#432 The Mind of Napoleon

20:33Nathan Latka:He's talking about Alexander, but two decades later, you could say that he's talking about himself. Ten years later, on the very next page, we see he's kind of giving into this ambition. This is what he says. There is only one thing to do in this world, and that is to keep acquiring more and more money and power. And then we get to the chapter on the conquest of history. This is really, in my opinion, the right way to study history, the way to think about it and think, you know, something that hopefully drives you and I. And he says, history I conquered rather than studied. That is to say, I wanted from it and retained of it only what could add to my ideas.

21:06Nathan Latka:I spurned what was of no use and I seized upon certain conclusions that pleased me. It was a prompt for his own thinking, not an instruction manual. I really, really like that. And the funny thing is, I guess you combine the last two things you and I just talked about. It's like learning from history, using it as a prompt for your own thinking, grabbing ideas that's useful to you, discarding others that aren't as a perfect way to do it. But then we just talked about the fact that he was, in some cases, he learned from Alexander, right? and was able to apply that because learning is not memorizing information.

21:38Learning is changing your behavior, right? And so he was able to change certain behaviors based on what he learned from Alexander, but in some cases, and in some cases not where he let ambition essentially consume him, right? And so he says nations and individuals alike learn only from their own experience

21:52Nathan Latka:and most of the time from misfortunes. He's saying that most humans are incapable of learning from history. And then he goes back to this idea where, you know, essentially Napoleon trying to learn from history. he's just like watching game tape just like an athlete does to me he's trying to emulate the traits that he desires that would help him and he wants to avoid you know the the other the the negative ideas or you know a fate that he doesn't want for his own life goes back to alexander alexander had barely outgrown his boyhood when with a handful of men he conquered a portion of the globe everything was calculated deeply carried out audaciously and managed wisely so that is his description of Alexander.

22:30Calculated deeply, carried out audaciously, and managed wisely. So that's an example of something he wants to emulate. On the very next page, he's talking about a mistake that a leader in 1250 Egypt did.

22:41Nathan Latka:And he says he spent eight months praying when he should have spent them marching, fighting, and consolidating his hold over the country. And before we get back into this, I want to tell you about Aplovin. One of my all-time favorite quotes is from the book Zero to One. In that book, Peter Thiel writes, he says, The single most powerful pattern I have noticed is that successful people find value in unexpected places, and they do this by thinking about business from first principles instead of formulas. And that is exactly what AppLovin has done with their advertising platform. AppLovin connects you with over a billion potential new customers in mobile games.

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24:26Nathan Latka:Many companies won't sign contracts unless you're certified, and this is causing you to lose out on sales. That is why the average Vanta customer reports a 526 % return on investment after becoming a Vanta customer. Automate your compliance, security, and trust with Vanta. Vanta will help you win trust, close deals, and stay secure faster and with less effort. Go to vanta.com forward slash founders and you'll get$1 ,000 off. That is vanta.com forward slash founders. And then this is just more examples of Napoleon learning from history. He's talking about Frederick the Great in this case. I think that he is one of those who knew their business best in all respects.

24:59Frederick was great above all at moments of great crisis. This is the highest praise that can be given. And then this is another repeated saying, another repeat idea. A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one or several of its children to give it a direction. That is a great line. So when I first read this book many years ago, I left notes to myself on this page of some revolutions that, again, could not be stopped. Somebody at some point in history is going to take advantage of this. Obviously, for you and I, they were going to invent new technology, build companies around it.

25:32So you can think of some of the lists of these are like the internet, human-powered flight, which you and I have talked about, mass-produced automobiles with internal combustion engines, these three things, among many others, completely changed the world. I think we're right now in the midst of another, obviously, revolution that can't be made nor stopped, which is the one with artificial intelligence. And I love this idea for thinking of the times that we're in and observing what's going on. The only thing that can be done is for one or several of its children to give it a direction. It goes back to the importance of victory, of winning.

26:02Since one must take sides, One might as well choose the side which is victorious. It is better to eat than be eaten. One of my favorite quotes that Napoleon ever said that I think about all the time, he says that appetite comes with eating. The more you win, the more you want to win. He's constantly criticizing people that never let their ideas get tested by reality. He says, these poor scholars don't understand themselves. They talk and talk and talk.

26:25Nathan Latka:My aversion for this breed of ideologists goes to the point of hatred. I don't care who knows it. And this is another example where I've told you in the past. I think the order in which you read things is very important. So having just spent a week reading about Henry Singleton, reading those two books on Henry Singleton, this idea where it's like these scholars don't understand themselves, they just talk, talk, talk. You know, I hate these people. What I was really shocked by, and I'd maybe forgotten the first time I studied Henry Singleton, is just how many people, if you actually go back and read what was written while he's doing what he was doing, the press and people around him, analysts, business press, would call him arrogant.

