Biographies: Investment Lessons from the Greats

What we can learn by "standing on the shoulders of giants"

I have been asked a number of times about my favourite investing books. While I have learned valuable technical lessons from books like The Intelligent Investor, Margin of Safety and The Most Important Thing, I also find myself wondering about the human side of investing and the resilience we need to stay focused on our process in times of stress. In this respect, autobiographies and biographies are a goldmine for investors — and for anyone trying to make sense of business or life. When a company hits a rough patch, the chances are someone else has faced something similar before. In reading how others navigated crises, we can learn what to do and what to avoid.

My friend and former colleague Mark Wharrier often reminds me that one of the most valuable skills in investing is pattern recognition. This is spotting the familiar clues that have preceded success or failure in the past. It’s amazing how often these indicators reoccur but in different situations. As Mark Twain said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” The more highs and lows we’ve experienced when analysing individual companies as well as the wider stock market’s vagaries, the better perspective we gain on our own investing challenges or opportunities. Biographies offer a wonderful window into such historical situations.

Biographies remind us that most companies are like swans: graceful on the surface but paddling furiously underneath. There are always fires to fight, staff to motivate, and irrational competitors to handle. Nothing is ever quite as good or as bad as it looks.

Beyond the business mechanics, autobiographies especially, illuminate temperament — how people think under pressure, manage emotion, and recover from setbacks. You see not only the decisions they made, but how they made them: when to act boldly, when to wait, and when humility or restraint proved decisive. Often, the most enduring lessons come from failure, not triumph. Seeing how others endured reversals, and rebuilt, gives us perspective when markets inevitably turn against us.

A good biography can also serve as a virtual mentor. You can learn from the decisions others made and ask yourself, what would they do here? Charlie Munger even went as far as advising putting photos of people you admire in your office as a motivational tool. This creates a constant, visual reminder of your role models, which encourages you to uphold the standards you associate with them. Would you want to disappoint Charlie?

Biographies from some of the most successful people in history, whether founders, leaders or politicians, are littered with practical advice. All it costs is the price of the book, or even better, it’s free if you use a library. Take this excerpt from Sam Walton’s Made in America:

“Now, I want you to raise your right hand—and remember what we say at Wal-Mart, that a promise we make is a promise we keep—and I want you to repeat after me: From this day forward, I solemnly promise and declare that every time a customer comes within ten feet of me, I will smile, look him in the eye, and greet him. So help me Sam.”

The pledge cost nothing, yet Walton believed greeting customers would “work magic” for both employees and customers. That pledge, total focus on the customer, teamwork and cost consciousness created a retail behemoth with over 10,000 stores globally. It’s a great example of how great leaders turn small ideas into enduring culture.

And finally, many of these books are simply cracking good reads. You finish them feeling energised, encouraged, and a little wiser. As Walt Disney said, “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”

Recommendations

Each week I will list two business related biographies and a book from an ‘other’ category. There is a short precis of each one after the list. I hope you enjoy them.

Here are some of my favourites*:

You can click on the links above and in the text below which takes you to relevant Amazon page. Being transparent I will earn a small commission, but I hope you won’t mind.

Week 1 Picks

Made in America – Sam Walton

A brilliant autobiography, packed full of great advice and such fun to read, Made in America by Sam Walton is the story of the Walmart founder. charting his journey from a small-town retailer to the head of one of the world’s largest retail empires. Written in an enjoyable plainspoken, energetic style, the book captures Sam’s relentless drive for efficiency, low prices, and customer satisfaction (“there is only one boss, the customer”). Sam recounts how he built Walmart through a mix of frugality, innovation, and a deep understanding of small-town America. I learned so much from this book about importance of teamwork, employee empowerment (“associates”), and an obsession with keeping costs down – this has fed into my appreciation of lowest cost providers as an enduring investment theme. Beyond recounting business successes, Sam Walton offers insights into his personal values—hard work, optimism, a willingness to learn from mistakes and sharing the success with others: “Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners. In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations”. If there is one thing you will take from this book its Sam’s work ethic – it was just phenomenal! If you read one autobiography this year, make this is it.

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Be a Better Boss (in print) / Think Lead Succeed (out of print)

Think Lead Succeed and its successor Be a Better Boss, blend autobiography, leadership philosophy, and practical lessons through Henry Engelhardt’s experience founding and leading Admiral Insurance. Henry recounts how he and a small team transformed a car insurance start-up into one of the UK’s most admired (and profitable) insurers, emphasizing culture, trust, and continuous learning. It’s not exactly your standard management book, but then again Henry isn’t your standard CEO. The book is really well written, packed with enjoyable anecdotes to underline his practical lessons. Where Henry really shines is his ability to communicate the issues of clarity of purpose, empathy, accountability, and empowering teams to make decisions. The book includes stories of setbacks and innovation, showing how to stay grounded yet bold. The story of how Henry and other managers padlocked the sales people’s chairs together one night, to emphasise the point the next morning that they needed to get out of the office to see customers, still makes me smile. Would many businesses promote that kind of behaviour today? Henry’s ability to get teams working together is legendary. Even today, Admiral still has a ‘Ministry of Fun’, designed to create an enjoyable work environment as Henry strongly believes happy staff gets better business results. Definitely worth reading for new or seasoned managers. I have seldom met anyone with such a high EQ - this book will challenge your beliefs and behaviours and just written with so much enthusiasm. (Here’s an interesting factoid about Henry that isn’t well known: Despite having retired from Admiral in May 2016, he still mentors over 15 people at Admiral. That’s team building.). I still refer to this book every now and then as it has useful sections for most business situations.

Paper Lion- Confessions of a Last String Quarterback

I was recommended Paper Lion by a friend called Ben. If you like sports this is THE best sports reportage I have read. Mid 1960s, a thirty something journalist “built along the lines of a stick”, George Plimpton, persuades the Detroit Lions to let him attend pre-season training camp as a back-up quarterback and participate in a pre-season game. What were the Lions thinking?! It’s a warts and all account but is so beautifully written and brings out all the weird and wonderful characters on an American football team: the cocky offensive linemen, the brutal defence and the hard drinking and gambling coaches. From a personal perspective, very soon into the book I found I was so invested in George actually getting to the pre-season game and having some playing time. Whatever your sport, who hasn’t thought about training with the elite for a few months. Could you cut the mustard? Or at least not embarrass yourself? You don’t need to be a gridiron fan to appreciate this book; its so good. If ever I go to an NFL game, I would love to see the Detroit Lions and cheer for all the George Plimpton’s of this world. Go Lions !
Interesting factoid: George Plimpton participated in other professional sports as a journalist including golf (the Bogey Man), baseball (Out of My League) and boxing (Shadow Box)! All come highly rated so I will be reading one of these next.

Stay Curious.

Simon