, when the term came to use in humans, people got the idea that they really could accomplish multiple things at once. Instead, things are just slowed down. The multi-tasking environment also has negative personal impacts. We may think we can give people attention while doing other things, but we really can't and others can tell. It is faster and better to focus on a single task at a time and give people full attention. (But how does that work if something is really boring?) The book is told in a story of a consultant that comes and helps a worm out multitasking boss to work more efficient and bring efficiencies to her company. It is a short and efficient book that clearly brings home the point.

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox

The Goal is a business book told as a story. The protagonist is in charge of a factory that is in trouble. There is risk of the company shutting them down. He is struggling to find a way to turn things around. A non-business professor, Jonah, appears and helps pinpoint him in the direction he needs to go to find answers. Meanwhile, his wife is stressing out at home due to his time spent at work and lack of attention to his home life. At work, he looks at the big picture and realizes that the small metrics won't help. He needs to improve things all around. The improvements eventually lead to a focus on constraints. Inventory should be kept as lean as possible. Effort should be focussed on improving areas that are constraining the system. He even gains some ideas by seeing how boys hike together on a boy scout hike. The teachings are primarily applicable to manufacturing organizations. However, applications can be found in other areas, including family life.

Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street

Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street by Herman Melville

A lawyer hired Bartleby to work for him. Bartleby starts out working strong, but then refuses to work with a phrase "I'd prefer not to". Despite multiple injunctions, the lawyer cannot get any work out of Bartleby. The lawyer then justifies keeping him on as a charity case. He later discovers that Bartleby is also living at the office. The lawyer tries to get rid of him, even paying him money to leave. However, Bartleby would prefer not to live. Finally the lawyer leaves the office altogether. The new tenant later comes back to complain to the lawyer about Bartleby. How did Bartleby infiltrate that office in the first place? How can he be so powerful to refuse to do anything with the rationale of preferring not to? Bartleby is quite the strong-willed character.