What I learned from reading Decoded by Jay Z.
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(1:39) I would practice from the time I woke in the morning until I went to sleep
(2:10) Even back then I though I was the best.
(2:57) Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography (Founders #219)
(4:32) Belief becomes before ability.
(5:06) Michael Jordan: The Life (Founders #212)
(5:46) The public praises people for what they practice in private.
(7:28) Lock yourself in a room doing five beats a day for three summers.
(7:50) Sam Walton: Made In America (Founders #234)
(9:50) He was disappointed in the world, so he built one of his own — from Steven Spielberg: A Biography (Founders #209)
(12:47) The Pmarca Blog Archive Ebook by Marc Andreessen (Founders #50)
(13:35) I'm not gonna say that I thought I could get rich from rap, but I could clearly see that it was gonna get bigger before it went away. Way bigger.
(21:10) Over 20 years into his career and dude ain’t changed. He’s got his own vibe. You gotta love him for that. (Rick Rubin)
(21:41) Against The Odds: An Autobiography by James Dyson (Founders #200)
(25:27) I believe you can speak things into existence.
(27:20) Picking the right market is essential.
(29:29) All companies that go out of business do so for the same reason – they run out of money. —Don Valentine
(29:42) There are two things in business that matter, and you can learn this in two minutes- you don’t have to go to business school for two years: high gross margins and cash flow. The other financial metrics you can forget. —Don Valentine
(31:54) I went on the road with Big Daddy Kane for a while. I got an invaluable education watching him perform.
(33:12) Everything I do I learned from the guys who came before me. —Kobe
(34:15) I truly hate having discussions about who would win one on one or fans saying you’d beat Michael. I feel like Yo (puts his hands up like stop. Chill.) What you get from me is from him. I don’t get 5 championships without him because he guided me so much and gave me so much great advice.
(34:50) Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography (Founders #214)
(37:20) This is a classic piece of OG advice. It's amazing how few people actually stick to it.
(38:04) Nuts!: Southwest Airlines' Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success(Founders #56)
(39:04) The key to staying on top of things is to treat everything like it's your first project.
(41:10) The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley (Founders #233)
(44:46) We (Jay Z, Bono, Quincy Jones) ended up trading stories about the pressure we felt even at this point in our lives.
(45:22) Competition pushes you to become your best self. Jordan said the same thing about Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
[46:43] If you got the heart and the brains you can move up quickly. There's no way to quantify all of this on a spreadsheet, but it's the dream of being the exception.
(52:26) He (Russell Simmons) changed the business style of a whole generation. The whole vibe of startup companies in Silicon Valley with 25 year old CEOs wearing shell toes is Russell's Def Jam style filtered through different industries.
(54:17) Jay Z’s approach is I'm going to find the smartest people that that know more than I do, and I'm gonna learn everything I can from them.
(54:49) He (Russell Simmons) knew that the key to success was believing in the quality of your own product enough to make people do business with you on your terms. He knew that great product was the ultimate advantage in competition.
(55:08) In the end it came down to having a great product and the hustle to move it.
(56:37) Learn how to build and sell and you will be unstoppable. The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness (Founders #191)
(58:30) We gave those brands a narrative which is one of the reasons anyone buys anything. To own not just a product, but to become part of a story.
(59:30) The best thing for me to do is to ignore and outperform.
(1:01:16) Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger. (Founders #90)
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