#307: The World's Great Family Dynasties: Rockefeller, Rothschild, Morgan, & Toyada

What I learned from reading Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World's Great Family Businesses by David Landes. ---- Listen to Invest Like the Best #292 David Senra: Passion and Pain.  Join my free email newsletter to get my top 10 highlights from every book ---- (4:25) Success causes failure. As the family develops power and prestige, the heirs find many interesting and amusing things to do rather than run their business. (6:00) Those on the margins often come to control the center. (9:00) Great industrial leaders are always fanatically committed to their jobs. They are not lazy, or amateurs. — Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy. (Founders #306) (9:50) For many of the great founders “Appetite comes with eating.” (11:00) Rothschild episodes: Founder: A Portrait of the First Rothschild by Amos Elon. (Founders #197) The House of Rothschild: Money's Prophets by Niall Ferguson. (Founders #198) JP Morgan episodes: The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron Chernow. (Founders #139) The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism by Susan Berfield. (Founders #142) Rockefeller episodes: Random Reminiscences of Men and Events by John D. Rockefeller. (Founders #148) Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller by Ron Chernow. (Founders #248) John D: The Founding Father of the Rockefellers by David Freeman Hawke. (Founders #254) (13:30) Mayer Rothschild thought that long term relationships were more valuable than immediate profit. (15:45) Nathan Rothschild has extreme levels of self belief: When his prospective father-in-law asked for proof of his prospects, Nathan told him that if he was concerned about having his daughters provided for, he might just as well give them all to Nathan, and be done with it. (19:00) The Rothschilds developed the technique of absolute direction to perfection. (21:15) Wal-Mart stock is staying right where it is. We don’t need the money. W