#337 Napoleon's Maxims and Strategy
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Napoli fall more battles than Alexander handle and Julia seizure combined. He is beyond any doubt the greatest of european soldiers. He never wrote a series of principles on the conduct of war, although he often expressed the intention of doing so and remarked that everyone would be surprised at how simple they were.

I want to interact this require, because when I read that part, everybody would be surprised at how simple they were. I thought about one of my favorite quotes i've ever read, and IT says a novice is easily spotted because they do too much, too many ingredients, too many movements, too much explanation. A master uses the future motions required to fulfill their intention back to this book.

They remained for napoli, alone among the great generals of his time, to seize all these possibilities, and developed from them a calculated system of strategy and a system of tactics calculated with equal brilliance. No other general of his time realized these possible ties until forced to learn by combatting the polan, he astounded his opponents by the crushing rapidity of his battle speed. And the importance of speed might be the thing that he repeats the most of these maxims.

He has started his opponents by the crushing rapidity of his battles. His strategical system was based on marching rapidly and secretly past the enemy's flank to get on the hostile line of communications. This force is opponent to turn and fight at a disadvantage.

The way you and I have talked about that some passes that you want to compete on your terms, you only want to play games where you have the edge. His battles with the result of his strategical movements and were carefully calculated the art of strategy, as developed by writers for the past century, has its foundations in his Operations. So in other words, he influences the generals that came after him, just like he was influenced the journals that came before him because of its great book on war.

I have this book I just haven't read. IT are made a packets on the APP close. Its great book on war was the outgrowth of napoo ic studies.

And so the first book published on the polian maxims was published all way back in eighteen eighty seven. Stone wall Jackson, during the civil war, Carried these maxims in his harverson c throughout his campaign. This little volume, Jackson s. Bigfin stated, contains a fairly complete exposition in the poll's own words of the grand principles of war.

And in the introduction of that book that he was Carried around my stono jacks son, he says the art of war is acceptable of being considered under two titles, the one which rests entirely on the knowledge and genius of the commander. So that line, the commander of the general, the commander cheese, can repeat IT over over again by owen. For the purposes of uni, IT would be the leader of the company, the founder, the CEO ah the other on matters of details of first uh two titles.

One rest entirely in the knowledge, the talent, the genius of the person, the found her to see okay, the other on matters matters of detail. The first is the same for all time, for all peoples, whatever the arms with which they fight from this IT follows that the same principles have directed the great captains of all century. So went upon, I realized, when he's studying, the history of war is on the new.

And I ve realized in the history of business is like, oh, these people didn't know each other. They work in different industries. They live in different parts of the world, and they were alive at different times.

How do they all arrive at similar conclusions? That should tell you. And I hey, there's some principles here that are always valuable. They are tightness. They never go out of style.

That matters of detail, on the other hand, are subject to the influence of time, to the spirit of the people and the character of the arguments, the continuing interest and application of most of these maxims indicates that the original compiler succeeded in selecting nopal ian's most permanent afterism of permanent value. In another way to say, other way to describe what they're saying there is that these are ideas that have lasted for centuries. okay? So that is an introduction to one of the two books that i'm going to talk you about today.

That book is called roots of strategy, the five greatest military classics of all time in one volume. And so it's a book containing the art of war by some zoo written in five hundred bc, the military institutions of the romans. There's no way in pronouncing anybody y's name already know this correct.

There's no way to pronounced correctly. The military institutions of the romans by vegetarians knows that was written three, ninety, eighty. Then my reveries upon the art of war, written by martial marsay socks in seventeen thirty two.

The institute instruction of reject the great for his generals, written in seventeen and forty seven. And then the one we're going to focus on today, which is the military maxims of napoli. So that is rude strategy.

That is, book number one. Go to this one first. The second one, and how I got this idea for this to do this by cast is because I was given this lovely book as a gift called the pony and modern war.

And it's the pony's maxims first published in one thousand nine hundred and forty three. The book i'm holding in my hand, the one and i'll get you after I go through a strategy, I have the nineteen forty nine addition. And what's going be interesting is I read these books at different time.

So the maybe the most important, maybe the most important book that I read last year was this book called the mind of opening is epsom three o two of founders. If you have not listen to IT, I would listen to IT right up to this. And if you've already listen IT, I will listen IT again. That book is almost impossible to find after that parties came out to heard from people that that spent upwards anywhere from five hundred to two thousand dollars by buying that book.

Um interesting to note um exception in the times that we're living in now uh sam altman, the founder of the creator of OpenAI and ChatGPT ah he said when that was the mining opening was the most important book that he read in the year two thousand and fifty and i'm not mistaken shortly after reading that book I read roots of strategy went through and did what I Normally go read a book highlighted and just write notes to myself on what this means to me, your things that came to my mind. So that is what i'm going to go. I'm going to read off right now.

And then the last few days I read in the pollen in the modern war. So some of these maxims are are gonna repeated, but my interpretation, or what came to mind, are different. And this is why I told in the past, like, I love rereading books, because the words on the page don't change, but you do and you know, can be different person next week, or your interpretation will be a different, you know, in this case, was several months spread in between the two readings.

Okay, so i'm going to go right in to napoli's own words. So he says a plan of campaign should anticipate everything which which the enemy can do and contain with, in itself the means affording him of sorting your enemy. Plans of campaign may be infinitely modified according to the circumstances, the genius of the commander, the genius of the founder, the quality of the troops and the topography of the theater of war.

And so note of myself when I read this, IT has to do with what you and I using study, the quality. The business is based on the quality, the founder, the talent, the founders able to recruit to their mission and the market that they target. At the commencement of a campaign, the question whether to advance or not requires careful deliberation, but when you have once undertaken the offensive, IT should be maintained to the last extremity.

This is something that he says in. He repeats over number inside and slightly different ways. But plan, think before you act.

But once you act, I love that idea should be maintained to the last extremity. Burn the boats. Think before you act and then burn the boats. A general should say to himself, I love this part.

A general should say to himself many times a day, if the hostile army were to make its appearance in in front, in my front, or on my right or on my left, what should I do? And if he is embarrassed, his arrangements are bad, there is something wrong, and he must rectify his mistake. No one should be able to take you to, despite surprise, and your business should be able to survive in all kinds of different macro.

