Leadership & Management Book Podcast with Art Petty: Biographies

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If you don’t read you’re limited to your own experience. You must figure out everything for yourself. I love biographies because they let me experience the entire scope of a person’s life. You learn how they matured and aged. You learn the lessons they learned along the way. And you get a glimpse at the role luck plays in success or failure.

For this podcast, Art and I each selected one “business” biography and one general biography. There are lessons galore.

Listen now:

Biography Show Highlights:

Wally: “A book is a gift from the past.” (1:25)

Wally leads off with his thoughts on The Art of Being Unreasonable: Lessons in Unconventional Thinking by Eli Broad. (2:12) Check out Wally’s detailed review of this book at his Three Star Leadership blog.

In case you haven’t heard of Eli Broad. (2:50)

One of the big takeaways from The Art of Being Unreasonable (3:50)

A book to return to—A chapter at a time. (4:57)

What does Eli Broad mean by “being unreasonable?” (5:50)

Who will benefit from reading The Art of Being Unreasonable? (9:40)

Art shares his first pick: Theodore Roosevelt—A Life, by Nathan Miller as his favorite treatment of this larger than life individual from American history. (Along with a host in reasons he’s fascinated by Roosevelt.) (10:30)

What the author does so well that places this biography ahead of many others about Theodore Roosevelt (15:20)

Wally’s view on T.R. (17:15)

Final thoughts from Art on why he recommends Nathan Miller’s treatment (17:50)

Wally kicks off his thoughts on Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson (18:20)

The book is “simply masterful.” We think we know about Leonardo, but there’s a lot more. (19:20)

Wally ties a Bruce Willis movie, Hudson Hawk) to Leonardo(20:26)

Why should we know something about Leonardo Da Vinci? (22:30)

Art kicks off a contemporary business biography: Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul (23:30)

The defining moment in Howard’s life and how it ties to Starbucks the company. (24:40)

Why Art admires this book and this individual for the character of his decisions. (25:30)

Wally highlights why he appreciates the consistency of character Schultz displays. (29:30)

Art and Wally set the stage for a biography showdown between Onward and Shoe Dog (31:02)

Art shares his encounter with Howard and how it didn’t translate into a fortune. (32:50)

Wally’s closing words on why we should all read biographies. (34:37)

Note: All Amazon links for my recommendations are affiliate links. If you follow the links and purchase a book, I receive a tiny commission.

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