A must read!

A absolute must read. One of the better memoirs and business books out there.

#Audible1

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"Greater the risk, greater the reward"

"Greater the risk, greater the reward." (Ken Lagone, I Love Capitalism!)

Written and read by billionaire Ken Langone, the cofounder of Home Depot. The title of the book made me think that it would be promoting the benefits of capitalism only. I was wrong. It read more like an autobiography and takes you through the journeys' of the author and his rags to richest story.

He worked hard and was diligent in what he was doing. He always wanted to work on Wall Street and his wife had a father who worked there and got him an interview. He worked diligently and eventually, he became good at what he did...specifically raising capital for businesses. He says, "God gave me this wonderful ability to measure risk as well as a good nose for people and what businesses I want to back."

He also went to school at night to get his MBA and eventually also became a teacher. His greatest opportunity came in the form of Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank when they were fired from their jobs and wanted to start a home improvement store. Ken Lagone arranged for financing and invested capital of his own. Home Depot did well, they began to expand, some management and CEO mishaps, and the rest is history.

I think the last chapters of this audio book dealt more with what I was personally looking for in reading this book: his advice on business and life. Here are some notes I took from this book that you may find helpful:

• My one regret is my career kept me from home more than what I would have liked.

• The world belongs to risk-takers.

• Capitalism works.
• It can work for everyone and everybody.

• I was always on the lookout for opportunities.

• Math came easy to me. I was always good with numbers.

• Supply and demand goes through everything in life. Early on I caught the fact that if you have
a special talent or if you have something unique that provokes people to do something that
you can make a profit on that a good thing.

• Necessity is the mother of invention.

• You treat a customer right and you never have to worry.

• Greater the risk, greater the reward.

• No one succeeds alone.

• Never giving up and thinking creatively, instead of just reacting when the chips were down.

• Success attracts attention.

• In business sometimes what goes around really does come around.

• Never underestimate the power of a great product.

• There is nothing more important to me in life than the name I leave my kids.

• You ignore the human element of business at your own peril.

• The big picture depends on a lot of smaller pictures.

• I've been rich and I've been poor, but rich is better.

• I don't buy anything that I don't understand.

• We all have different talents, we are not all equal.

• Capitalism brings better lives than socialism does.

• Like it or not, we are not all equal.

• God gave me this wonderful ability to measure risk as well as a good nose for people and what
businesses I want to back.

• Capitalism works, but you got to make the effort and you have to take the lumps.

• Capitalism is brutal, it is survival of the fittest.

• Leave more on the table for the other guy, then he thinks he should get.

• One of the most important rules in capitalism is incentive.

• If there aren't any profits, then there can't be any returns.

• If a guy has good ideas, let him come to work bare ass.

• Complacency is the enemy.

• People are always your best investment.

• When capitalism works the way it should, it works for everybody.

• Minimum wage, minimum talent.

• I want everybody in the world to do well.

• The world is a lot more fun if we are all rich, instead of just some of us.

• I am a collage of other people's efforts.

• The opportunities in America are the very best they've ever been. You might have to look
harder for them, then in my day, but they are there.

• It is essential to love the work you are doing.

• What distinguishes the winners from the losers is the ability to turn adversity around.
Resilience and creativity.

He does swear continuously on this book and then claims to be spiritual at the same time, which seemed like an oxymoron, but he is real and I found him genuine. He also admits that he is not self-made and gives credit to those who impacted his life and the sales associates at Home Depot.

Entertaining stories and humour throughout this audio book that kept me engaged (have to be tolerant of all the swear words through. Common' Ken, we learned not to swear at 4 years old!).

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Worth a listen but not much on Home Depot

if you're interested in the history of Home Depot, you're going to be disappointed. Ken was just the money man and obviously had little to do with its day to day success. Otherwise, his tales of high finance and name dropping are interesting and his unique voice adds to the audio.
Ken's voice comes and goes so you'll need to keep the volume high.

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Wont win a pulitzer

The writing is very amateurish and the story is one of a bully with little empathy nor respect for people Too much profanity that reminds me of Mafia

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