And on my climate, I mean, now this is even rereading this after studying same insel. If you think about the same insult didn't do this. He didn't build a business even though he was a genius and gifted person accessory for fifty three years, but he didn't build a business that could stand the great depression.

In other words, he was allowed, he allowed something to take him by surprise, and as a result, died broke. And so another thing that the polling repeats a lot is the importance of morale, of a general typing up. He, I can use this word, but like ping up his troops.

I'm going to skip over the maxim. But I love the note that I left myself here. No one should believe more in your business, and you do.

If this is not the case, you were in the wrong business. A well established maximum war is to not do anything which your enemy wishes. A well establish maximum of war is to not do anything which your enemy wishes.

I think about this fantastic, from edb epo de to twenty two, only play games where you have an edge, he says. At the end of his automotive phy, after fifty years of managing money and fifty years of being an investor, entrepreneurs says, you should only play games who you have an edge. The pollen says you should therefore avoid a field of battle which your enemy has studied.

You should still, you should be still more careful to avoid one which he has fortified and and where he has entrenched himself. Again, you have no edge in this game. Do not play here, find another game, or Better yet, create your own.

And then this is an interesting use of language, a kind of difficult to understand. If you think about what is saying here, the natural positions, which are commonly met with, cannot secure an army against the superiority of a more numerous one without the aid of art. So a small team, right? You don't want to go against an army, uh, that has bigger numbers.

And if you do you, you can't do so without the aid of art the way. Think about what he's saying here is that smaller teams, smaller companies, must be more clever and resourceful than large ones. They just have to you have to outthink them that line of outthinking them.

One of the books, I think, was the everything store read on jeff. And at the time, apple is just like song g shoes online. They're making a lot of progress against them. This is before amazon buys them.

And there's a great there's a great story in the book about this meeting that they are having inside of amazon because bases realized that when they started making me like after all the uh like the terrorist attacks, they started making americans take off their shoes and everything and put them at the airport, that zap POS realized, oh, you're taking off his shoes. You're putting them in this dislike plastic bin. Can we see if we can buy advertising on that plastic bin? And baza saw that, thought that was a great idea that was like pretty pissed off about IT.

It's like they're out thinking us and so appalling as you need the aid of art when you occupy a position which the enemy threatens to surround, you should collect your forces quickly and minister with an offensive movement. Default offence is the way I think about a lot of what napoli writes about um i'd love this quote, no ambition news have found a vital in the Steve jobs memento or he hired like a nine nine year old Steve jobs and he he says one of his books that Steve jobs only had one speed go. And I think you could think the same way about a polan.

A general should be enterprising, strike vigorously and maneuvre against the flanks of his ababa sary. And if he does, Victory is his. This is something I talked about, an episode three or two on the mind of Apollo. He says, when you have IT in contemplation to give battle, IT is a general rule to collect all of your strength and leave none unemployed. One battle on sometimes decides the issue of the day.

If you study um if you read robber course book on linden Johnson, I think linden Johnson is maxim that is excEllent, my favorite exim that he has one of my fair maximum all time is that if you do everything, you will win the poorly you did the exact same things like listening. We're not leaving things. We're anything the chance not having resources that we don't use, leave none unemployed.

One battle on can sometimes decide the issue of the day. If you do everything will win when you, and intend to engage in a decisive battle, a value yourself of all the chances of success. Again, that is just another way thing.

If you do everything, you will win. In the mind of poland, he even expounds on this. I don't think it's in this book or the other maxim book i'm going to read after this, but he says this is a director from the polling.

All great events hanging by a single thread. The clever man takes advantage of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity. The less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything that is so important.

I need to repeat that all great events hang by a single thread. The clever man takes adventure ge of everything, neglects nothing that may give him some added opportunity. The less clever man, by neglecting one thing, sometimes misses everything.

Anytime you read examples of what napoleon had said, he's gonna. He spends like, I am not going to read this too because he's talking about some campaign from sixteen and forty five. But he spends a lot of time talking about the strategy of crossing rivers, and he talking my old and sixteen, forty five to this, and in seventeen, know, fifteen they did this.

Uh, you know, three hundred d they did this. The main point here is obviously should be obviously unlike the founders should have deposed cal knowledge of past founders so they can then use those lessons as leverage in their career because it's exactly what napoleon did. I think i've talked about this on every single episode i've done on Apollo.

I will leave them all linked and listed below and case you want to go back and listen all of them. But the reason I keep doing episodes on the pollen and when churchill is, because when you go back and read biography of great founders, they talk about pre world war. Two founders all talk about being inspired by the polling.

Postwar war two founders also talk about being inspired by napoli, but then they also talk about being inspired by napoli churchill. And then you read churchill s words, and he talks a lot about napoli. fact.

I have another book to my right, IT is called the maximum reflections of the honorable winston s. Churchill, also published in nineteen forty seven. And he mentioned the pony multiple times in that book.

And then he talks a lot about how to get an advantage and encourage your troops. Enthusiasm, love of country and the desire of contributing to the national glory may also animate Young troops with advantage, never underestimate. And the first quality of a soldier is constancy and enduring fatigue and hardship.

That's a combination of two of my favor maxims. By enterance we conquer from shackles and excEllence is the capacity to take pain by the founder of four seasons. The first quality of soldier is constancy in a during fatigue and hardship.

Now, this is fascinating because I read this month ago, then we read IT on in a different book this week, and I came up with the same exact idea. Everything seems to, with me, seems to relate back to game the ones. And so he says nothing is more important, and he repeat us and only in repeats the same way in different ways.

Nothing is more important in war than the unity in command. You should have but one army acting on one line and LED by one commander. And so I will leave a link, and you can watch this video on youtube.

But there is a character game with them was called robber barthes. And he's the king at the time, at the very beginning the series, right? And he gives a speech where he thinks there, at a disadvantage and potentially weak, can be overthrown by by a new army. And it's the five verse one speech in game of thrones. And so he's talking to his queen si, his wife.

