Q3 2023 Reading Review

When McKinsey Comes To Town: In the epilogue of the book a former consultant is quoted as saying, "To those convinced that a secretive cabal controls the world, the usual suspects are the Illuminati, Lizard People or Globalists. They are wrong, naturally. There is no secret society shaping every major decision and determining the direction of human history. There is, however, McKinsey and Company." While the book is designed to expose the less than savory customers McKinsey has taken on through the years, I was surprised by the list and the actors on it when reading the book. They include the likes of major drug companies (while also consulting with the FDA in a clear conflict of interest), ICE (deportation services), Chinese state backed industrial outfits, Big Tobacco, Purdue Pharma (death peddlers of oxy), the bone saw Saudi's, Big Insurance, Enron, The Astros (during the cheating scandal) and South Africa. It's a who's who of bad actors across time and space. While I am sure McKinsey does a ton of great work too - the book casts a dark light on the business. No matter what pretty virtues management asposes to keep, it seems abundantly clear that the "company" will put profits over moral peril most days of the week. 

Aftermath: The Last Days of The Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America - In 1945 the population of the United States was 145M. Over the next 19 years 76M babies were born. The equivalent in 2021 terms would be 186M babies born from now to 2040. 10m more kids annually then we produce now (3.6M a year). This gives you the sense of the size and power the Baby Boomer generation has held on the country - described as a generational tyranny. Everything in America has catered to this generation since the start of the boom in the early 50's. The book argues that now, however, the center of gravity is starting to shift away from them. The younger generations are more diverse - better educated - less religious and more liberal. The author goes on to argue that fears of boomers as they are downshifting from being the center of gravity in the United States overlaps with many of the country's political - religious and racial fissures. 

Compensating the Sales Force: This lays out as many dimensions of sales compensation schemes as you could think of - or want to think of, for that matter. It is bit detailed and exhaustive. If you are forced to deal with incentive programs or running sales compensation modeling for your company this might be a good one to grab. 

PT Barnum: America's Greatest Showman - We all know, or likely attended, a Barnum and Bailey's Circus at one point in our lives. It made me question - who really was the man behind the name Barnum? This is the book that gives you the exhaustive and definitive account of his life, his business and the folklore surrounding the man himself. I feel like every self made man story requires the death of parents early in their lives. Barnum had it. His father died by 15, his mother died by 27. He worked in the grocery business briefly and decided to get into the "hoax" business making money selling tickets to see the 160 year old living servant of George Washington. By 30 he was on the road touring with novelty acts full time. By 1837 after a real estate collapse in NYC he bought a large building near St. Paul's church, and opened his long-standing museum. By the 1940s he toured with General Tom Thumb (a 25 inch, 15 pound miniature man). Amusingly he stops drinking alcohol after spending several nights at the NY state fair in Saratoga Springs in 1847 bearing grotesque witness to the widespread drunkenness in the crowd (good old Saratoga for you). He goes on to build a giant mansion in Fairfield called Iranistan. In the 1850s he jumps into the concert promoter game, paying Jenny Lind $150K for 150 shows across the United States. He proceeds to get deeper into the exotic animal business for his NY based museum. At one stage he levers all of his wealth on speculative real estate and goes bankrupt. He starts over again, he goes back on tour with Tom Thumb in 1856 across England. He eventually moves to West Hampton NY and builds a second mansion. His museum burns down in 1865. He builds another one. That one burns down 13 weeks after opening in 1867. He is appointed to the head of agriculture for the state of Connecticut. He runs for congress in 1867 and losses. He builds a new mansion in Fairfield and then -- and ONLY then, by 1870 -- does he get into the traveling circus business. Needless to say -- Barnum is maybe the most American of stories - part grifter, part entrepreneur, part reader of tea leaves for what the public desired. The book is a fascinating character study - and has some amazing vintage photography too. 

