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#82 Bill Ackman: Getting Back Up

Apr 28, 2020 1h 40m 15 insights
Legendary activist investor, Bill Ackman talks about lessons he’s learned growing up, raising a family, what drives him forward and back up from failure, consuming information and ideas, and facing criticism. -- Want even more? Members get early access, hand-edited transcripts, member-only episodes, and so much more. Learn more here: https://fs.blog/membership/   Every Sunday our Brain Food newsletter shares timeless insights and ideas that you can use at work and home. Add it to your inbox: https://fs.blog/newsletter/   Follow Shane on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/ShaneAParrish
Actionable Insights

1. Embrace Failure, Cultivate Persistence

View success as a function of how you deal with failure, as every successful person encounters hardship. Persist through challenges, as making a little progress every day compounds to help you overcome difficulties and achieve success.

2. Focus on Incremental Progress

When facing daunting challenges, avoid focusing on the overwhelming ‘peak’ of where you want to be. Instead, concentrate on taking one step at a time, making a series of smart, thoughtful decisions daily to gradually climb out of any hole.

3. Prioritize Health for Resilience

Maintain physical and mental health through exercise, good nutrition, and adequate sleep to effectively deal with stress and maintain sanity and balance. This foundation helps you navigate difficult periods and make clear judgments.

4. Build Strong Support Systems

Cultivate good friends, a loving relationship, and a supportive family to help you deal with stress and business reversals. Having people who are looking out for you and want you to succeed provides crucial perspective and emotional grounding.

5. Adopt a Low-Carb, Real Food Diet

Minimize sugar consumption, viewing it as ‘poison,’ and adopt a higher fat, higher protein, lower carbohydrate diet. Focus on eating ‘real foods’ and avoiding processed items to feel better, think clearer, and manage weight more effectively.

6. Practice Intermittent Fasting

Consider becoming an intermittent faster by generally not eating before noon and finishing dinner by around 8 PM. This routine can help manage weight and improve how you feel and think.

7. Cultivate Desirable Character Traits

Identify qualities you admire in successful people, such as hard work, discipline, honesty, and fairness, and consciously decide to adopt them. These character traits are within your control and significantly increase your chances of success.

8. Invest in Simple, Predictable Businesses

Focus investment on high-quality businesses that are simple, predictable, and free cash flow generative, allowing you to confidently predict cash flows over many years. Avoid investments that require extensive time to understand, as they are likely not good opportunities.

9. Ignore Short-Term Market Noise

Do not focus on predicting next quarter’s earnings or short-term stock movements, as markets often overreact to noise. Instead, concentrate on a business’s long-term value over its entire life to capitalize on market inefficiencies.

10. Diversify Information Sources

Read a variety of traditional media sources and use platforms like Twitter as a news feed for early insights. Also, engage in conversations with respected business leaders for additional perspectives on economic and industry trends.

11. Prioritize Financial Independence

Strive for independence, both financial and intellectual, to live the life you want and express your thoughts freely. This drive can be a significant motivator for personal and professional achievement.

12. Commit to Philanthropy Early

View philanthropy as a learned trait and commit to ‘returning the favor’ if you become very successful. Consider organizing your perspective on the world from a ‘veil of ignorance,’ not knowing your own starting position in life.

13. Maintain Prudent Corporate Leverage

For businesses, learn from economic downturns by rethinking super aggressive capital structures and putting capital aside for ‘rainy days.’ This approach prevents over-leveraging and protects against future crises, benefiting all stakeholders.

14. Utilize Short Selling for Fraud Detection

Recognize short selling as an essential and positive market function, particularly for identifying fraudulent companies due to the strong economic incentive. Regulators should leverage short sellers’ insights to uncover illegal activities more efficiently.

15. Teach Kids Core Values and Nutrition

Instill in children the importance of hard work, education, treating others well, persistence, and the value of money. Also, educate them about good nutrition, despite it being a ‘high-risk subject,’ for their long-term health.