And he's like, if they come over here, this thrack I we're going to lose and she's like what you talking about, like we have castles with everything else and he's ruling five separate kingdoms that don't really like each other, don't really work together, like kind of lusa hilla action and so he goes, what is the bigger number five or one. And so he shows her an open hand, right? Five fingers.

And he goes, five. Of course he goes one. One army, a real army, united behind one leader with one purpose.

Those five fingers go to a fist. The fist is stronger than the palm. One army, a real army, united behind.

One leader with one purpose, one founder, LED company with a real mission. One is bigger than five for this next one. I don't have anything other than this is just a great line.

True wisdom, so far as a journals concern, consists in energetic determination. An extraordinary situation requires extraordinary resolution. How many things, apparently impossible, have nevertheless been performed by resolute men who had no alternative but death? And then then he starts to identify some principles that he just sees, repeated repeatedly.

They used throughout history with the greatest generals and is going to talk about the importance of learning from the best people, the the great people who look before you over and over and over again. Fact, in the mind of Apollo, that book he talks about like if he had, he was designing an education system for a sun IT, would just be reading about great people they came in from. Commanders and chief are to be guided by their own experience or genius.

This is acquired only by your own experience and the studying of great, of the great campaigns of all the great captains. And so he list some of these people, like Alexander handle scissor, and he says they've all acted on the same principles to these are the principles, keep your forces united, be vulnerable at no point, bear down with rapidity upon important points of your competitor. These are the principles in which ensure Victory.

He continues this point on the very next maxim, read over and over again. I love that. He said that. Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander handle, cesar's and listing all the other people. Project, degrade, make them your models.

This is the only way to become a great general on to master the secrets of the art of war with your own genius. Enlightened by this study, you will reject all maxims opposed to these great commanders. And in this one, if you replay general with founder, this hostel works.

The first principal of a general and chief is to calculate what he must do to see if he has all the means to summon the obstacles with which the enemy can oppose him, and when he has made his decision to do everything to overcome them. This is also something he talks about the mind of polian. He's not a big fan of pen pushers, something he repeated in that book, the mind of polling.

He says the ancient had a great advantage over us, and that their armies were not trailed by a second army of pen pushers. In this book, he says, if you permit yourself to be guided by administrators, you will never budge and your expeditions will fail. And this is the last one that i'll read from the road strategy, and then i'll pick up the opening and modern war book.

War is composed of nothing but accidents. A general should never lose sight of everything to enable him to profit from these accidents. That is the mark of genius.

There is but one favorable moment. The great art is to see that. okay.

And i'm going to pick up napoli and modern war. He was annotation by kernel C H. lansa. And like I said, originally published one thousand nine hundred and forty three. This book I have in my hand was publishing nineteen forty nine is actually interesting how I got a copy.

This book I talked to and hang out with a lot of other founders, and I have the habit of always asking them like who's the smartest person you know and then what is the best business that you know of? And it's that's sorry, the the most valuable business can be like apple, microsoft, like most interesting business. And for founders that don't know each other, I keep having the same name.

I heard this name, zack Frankl, over over again. And then i'm going randomly going to a friend's birthday party. I walk through the gate, I open the gate, turn around, and there's another guy coming, doing as I go. Hey, i'm David and his camps, zack and my zack Frankl.

And so that night, mizz and then my friend Chris, who's the founder of ag one where is like two or three or long conversation and you know, it's a good conversation because at the end my amazon cart was full of all these book recommendations that I got from Christian zc. And zack was nice enough a few days later to give me this book. And so some of these maximums are going to be repeated.

But cornal Lances ah like explanations are added context. Are different um than what's in the roots of tragedy book. So I want to start with the forward.

He says examination shows that the rules expressed in the maxims of napoli are the same as those which are followed by all the great generals of history, from Alexander and season to in himself. This is what the maximum of napoli are. Brief python sangs by a master of the art of war.

This is also, I think, a perfect example of a book I put this up there with, like the toe of charly monger. He's like, small little books full of maxims. Leave on your desk, pick him up, read m very, you know, five minutes, ten minutes with their case, how they hate, like essentially prom your own thinking.

And it's so I want to jump right into what cornal lands are said about the phone max polling maximum that we were discovered. A plan or campaign should take into consideration everything the enemy can do and prescribed the necessary measures to counteracting plans of campaign may be modified endlessly according to circumstances. So that isn't a polan.

I love this specifically one, when to get to the action up. So this is the explanation. No plan can provide for everything that may happen.

Advanced orders tend to stifle initiative. Advance orders tend to stifle initiative. A commander should be left free to adapt himself to circumstances as they occur.

Another idea, IT, is a advantage to have near at hand ammunition, food supplies and repair facilities to restore rapidly troops and weapons of war and enable combatants to Carry out at maximum efficiency the way I would described that for you. Now I keep a fortress of cash. This is what john d.

Rockefeller did. This is what warn buffer did. They kept fortress of cash. This is a distinct advantage to have near at hand all the supplies you need.

I told you this story before when I was to dinner at truly mongers cell, he told an advantage, an example of have an advantage of the fact that that bircher always had a on a cash they get this call on like a saturday morning. They were buying like a pipeline. Charlie was actually telling us a story because there was Young entrepreneurs.

R, so I mean, my friend Andrew Walker son and Chris balling, the founders of of tiny, and he was telling us a story because he said, don't let lawyers, uh he said, this is his work. Don't let layers fuck up deals so he said and he was tell this, but is also a story of why you want to keep a forces of cash on and how that could be advantage of you. And he said something like they're gonna this pipeline.

I think morning is the call, like saturday morning the okay, but we need the money by a by monday. And I know how my notes front me, so but I think they had to spend they had to send them like a couple of hundred million dollars and they're urs like, no, you can do this. We had to inspect IT.

There's all these liabilities, but they had already mapped like all the assets that they who wanted own. And so the punched line was a warn send, uh, wired the money monday morning without even an email. Again, truly monger has a great quote where he says that trust is one of the greatest economic forces on earth.

Trust is one of the greatest economic forces on earth and warn trust of the person that was bringing him this deal. And then he said something um like, oh ah we made of a couple of billion or a couple hundred like million of the deal. I think I think was a couple bill dollars out of the deal.