I Hear You: The book is short and sweet and discusses the need for all of us to feel validated. This book takes you through the basics of how to be a better communicator while helping validate what someone is feeling when they come to you to discuss a topic. Validation is not agreement. That said, validation is rooted in empathy and understanding. SImple, direct and full of some useful recommendations - it's a booster shot for getting better at listening. 

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder:

*** BEST BOOK OF THE QUARTER AWARD ***

"Empires preserve their power with the stories that they tell, but just as critical are the stories that they don't -- the dark silence they impose, the pages they tear out."

With that, I give you The Wager.

I am not a fan of boats, the sea, sailing or the navy for that matter but this is a great book. It's amazing David Grann can take a story from 1741 and make it come to life in this manner. Without ruining the intrigue and mystery of the story for you, I will tell you it will make you appreciate the warmth of your bed, the food on your plate and the fact you don't have SCURVY (scurvy is detailed at a level I have never read about before here and it is NOT fun). This is a great one to grab. Kudos to Greg Hay for calling it out. 

The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts - While this book has been out for 15 years now I landed on it after listening to my friend Pete Sousa interview Tom Farley Jr. on his podcast that discusses alcohol and drug dependency and recovery. It's nearly impossible to think that Chris Farley has been dead for 26 years - yet here we are. While the book is about one of the great comedic performers of our time, as you can imagine, it is a searing portrait of a man dealing with insecurity, fame and compulsive issues from food and sex to booze and drugs. The book is done in quick clip interview format, as the author steers you through Farley's life you get the interview snippets from the likes of David Spade, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler and many of the writers and producers along with his Wisconsin friends and his brothers. My favorite, and what I believe are the most insightful comments, come from Bob Odenkirk who actually wrote the "motivational speaker" skit for Farley back in Chicago at Second City. I didn't realize that Farley had actually stayed sober for nearly three years before relapsing after making Black Sheep (he hated the product). As one early SNL writer mentions in the book - "The first hour drinking with Chris was fun. The second hour was the greatest hour of your life. The rest of the night was a living hell." I also didn't realize that Farley was actually destined to be the voice of Shrek. He had actually recorded 60% of the movie before dying in December of 1997. He was also slated to play the role of Fatty Arbuckle in a turn toward drama. He had projects that could have launched him into other levels of success beyond what he had already achieved - but in the end, sadly, the drugs and booze and food took their toll. The world is a bit of a darker place without Chris Farley in it, I just can't believe it's been that way for 26 years now. 

Butler To The World: A book recommendation from Chiraag Kapoor here. This dives into the unseemly underbelly of how the British empire has become a financial weigh station for corrupt/illegal activity. The author opens by stating "This book will show how it (Britain) has spent decades, not helping America, but picking its pocket, undermining its government, and making the world poor and less safe. Fundamentally over the last 80 years, the secret side of Britain has had a far more significant impact on the world." His large argument was that the British empire was built on trade and while it once ruled 25% of the landmass of the world at its peak, once it began to retreat from dominance in the 1960's it turned to profiting off "new money" that needed places to hide. There are detailed chapters on Britain's use of the Suez Canal, the creation of the EuroDollar in the 1970's (to combat the destruction of the sterling pound depegging process), the BVI's, Gilbralter, Scottish Limited Partnerships and dirty Russian money (Dmitry Firtash) laundering through British assets like the closed London Tube stops as examples of their "butlering" for profit. An interesting read that wanders a bit near the end - like 90% of the books I read, he could have done it in 150 pages vs 200+ and been better for it. 

The Creative Act: A Way of Being - Rick Rubin's magnum opus on how to tap into creative juices, keep them rolling and getting and staying in "flow". Rubin probably will go down as one of the most influential and wide ranging producers in American music history. From starting Def Jam Records and helping launch the careers of Run DMC, LL Cool J, Beastie Boys and Public Enemy; to producing the break out album by Red Hot Chili Peppers "Blood Sugar Sex Magic"; to helping craft the Tom Petty classic "Wildflowers" Rick Rubin as prolific as they come. This book taps into what his belief system is on what helps drive creativity, what makes people harness it and how to get it back when it strays away from us. Almost meditative in the way it is written and presented - an interesting departure for your reading journey. 

