Business Biography

Just as Steve Coll told the story of globalization through ExxonMobil and Andrew Ross Sorkin told the story of Wall Street excess through Too Big to Fail, Christopher Leonard’s Kochland uses the extraordinary account of how the biggest private company in the world grew to be that big to tell the story of modern corporate America.

Self-made billionaire Sam Zell consistently sees what others don't. From finding a market for overpriced Playboy magazines among his junior high classmates, to buying real estate on the cheap after a market crash, to investing in often unglamorous industries with long-term value, Zell acts boldly on supply and demand trends to grab the first-mover advantage. And he can find opportunity virtually anywhere - from an arcane piece of legislation to a desert meeting in Abu Dhabi.

"A BOOMER IN TIME" is a time-honored masterpiece that documents the life and other historic events of one of the nation's leading business figures. Richard Roll, renowned entrepreneur and founder of the American Homeowners Association (AHA), in his Memoir titled A BOOMER IN TIME (AND THE TIMES WE'VE HAD!) A MEMOIR, revisits his personal journey and familial heritage, recounting episodes such as his Ancestors' expulsion from Spain during the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, and his father's pioneering invention of the "800" number.

Forget what you've read, forget what you've heard, forget what you've been taught. Monkey Business pulls off Wall Street's suspenders and gives the listener the inside skinny on real life at an investment bank, where the promised land is always one more 20-hour workday and another lap dance away. Fresh out of Wharton and Harvard business schools, John Rolfe and Peter Troob ran willingly into the open arms of investment bank giant Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette. They escaped with the remnants of their sanity - and, ultimately, this book.

Investing can be a roller-coaster of highs and lows, and the investors detailed here reveal just how low it can go; stories from Warren Buffet, Bill Ackman, Chris Sacca, Jack Bogle, Mark Twain, John Maynard Keynes, and many more illustrate the simple but overlooked concept that investing is really hard, whether you're managing a few thousand dollars or a few billion. Failures and losses are part of the game. Much more than just anecdotal diversion, these stories set the basis for the book's critical focus: learning from mistakes.

This printing of Men and Rubber: The Story of Business by Harvey S. Firestone is part of the Farnam Street Timeless Classics Series, where we continue with our goal of "mastering the best of what other people have figured out".

La storia di Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel, la brunetta dagli occhi penetranti, determinata e audace, è la storia del riscatto di una donna che superò ogni ostacolo fino a diventare Mademoiselle Coco, fondatrice e regina dell'impero Chanel. La donna implacabile che, armata di forbici e un senso dello stile impareggiabile, sconvolse non solo la moda, ma il modo stesso di concepire la femminilità.

Candid and compelling, A Bigger Picture is the definitive narrative of Malcolm Turnbull’s prime ministership. He describes how he legalised same-sex marriage, established Snowy Hydro 2.0, stood up to Donald Trump and many achievements – remarkable in their pace and significance, and that they were delivered in the teeth of so much opposition. But it’s far more than just politics. Turnbull’s life has been filled with colourful characters and controversies, success and failure.

How did a child of immigrants, starting with no background in the hotel business, create the world's most admired and successful hotel brand? And how has Four Seasons grown so dramatically, over nearly half a century, without losing its focus on exceptional quality and unparalleled service? Isadore Sharp answers these questions in his inspiring memoir. He started out in Toronto, the son of a modest builder from Poland, but ambition and fate rapidly took him beyond his father's three-man construction business.

As the aide for a navy admiral more than thirty years ago, Mark C. Fava learned valuable lessons that were formative in his emergence as a thoughtful and successful leader. Now a vice president at the world’s largest aerospace company and a career aviation lawyer, Mark is sharing his wisdom in this insightful and entertaining behind-the-scenes look at the successes and failures of a young naval flight officer working every day for the Admiral and how the Admiral reacted as a great leader.

Anthony Pompliano has lived in a war zone, met and interviewed the world's wealthiest people, built and sold companies, invested in more than 200 businesses, formed friendships around the globe, started a loving family, and found happiness. Along the way, he has kept a personal list of the lessons he has learned. Now, in How to Live an Extraordinary Life, he writes 65 letters to his children laying out each lesson and how he learned it, and explaining how it can be applied by anyone in their life today.

The story the Vanguard Group as told by its founder, legendary investor John C. Bogle, Stay the Course traces the history of Vanguard - the largest mutual fund organization on Earth. An engaging blend of company history, investment perspective, and personal memoir, this book provides a fascinating look into the mind of an extraordinary man and the company he created.

Felix Dennis is an expert at proving people wrong. Starting as a college dropout with no family money, he created a publishing empire, founded Maxim magazine, made himself one of the richest people in the UK, and had a blast in the process. How to Get Rich is different from any other book on the subject because Dennis isn't selling snake oil, investment tips, or motivational claptrap. He merely wants to help people embrace entrepreneurship, and to share lessons he learned the hard way.

At the dawn of World War I, a young academic named John Maynard Keynes hastily folded his long legs into the sidecar of his brother-in-law’s motorcycle for an odd, frantic journey that would change the course of history. Swept away from his placid home at Cambridge University by the currents of the conflict, Keynes found himself thrust into the halls of European treasuries to arrange emergency loans and packed off to America to negotiate the terms of economic combat.

The best-selling author of Inside Steve's Brain profiles Apple's legendary chief designer, Jonathan Ive. Jony Ive's designs have not only made Apple one of the most valuable companies in the world; they've overturned entire industries, from music and mobile phones to PCs and tablets.

Peter Lynch, one of the most successful investors of all time, shows you how to use what you already know to make money in the market. You'll discover why smart money is not so smart - and why you may be a better stock picker than the pros, how to follow your hunches and back them up with facts, how to disregard reports on the economy and pick your own time to buy and sell, and how to determine which types of stocks are right for you. Lynch is the former manager of the $9 billion Fidelity Magellan Fund, where he earned investors a $190,000 return on a $10,000 investment.

On the coast of southern China, an eccentric entrepreneur spent three decades steadily building an obscure telecom company into one of the world’s most powerful technological empires with hardly anyone noticing. This all changed in December 2018, when the detention of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies’ female scion, sparked an international hostage standoff, poured fuel on the US-China trade war, and suddenly thrust the mysterious company into the global spotlight.

Surviving Wall Street portrays the dramatic transformation of the investment banking business in recent decades through the tumultuous saga of one firm (Greenhill & Co., a specialist in mergers and acquisitions) and one man (Scott Bok, the longtime CEO of that firm). Written in the style of an adventure tale, this book is also a "coming of age" story for a naive young man who came to Wall Street and managed to grab a front-row seat for a period of epic change.

Robert Evans' The Kid Stays in the Picture is universally recognized as the greatest, most outrageous, and most unforgettable show business memoir ever written. The basis of an award-winning documentary film, it remains the gold standard of Hollywood storytelling. An extraordinary raconteur, Evans spares no one, least of all himself. The Kid Stays in the Picture is sharp, witty, self-aggrandizing, and self-lacerating in equal measure.

The title “Bullfrog” is given to the Navy SEAL who has served the longest on active duty. Admiral McRaven was honored to receive this honor in 2011 when he took charge of the United States Special Operations Command. When McRaven retired in 2014, he had 37 years as a Navy SEAL under his belt, leading men and women at every level of the special operations community. During those four decades, Admiral McRaven dealt with every conceivable leadership challenge. The Wisdom of The Bullfrog draws on these and countless other experiences from Admiral McRaven’s incredible life.