But again, keep for the cash. Rock ford this but this you're able to buy asset usually, you know for wayless in their worth opportunistically. And you can never predict a beforetime when that opportunity happened.

Another maxim, biopolymers should be made method ally for IT should have a definitive object and IT should be conducted according to the principles and rules of the art. And then there's just a great bunch of like little light here describing this maximum, so that maxims two sentences long, right? And the description is like two or three pages.

Just want to pull some highlights. Love this. A war without object would have no sense. Generals would not know what to fight for.

The art of war consists in a well organized and conservative defense, coupled with an noddings ious and wrap ID offence. Well organized, conservative defense, coupled with an audacious and rapid offence. This is a quote from napoli in describing this maxim.

Arts is used to describe byronic lands, to describe maximum everything that is undertaken. Two thirds must be calculated, and one third left a chance in war. All is opinion, opinion about the enemy.

This is still the polling in war. All is opinion, opinion about the enemy, an opinion about one's own soldiers. I want to go back to that first sentence where he says, and everything that is undertaken, two thirds must be calculated in one third left a chance.

He is always well prepared. He is always, always read all the history, but he expects to be flexible and to improve SE. And so this is another example of this idea where the point is going to engage, and, you know, psychological warfare.

He says, great captain, of always publish statements for the benefit of the enemy that their own truth were very strong in numbers. I hey, where where maybe this one hundred thousand us, there's a million of us. You Better be carefully.

You don't want any. This while to their own people the enemy was represented as very inferior. So externally, project strength. And then tell your team we're going to roll over these falls.

This is part of the onion's propaganda bureaux I talked a lot about on episode three or two, the minds of people. Really, the idea for you. nice.

You have to tell your own story. Shocked that I mean, entrepreneurs, people running businesses that are not telling their own story. There's a very old idea used by Julie sesa, used by apolonia and used by alex and great.

And this is the deponent version of this. Public opinion is invisible and mysterious. Before IT, nothing stands with IT, everything becomes easy.

That's really important. Two cents to repeatedly. Public opinion is invisible and mysterious. I mean, think about this, someone to enter at my own self. Uh, last week, sam.

So how much right is his customer base? He wanted the customer base to literally be every single citizen. He thought he could sell the electrical service to every single citizen in chicago. Member on the episode how create this is I was talking about my friend about the day day.

It's like, I like, pops open my own brain, right? Because even the most optimistic people in chicago in the electrical areas and electricity industry, they're like why you spend so much money, sam? Like at best you might be with at twenty five thousand paying customers, that was that was the optimistic like projection of the total adjustable market, right? And sense response was like, well, how many people live in chicago on? Like people is like, okay, so i'm going to get a million people.

And then so there was at forty times what the most optimistic versioning a and then somehow he even undershoot that because he wants to getting one eighth of the entire, his customer raised once of being one eighth of the entire population of america. But he talked about the importance, public opinion. He says, everything that a business does is public relations.

So again, we have here the polling. Public opinion is invisible, mysterious. Before nothing stands in with IT, everything becomes easy. Tell your own story. I'm pretty sure in that book, the mind and the polling, the polin talks.

So I like I he bought the french, the main, the two french main newspapers, and he got to the point where he didn't have to read them because he knew what was in them. He knew the importance of telling your own story. And this next lines, even Better, I think this next line just says what I said.

But even Better than less words, ten people who yet make more noise than ten thousand who keep silent. Tell your own story. Ten people who yell make more noise than ten thousand who keep silent.

This one I already repeated, but I think it's super important. And they all, depending on when the book is printed, you know, the, the, the language slightly changes. So he says, at the beginning of a campaign, to advance or not to advance is a matter for grave consideration.

But once the offence have has been assumed, IT must be maintained to the last, extremely there. Think about what you want to do, but once you engage, there is no turning back. A commander, chief, should, several times a day, ask himself if the an enemy appears to the front, or on my right, or on my left, which can I do? If he finds himself embarrassed to his reply, his dispositions are faulting.

He should correct them. Now I know I repeated that because some of these maximums, I also they also jumped out to me when I read the roots of strategy, even though you know the the two readings were several months uh, apart, but my interpretation of them also changes. And so I think this interpretations is Better than the first one.

If you think about what he's saying here, like you are running these these scenarios in your head about your company, like if this happens, what do I do? If this happens, what do I do? And when you do that, that is a great way to find weaknesses in your company and then fix them.

And it's a lot more profitable to fix them before somebody else exposes them. So I love that. I love using maximum prompt for my own thinking. Ah the strength of an army is the product of the mass by the velocity so what he called speed of action, right?

The strength of the army is the product of the mass by the velocity, a rapid march augments the moral of an army and increases its a means of Victory. Now obviously in a police going to repeat rapid movement, rapidity, speed over overgone. But for some reason, when I wear that, I hear little jeff base's in my head because i've read, you know, just just shareholder three times.

I think i've done, I don't know, six, eight podcast on jeff, what are we do twenty more over the lifetime of a this podcast. And so you read so much about them and you listen, speak, and you read transports of speeches and everything else. And so I have the old jeff faces on my shoulder that are here.

And just as you can drive great people away by making the speed of decision making slow, why would great people stay in an organization where they can't get things done? So a rapid march augments the moral of your employees, of your team. The polling was a master of speed.

He was quick to get start on a campaign, kept moving right along and struck hard. As soon as he was in contact with the enemies main force, he never let up until he had accomplished his mission. And then I love this because under the explanation, it's like, what do you do? So you know how to go fast, but one way to go faster by removing things that make you slow, one way to go faster by removing things that make you go slow.

And so he's saying not long orders, right? He hates pen pushers. He hates administrators. There's no work about work. Just work right. Long orders, which require much time to prepare, to read and to understand, are the enemies of speed.

No polling could issue orders of a few of a few sentences, which clearly expressed his intentions and required little time to issue and to understand. This is excEllent, and do not let your company engage in paper warfare. Another combination with win churchful IT is slaughtered not to compress on your thoughts.

And then David ogi believe in the dogmatism of brevity. This happens over and over, over again. Our time is limited compressive give me what I need.