The Obstacle Is The Way: I would call this the pocket guide to stoicism. My favorite line from the entire book is "Vires Acquirit Eundo" - We gather strength as we go. I like the core tenants of the stoics. There is a focus on driving toward solutions, a focus on staying calm under pressure, a focus on objectivity, on process, on detail. In a world of increasing distraction, this is a mind sharpener. 

Poverty, By America: This is by the same author that wrote Evicted on the housing crisis in America a few years ago. Some incredible stats from this book that take you by surprise: 

1. Almost 1 and 9 Americans live in poverty. There are more than 38 million people living in the United States, who cannot afford basic necessities, and more than 108 million getting by on $55,000 a year or less. Our gross domestic product is larger than the combined economies of Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, India, France, and Italy, which are the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth richest countries in the world. Despite that, we tolerate mass American poverty.

2. 1 of 18 people in the United States lives in deep poverty. Deep poverty is making less than $6380 for a single person and $13,000 for a family of four. Almost 18,000,000 people in America survive under these conditions. 

3. The United States now offers some of the lowest wages in the industrialized world. This feature has swelled the ranks of the working poor, most of whom are 35 or older. Workers with a high school diploma made 2.7% less in 2017 then they would have in 1979 adjusted for inflation. 

4. Every year over 11 billion in overdraft fees are collected. There’s another 1.6 billion in check cashing fees and up to 10 billion and payday loan fees. That’s over 61 million in fees collected predominantly from low income Americans every day.

5. The United States spent 1.8 trillion on tax breaks in 2021. That amount exceeded total spending on law-enforcement, education, housing, healthcare, diplomacy, and everything else that makes up our discretionary budget.

Ultimately the author boils it down from a cost basis on what it would take to end poverty in America -- his analysis states: 

"How much would it cost in poverty? Not to reduce it but end it? In 2020 the gap separating everyone in America below the poverty line and the poverty line itself amounts to $177 billion. $177 billion is less than 1% of our GDP. Americans throw more than that amount away in wasted food every year. What would $177 billion buy us? We could ensure every person in America had a safe and more affordable place to live. Every single person. We could actually put a dent in ending homelessness. We could completely eradicate hunger. We could drive down many agonizing correlations of poverty like violence, sickness, and despair. Crime rates would lower. Addiction rates would lower. Neighborhoods will stabilize and come alive. Schools could focus more on education instead of resources to triage the deep needs of their students. The IRS now estimates the United States loses more than 1 trillion a year and unpaid taxes, most of it, owing to tax avoidance by multinational corporations and wealthy families."

Given how much we waste, how much we spend - it's hard to not look at the way we treat each other as a deep moral failing of the country - regardless of politics. 

The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109 Year Old Man - A story about an American life and a remarkable one at that. David, the author, lived next door to the protagonist of the story, Charlie White. He does a wonderful job recounting the life of the man (born in 1905) and all the changes he saw and went through during his time on earth. The rate and pace of change Charlie experienced was truly incredible. Yet, underneath the huge backdrop of 10 decades of change there is a life that is detailed and carefully examined as well. Charlie, like all of us, had many ups and many downs. His father died at eight, he worked as a young man to keep the family supported and together. He taught himself to play the sax and traveled to China on a boat as a musician, he put himself through medical school, served in WW2, lost his first wife to a suicide and yet married two more times. Through it all - we see that Charlie, especially through the tough times, carries a simple moral compass that drives him back toward "do the right thing by people". His mix of simple stoic philosophy helps keep him open to change, allows him to absorb hard and troubling times and keeps him active and curious his entire life. It's a nice way to reflect on how you choose to live your life, regardless of how much of it you have left.