Morgan Housel is my sensei in the finance world. His book, The Psychology of Money, is one of my favorites on the subject. It had an outsized impact on my life and ranks as one of those few books I read more than once. It is so good I will read it at least once every year.
When I came to this book, I went with the same expectation. I expected a book on finance, but I didn't get it. At first, I was disappointed, but when I got to 60% of the text, I got the message. This was not a book on finance. This was a book on human nature, sociology, economics, and history. In this, it delivered on its mission.
Jeff Bezos said something incredible when he mentioned that he built Amazon on the things that remain the same, not the things that change. Well-informed people attempt to study hard to predict the technologies that will revolutionize the future. The idea is that if we know the things that will change our lives in the future, we can be better prepared for the future. Of course, this makes sense. But there is a counterintuitive idea that also makes sense and is easier to grasp. What's the idea? The idea is, βWhat are the things that will remain the same in the future?". On this note, Jeff caught a powerful truth. 1. Customers will always want excellent services. 2. Customers will always want to get the best price. Amazon is built on those two ideas.
If you understand this idea, you can use it for your life, business, or career. Some things will remain the same today, tomorrow, and forever. Human beings have been taking some specific actions since the time of Cain and Abel. Sibling rivalry is as old as man.
So, while it makes sense to build our lives around the things that are changing, for indeed, so many people have thrived by finding the next big thing and jumping on the wagon-Jeff Bezos himself jumped on the wagon of the internet to build a billion dollar wealth for himself and build a trillion dollar company-It also makes sense to remain conscious of the things that remain same as ever.
Morgan Housel does an excellent job of communicating these things in short chapters. As with his previous work, every word is highlightable. He does not bore you. One of the things that remains the same as ever is that the best story wins. Therefore, the best storytellers always win. Morgan Housel himself is a great storyteller. Some of the ideas in this book are things I've come across in various books, but no one packages them in such an easy-to-read-and-remember format. Today, Morgan ranks as my favorite author. The economists and historians whose books I've read these ideas from are not folks I easily call my favorite authors. The best storyteller wins.
So, do you want to win in life? Learn to tell stories. Ideas are not enough. Being brilliant is not enough. Knowing a lot is not enough. You must learn to tell stories. You must learn to make people sit down and listen to you. We are all very busy, more busy than any generation ever, but we all have time for a good story.
This book tells a lot of good stories. Read it. And enjoy.