I think there's another thing um old and I was reading a church's maximum this week too and he insults this guy this guy because he's like use so many words for so little thoughts that's like the opposite APP long orders require time to make, time to read, time to understand. And they are the enemies of speed. They are the enemies of speed with an army and fear in numbers.

Back in the pom, with the army and fear in numbers, a commander must avoid a general action. He must make up the deficiency numbers by rapidity of movements. In such circumstances, the morale of the soldier is a great factor.

He's talks about moral and over again, IT is magic. This weird how our moods affect our performance. But really the main point of the maxim is smaller must be faster.

You are smaller and slower. You're going to lose this, just not going to happen. ExcEllent, excEllent maxim.

Hereby polling, a great leader will resort to audacity. A great leader will resort to audacity. When I hear that, I think one of my favorite, vince churchill, maximums always more audacity.

He would repeat that out loud to himself when he was Younger, not just in his head, not just write down. He was like A A montral. Always more audacity.

A great leader will resort to audacity. Another virgin of this is by jeff bezos in his heralds the same thing, we will be bold. A great leader will will resort to a dashy from the pollen, always more oda si, by winston churchill.

We will be bold by jeff is same idea. Express three different ways. A commander was quickly assemble his forces and threaten the enemy by an offence of movement.

Why do you have to be quick? Why you eyes on the offence? This reminds me this fanta quote from the book heroes by paul Johnson. Um he this is I did is uh back on two twenty six. I would recommend buying that book because it's like short little biography of like thirty, maybe twenty or three different heroes throughout history.

But he says this about alex into the great, which is going to be, of course, napoli studied, of course, opening talk bio and over over again. And so paul Johnson write Alice and the great decided, ah he no, sorry, alexa. The great thought decided and above all, moved swift.

He appreciate the importance of speed and the terrifying, surprising speed made possible. His enemies were always stunned and shocked by his arrival. He invented the light blitz cream. This has happened to me over over again, and I did not understand this before.

I started reading all these biography like a madman, and making this podcast where I told you before I read, all of us save jobs, right? Which makes sense, because this one of the most gifted entrepreneurs of our lifetime, we all use these products and you have all these years not, oh my god, that's a great ideas and then he mentioned, oh yeah, I love this kind he made we land and then you go read, I will lian, oh my god. Those are not even Steve jobs ideas.

He learned that from somebody else and apply them to his own work. This is what happens when you read Apollo, like, eat to all. All these ideas are tumbling out of his mouth, which obviously are enhanced.

And argument to do his own experience came from alleged of the great that is inspiring to me. That means I can do the exact same thing. That's why I bring IT up.

IT feels me with energy. A general should be audacious, strike, heard blows and maneuver upon the flanks of the enemy. The polling wrote this comment based upon the study of the campaigns of fragile c degrade.

I love that idea like, again, biodyl strike card blows. One of my everything are truly monger said. He says, don't be too timid. Go at life with a little courage.

And if you really think about this for our purposes, maneuvering upon flinks, that's what a start up does, a start of notices and opportunity left open by bigger competitors. When a commander intends to give battle, he should collect all his forces and overlook none. A battle on sometime decides the day last.

Member, this to you, the words were slightly different and said, hey, one with L, B, J, if you do everything, you will win. This time I read IT and I just, I have a posted note on my desk. I have two things are written to myself on my desk.

Do one thing relentlessly. Uh, and the second one is supposed to note that asks me what assets do I have that i'm not using? And I think that's that's very similar to what he's very similar to what opposition.

When a commander tends to get battle, he should collect all forces and overlook none a but talking in some time decides the day of battling is just an asset that a commander has in battle. IT is no harm to be too strong. IT may be fatal to be too weak.

If you are opposed by a great captain, you are going up up against a very towns person. Give yourself all the chances of success. Reminds me of rocket fella on episode twenty four and ho, an enterprise is like a battlefield, and the purpose of strategic goals is to create the most beneficial state for one self, right? He says the purpose of your goals is to create the most beneficiaries for oneself.

And the police says, give yourself all the chances of success is the same idea fortuity are use, are useful. They are an excEllent means by which to retard, embarrassed, weaken and annoy a Victorious enemy. So he's using fortress.

We would use motes a from the book, a few lessons from warm buffer. Uh, motes a metaphor for the superiorities a business posses that make life difficult for their competitors for chases, make a life difficult for invading army. Now napoli also says fortress are not necessarily permanent.

Warm buffer says business history is filled with roman candles. Companies whose modes proved illusory and were soon cross, I don't know, I pronounce, I create, proved an illusion. Companies who most were proved to be an illusion and were soon crossed that only we noticed anything in battle fortress are not necessarily permanent.

No, pollan says nothing is absolute in war. Peter till says there is no formula for success. The paradox of teaching entrepreneurship is that such a for formula cannot exist because every innovation is new and unique, and no authority can prescribe in create terms how to be innovative. This is why i've gone to other practical and says, like have you reading biography?

Like watching game tape on somebody y's life, right? Same way that uh baseball player to watch game tape doesn't mean like you're learning that the tendencies of your competitors maybe learning some good ideas that you could also copy, but IT doesn't mean you're going to be presented IT with those same opportunities to act on information in an actual game. You just have to have them back your mind for one day.

You might nothing's absolute in war. The poly made of only used twenty percent, thirty percent, five percent. Who knows of what he actually studied, but he still found value in that setting.

IT is your duty to follow up the Victory and prevent the beef in enemy from morning. You know, the weird idea I had when I read that buying up your competitors that you're out performing. This came top of mind because I just read sam inso bike phy, it's in rockefellers program.

Y, it's in Henry. So same as did this. Rockfeller did this. Henry clay frick did this.

Why are you buy already beating them? Why you buying up? And in rockfeller sam insoles case, they would pay more than the asset actually worth.

And they talked about that there's a line at sam has worked like money can't buy friends, but I can prevent people becoming your enemies. But there's a strategic like commercial application of this, which is IT prevents them from regaining strength and threatened your position in the future. The polling is telling is your duty, you're winning.

Prevent the beat enemy y from running. You go to sleep on a win. You wake up with a loss. The polling also talks about the dangers of excessive lucky y things being too easy for everybody.

And so description this is the only seems to have in mind the dangers of having troops concentrated in your home area where they might be exposed to a loss of discipline, the pleasures of living among friendly people. He preferred to have his troops far from such locations where harder life we would Better prepare them for the visitor des of war. A lot of money and success will make your company sloppy and soft.

We see this time whether, again, it's just part of human nature, and when that happens, a Younger hunger. Your competitor will soon overtake you. You have to avoid excessive luxury.

There's a great illustration of this point in David organ's out graphical confessions of an advertising men, which I think he wrote like one thousand nine hundred sixty five. And really, when I read this the first time I th ago, this is why there's always opportunity for new businesses because this, this is part of human nature. Like me, you can study this.

We can learn this. Highly likely towards animal is going to happen to us to. And so this is what dave og be said about this.

Once every few years, a great new agency is born. IT is ambitious, hard working, full of dynamic IT gets old accounts, actually IT its accounts from soft old agencies. IT does great work.

The years pass, the founders get rich and tired, their creative fires go out, they become extinct volcanoes, the agency may continue to prosper. Its a original al momentum is not yet spent. IT has powerful context, but IT has grown too big.

IT produces door routine campaigns based on the echo of old Victories. Dry rot sets in at this stage. IT begins losing accounts to vital new agencies, ruthless upstarts who work hard and put all their dynamic into their advertisements or to the product.

We can all name famous agencies, which are more bourne. You hear demoralizing whispers in their corners long before the truth dawns on their clients back to the polling. A good general, a good core of officers, a good organization, good training rigid disciplines makes good troops independently of the cause for which they fight.

Nevertheless, for native ism. Love of country, national glory may also inspire Young troops to advantage, goes back to talk him around, around, right? You can make good troops by having a good founder, good supports staff, good executives, good organza, good training, discipline everything else.

But you could not discounting goes back to not never discounting the the power of enthusiasm, but the frantically. M is one of my favorite is because it's what charly monger more about to talk about. You know, you're looking for intelligent fanatics.

And we put in the new version of oral examiner c, which you and I just covered a few weeks ago. I love that. That idea where he, like, breaks down the entire career of sam walton.

And I think he does is flush wap two. But he has a lion. And that worked.

I love that scale. And fantis m combined can be very powerful. And some examples of of that would be warm buffer, sam walton, lesh, wab.

You know, these are fanatics, intelligent financial, that also achieve scale. And that combination made them even more powerful. Uh, troops soon discover whether their officers are competent or not.

They will not follow with confidence or enthusiasm, those who they believe to be incompetent. And then we get to the maximum. I think this is the only one where I had the same interpretation.

And nothing is more important war than unity of command. Nothing is more more important war, the union of command. Thus, when wars wage, there must be one army acting on one line and LED by one chief.

Remember, rubber bar thin. What is the bigger number five or one? The answer is one, one army, a real army, united behind one leader with one purpose, a fist instead of five fingers.

One is, is larger than five, more powerful than five. Once this is napoli on single threats leadership. Once a campaign has been decided upon, there should be no hesitation in supporting one and appointing one commander to assure its success.

When authority is divided, opinions and actions differ, and confusion and delay arises, a single chief proceeds with vigor. He is not delayed by the necessity to confirm. And so again, he's going to use different words. General, chief, leader.

All the same thing we think about is like the founder, the c of the company and war, the chief alone understands the importance of certain things, and he allowed by his will and superior knowledge can conquer and overcome all difficulties. That made me think of one of my all time fair quotes from any of the books that you can talk about. And IT comes from the fish at the wale.

Sams murray said that if you know your business from a to z, there is no problem you cannot solve. If you know your business for me to sea, there is no problem you cannot solve. Another great line by opening that gets me fired up.

Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary resolutions. How many things have appeared impossible, which nevertheless have been done by resolute men who had no other recourse than death possessed ostent will. And then the polling talks about the fact that emotions blur judgment, the first quality for a commander, chief is a cool head.

He should not allow himself to be confused by either good or bad news, commanders and chief, or guided by their own experience and by their genius, the knowledge of grand tactics is gained only by experience and by the study of history, of the campaigns of the great captain. This is what I already repeated. Alexander handle, cesare have all followed the same principles.

Keep your forces united, don't be vulnerable at any point, and move rapidly on important points. These are the principles which are, share Victory again, learning from, learning from history that form at advantage, pay attention to the principles that are repeatedly used by the formidable les way to summarize that, read and then reread campaigns of Alexander hannover, sesa, fredi, ick. All these people model yourself upon them.

This is the only way to become a great captain and discover the secrets of art, of the art of war. You're genius, enlightened by the study, or reject the maximum opposed to those of these great men. Experience must be supplemented by study.

No man's personal experience can be so inclusive as to warrant his disregarding the experience of others. That could be a tag line for funding dcs that could tagline for founders notes, experience must be supplemented by study. No man's personal experience can be so inclusive as to warn his disagree ding the experience of others. And if you really think about the importance of of using history of form of leverage is like time is the best filter you have to go through. So billions of people to get, you know, a few thousand and whatever the number is that actually stand out.

In fact, in the book, IT talks about like how rare great generals are and so he says in the civil war um there is about two million combatants and only about half a dozen really great generals or rose out of that entire time period in war so we got four years, two million people fighting and there's really you know six, ten really, really supremely in power law level chAllenge people. They see the same thing in where one there's twenty million fighting men and is only bit around sex or dozen that have been considered worthy of a permanent place in history. Great people are rare and always will be a another tag line for reading boggy es.

IT is profitable to study the campaigns of the great masters. IT is exceptional and difficult to find in one man all the qualities necessary for a great general that which is most desirable in which instantly sets them in apart. Now this is very faster.

This is not only in talking about kate, one, so hard to find one person. These like power, my friend saying, he gets a great quote where he says, people or power law. And the best one changed everything.

And there is this guy, gram duncan, that has another great line that similar to that, he says, chAllenge the best asset class. And I think this is very similar to what component from his teachers here. And he's talking about the baLance of this.

Like one, are you even going to have all these quality? Okay, so at the massive humanity, the presence of all these qualities. And one person is unbelievably rare.

But what's even more rare than that is the baLance of them. This is fascine. So, uh, what instantly sets of mana part is his intelligence or talent. And they are baLanced by his character or courage. So intelligence or talent, and character or courage, if his courage is greater, a general heat, lesser understate, kes things beyond his ability. So his courage is greater than his talent or his intelligence, if, on the contrary, his character or courage is less than his intelligence, he does not Carry out any plans, is a smart but inflections. Al person, his point is you need to baLance of their intelligence.

And telenor have to be baLanced in perfect me with your character or courage, right? If you're more, if you're more courageous and smart, you're going to do dumped IT is a way that that the police telling us, right? But if you're smarter and you have no courage and you're brilliant but ineffectual, you don't do anything so you need them all new polian something he says over over again in the minor Apollon that he believes in destiny.

Like me know the film of destiny. He believes in cause and effect. And so who say stuff like this? The importance of actions of a great general are not the results of chance or destiny.

They are always arise from planning and from genius. And so related to that is a general, above all, needs good judgment and common sense. And then again, opening on on, make sure you're planning.

But once you plan, go all in to the last extremity. He says, hesitation in half. Measures lose all in war skill consists in converging a mass of fire upon a single point.

He that has the skill to bring a sudden unexpected concentration of artillery to bear upon a selected point is sure to capture its skill consists in converging a massive er upon a single point he that has the skills to bring a sudden, unexpected concentration of artillery to bear upon a selected point a year to capture talk cus, right? There's a lesson for Peter till that I love, and he says, do not divide your attention, that focusing on one thing yields increasing returns for each unit of effort. Sounds very similar to what napoli said in two hundred years ago.

In the last few weeks, you and i've talked about this idea whenever, again, that business is problems, the best companies are just effective problems solving machine machines. War is composed of nothing but surprises. While the general should had here to general principles, he should never lose the opportunity to profit by these surprises.

IT is the essence of genius. In war, there is only one favorable moment. Genius sexes IT think about that. Businesses composed of nothing but surprises and profiting from low surprises is the essence of genius.

And then we get to the short story that I mention earlier, that in the polling was also gifted its psychological warfare. And that we see this, again, like an understanding of human nature, helps you rise the top of your profession. And so he says, praises from enemies are to be suspected, right? Do not believe them. They can flatter a man of on our only when they are given after the decision of hostility.

So if they, you beat your enemy and then he wants to praise you, maybe you can believe IT then, but do not believe IT until the wars already over, right? And so this is, I love what he did here, or just surprise me, uh, says, as napoli was thinking of the austrian general who opposed him in seventeen ninety six, provera was a very poor general with a view um to having the austria an government maintained him at his post no poly made great reports extorting the wisdom and efficiency of provera the austria an government believing that previa must be indeed must be indeed good to gain praise from the polin capitalist post where he remained as incompetent as ever this was really a ruse in an excEllent illustration of napoleons knowledge of psychology. And then the last one, this is a great place for you and I to close.

He's again going back to the importance of study history and identifying and analyzing the principles that the great used. All great captains have accomplish great things only by conforming to the rules and natural principles of the art of war. Whatever may have been the audacity of their enterprises and the extent of their success, they succeeded only by conforming to rules and principles.

IT is only for this reason that they are great models. They are all great models, and IT is only by imitating them that we may hope to approach them. All great captains have been diligent students.

Histories of wars must be critically analyzed to discover why successes were obtained and why defeats were inflicted. The teaching of strategy is built around history. And that is, well, leave IT for the full story.

Highly recommended buying both of the books. So if you buy the books using a links and shown as your pocket player, arber going to find us pocket star common using the links, there you'll be support the podcast. At the same time, I buy both of, i'd buy.

I keep the maximum in. Oppoa, like I said on your desk, just along like the total charly monger anode by roots of tragedy. Because rta strategy has all these other books contained in them.

They're excEllent. They're under read and more borders. They will prompt your own thinking. That is three hundred and thirty seven books down one thousand ago. And i'll talk soon.

Okay, before you go over quick, I just want to go through a couple of ideas that I had and thoughts apart of my mind. I was was making this episode, reading all, reading all these books on the company and rereading my past highlights. And this is has to do with why I think it's really in your best interest.

If you are already running a successful company, you need to preface all the comments about to make. If you're already running a successful company, I would definitely heavily encourage you to invest in a subscription to founders notes. Founders notes is every single one of my highlights and notes that had been compiling for the last eight years and for the last since two thousand and eighteen putting into this APP read wise.

So you actually it's an APP that I use every day. And what founder notices that give IT allows you to see what I see. It's a direct mirror to my new book that I used to make the podcast, but not more important than that one.

I couldn't make the pocket about IT, but I also stay in IT every day. I read in IT every day. I search through IT everyday. I do think it's the most valuable no book in the world for founders. And the reason this came up is because it's very obviously, I could say i've now read what three I think the third or fourth third podcasts i've done on the polling IT is very obvious that if you listen to his own words, without out a doubt, he would endure not only founder broadcast, obviously the founders notice.

Well, he says, read over over again the amp ign of Alexander sensor fridge, a great, make them your models IT is the only way to become a great general tomasha secrets of art, of war with your own genius and enlighten by this study. I feel if you use on a notes, if you read IT everyday so i've been getting bunch of mesage from people about how they're using IT um because you know I put this thing out to the world. I'll tell you how I use IT, but it's very faster.

Somebody told me yesterday that they're using IT uh as if they used to read the newspaper or news everyday and instead of that, they're reading founders notes and they're reading a different book every day or reading the highlights from a different book every day so that line with your own genius, enlightened by this study I love that you will reject maxims opposed to those of these great commanders and then the other tag line that you know jumps out of me um which I think is napoleon describing why you and I should have best time in this doing this. Experience must be supplemented by study. You're getting your experience in your day, during your day, building the business that you're building, right?

Experience must be supplemented by study. No man's personal experience can be so inclusive as to warn his disregarding the experience of other soup. I just want to run through a couple of ideas on how to use IT.

So you got to founders notes that com and you sign up. Once you sign up, IT is it'll drop you on this page and you'll see a series of options on how to read and searched all the highest. So the very top there is a big box of so SHE blew right now.

I should turn up black though, since the color of the founders is black and White. How make that change with that search highlights? This I use every day I keep IT up in my browser and you know any any term, any person, anything that comes to mind.

I just tried to search um and see what I can find, any issue having any idea that pops to mind. I use this and now IT is a keyword search. We have so many crazy AI features coming.

And so one thing that we're going to add is not just the ability to search by keyword, but then search by inference and meaning, which then opens up a whole new set of highlights. But I guess I I don't want to confuse you, but i've been testing as since last week, I got access to a calling a founder GPT. I don't know if that's the the the name that i'll put on the actual feature, but I I got access like nine forty five at night because that's when I was released.

And we're obviously to beat testing this on the back because the guys redis are helping me do this. And I had to go meet my trainer the next morning, like six in the morning, and I was late and very tired. Like what is wrong with you? Like well as playing with this thing all night because it's like it's like a history nerd, history business history nerds like dream.

And so let me give example ah this IT shows right now because we're testing IT IT shows like everything at pull. So okay, give me a list I was using to tell me make this podcasts ter and to help me think about everything in the point is telling me. And so I give me a list of new polian best ideas.

And so this founder GPT, is essentially like an AI coach to help you brain storm and give feedback on business ideas, right? And it's powered by the in psychology of all my notes and highlights and am adding a much of crazy stuff which I won't talk about yet. And so as I give me a list of the best ideas, and then I can see what IT is pulling, because it's going to give me a list of ten ideas, right? But IT pulled like fifty different highlights.

And it's not just from the three different books that i've done, Apollo. There's stuff from aristotle nisson here that was that he was he had a very such is matching the way to with other of like the people uni city at some examples of like other ideas and tactics and tendencies of history is great untied. So preter so IT posts things from like arsa's onassis, Henry ford motor bara, David ogle, elon mask, Billy grant, the founder of general motors, Larry ellison, and of course, Alexander the great and IT does all the super fast.

And so we are left with this, maybe a two hundred words summary of napoli and the way his ideas are similar to some of the other examples of the people that you, you and I have, setting the passion that is something ever messing around this week. If you are to have a solution to different notes are if you signed up everything that I add, like every new feature, there's no like i'm not charge ging anymore to keep making this Better key batting features. And as I add more features, obviously, the Price will go up.

So that's why you're heavily incentivize to get in now and obviously do that the founders, that cop. So anyways, that's just one thing was obsessed with this week that i'm super set about. But I want to go back to if you sign up now, you you're landed on this page, this is what I would do right after listening to the episode.

You just listen to you log in the founder notes, right? And you can search highlights, but I would go to the books. And then once you click on books, you see all the books that I have, all the highlights that I have, and then you can search there too.

And I would just type in napoli, and once you do that, you see the three books that have done the polling, the modern war, which the one I just covered in the polling, a concise biography by David bell, and in the mind of napoleon. So the mind of apolitical, this is why, you know, I just mentioned at six half a dozen times in the episode, is also, too I think this is a very, very special book. And what I would try to do if you, I really would try to get a copy, if you can, uh, because it's three hundred pages on Apollo own words is actually speaking directly to you.

IT is so much more detail than just maxims right now. I just click on the link to the copy that I have, which was first publish in nineteen eighty five. There's only one copy available uh, on all of amazon and fifteen hundred dollars that's in the united states amazon store. I ve heard from a bunch of listeners that if you have access, if you either use a VPN, if you have a friend in canada, if you go to the canadian version of amazon, I think you get the book for like forty dollars so highly they recommend you get that. But I like this idea of using this is like in substitute for like the newspaper, reading the news every morning.

What if you win the founders notes and you just picked a new book and like you did that tomorrow, when you woke up and you started your day by reading in I tice e ten minutes to read all of my highlights and notes on the mind of the poin, that is a Better use of your time than just reading the highlights for the current events, most of which that you're reading is not going to stand the test of time and what you does, the reason I bring up to you and the reason i'm told you all this is like, well, don't even take my word for this. Obviously spend my life doing this, right? What would you do? What would the only do? What like really i'm asking you say like you is like, what would he do? Of course he would do this if he had assist.

The founders know he'd be reading IT costly. So that's just one idea. There's a million ideas i'm going to keep at the end of episode keep like introducing ways to use this.

But I think I can leave IT there for analogies is as simple as okay sign up, read the highest from one book a day um and you have a year like you can sign up right now you do an annual description rate which means nearly uh you have access to every single thing i've done so far but in that year i'm going to read another we know forty fifty books, not twenty fifty books. Add a couple thousand more highlight ts, so the the product actually gets Better every day. And I can recommend this with my whole heart because I made IT.

I use IT every day. And I love, and when I hear things about like what napoleon says, like, experience must be supplemented by study. No man's personality is so inclusive to warn his distributors the experience of others like that.

Just every indication of the more biography I read, the more time I spend rereading this, just every single when I get to meet people like charly monger and sams out who are sept, they are sealed in history. Just like the polling was when open was like you when you read words, he was like, you know, three hundred eight this guy did this. And in sixteen forty five this guy did this.

And look, is trying across the river here, seventeen fifty five, this guy did this. I got a chance to talk to both before the past three, two hours, the same zero and three hours of three monger. They were exactly like that.

That is my goal. You know, like i'm much Younger than they are. But like when I get there to be seeped in history or everything that you're seeing, you're just you're just analyzing everything through the ideas and all like the giant game tape of histories.

great. As entrepreneurs, I believe with my whole heart, I will have a Better life. I will have a Better career because of this relentless studying that i'm do doing that.

If I didn't do that again, read over and over again, he says that there's a literally lying from the polling. Read not read once and then move on. No, read over and over and over again.

So I love that idea. I wanted to combine that idea from the poem with one of the describes to to find ourself that says, like, man, this is replaced. My sutterby the newspaper, Terry, the news.

I'm just reading this every morning. I think you'll like IT gets Better every day. I have a ton of new features coming that is founders notes dot com. Founders notes dot com. As always, thank you very much for listening.