26:59Nathan Latka:And I'm like, why do they keep calling this guy arrogant? And you realize they keep calling him arrogant because he's doing things his own way and they don't like it. And they don't understand it either. Human nature has this natural aversion to you thinking, oh, like there's a different way to do it. Why aren't you just doing it how everybody else is doing it? And one of the interesting thoughts is like, he's got a lot of thoughts, obviously on politics in this. And he, again, he saw change, especially in the political domain, to be completely natural and to be something that occurred before he lived, happened during his life and will happen after.

27:28He says, there's not a single constitution in the world that is actually observed. Everything around us changes continually. And on the very next page, we see another example of his extreme self-confidence. France needs me more than I need France.

27:42Nathan Latka:And then he goes back to the idea that a revolution can be neither made nor stopped. He says, it may be possible to arrest the surge of progress or to throttle it, but not to destroy it. And then here's another idea that reappears throughout the book, the fact that we are all full of hypocrisies and contradictions. And so because a lot of these quotes are not only grouped together by subject matter, but also by year, we get to see him contradict himself a bunch. So in 1806, he's saying, I'll say it once more. I do not want any censorship of books because every bookseller is made responsible for the works he sells.

28:14Nathan Latka:Because I do not wish to take responsibility for every nonsense that comes off the printing press. And finally, because I do not want some clerk to tyrannize over the mind and to mutilate genius. And so he said that in 1806, and it says in 1810, however, Napoleon did establish book censorship. And here's another example of Napoleon believing he had no limits, believing that he could build life to his specifications. He says, I am informing the Pope of my plans in a few words. If he does not acquiesce, I shall reduce him to the same status that he held before Charlemagne. And then back to this reoccurring idea from Napoleon, you should be using reality to get closer to truth.

28:52every thought or idea should just be leading to action. So he says, avoid everything that might give false ideas of the truth.

29:00Nathan Latka:Another great line here. I have read your letter. It is utterly worthless. There are too many words and not enough ideas. And because this book is 300 pages, largely of Napoleon's own writing, reminding me of this description of Julius Caesar. One, one thing that Napoleon and Julius Caesar had in common is that the belief that you, you should tell your own story that is your obligation to tell your own story and then they also write like you don't read anything that Napoleon wrote and we wonder like what did he mean by that and so there's this great description I read in this book on Julius Caesar one time I read to you says Julius Caesar's simplicity was deliberate he wrote not to show off or to astonish but to get his point across he said you should quote avoid an unfamiliar word as a ship avoids a reef.

29:45Nathan Latka:So his works were wildly read. I love this idea. Too many words, not enough ideas. There's another idea that's on the same page that reminded me a few weeks ago, you and I discussed this idea of the episode on Peter Thiel and how to make a creative monopoly. So Napoleon says, the masses must be guided without their noticing it. In that book, Zero to One, that Peter Thiel wrote, he says the best sails are hidden. I think those two ideas are somewhat related. The masses must be guided without them noticing it. He says over and over again, tell your own story. This is how you have to control the message.

30:19He says it is necessary to enlighten public opinion.

30:22Nathan Latka:With ink and paper, you can draw any picture you like. Only by telling the facts simply and with details can we convince them. And as the founder, you should be doing this yourself. You should act as your own minister of propaganda for your company. I love this part. Napoleon dictated all important army bulletins himself. Their purpose was multiple, to inform the public, to counter rumors, to mislead the enemy, or to stir up enthusiasm. He served as his own minister of propaganda. And so not only did he write and tell his own story, but he also owned the press and he controlled the message. This is wild.

30:55Nathan Latka:He says, while he was being shaved, I used to read the newspapers to him, always beginning with some French newspaper. And Napoleon would respond, skip it, skip it. I know what's in them. They say only what I tell them to. And so then another reoccurring piece of advice from Napoleon is you must. You must acquire talent and knowledge. He says, without talent, without knowledge, there is no equality but the equality of misery and servitude. There's a great biography of Alexander the Great, and this description of Alexander reminded me of Napoleon, especially when we get to this section of the book on Napoleon.

31:28It says, no trait of Alexander's was more firmly held or enduring than his admiration for genuine excellence and brilliant achievement. I definitely think that Napoleon was the exact same. This goes back to his kind of distaste for men of inaction, men of just theory.

31:46Nathan Latka:He says, good God, how stupid men of letters are. A fellow who's capable of translating a poem is incapable of leading 15 men. And so I would say this distaste for theory and for learning, for not learning things that are actually pragmatic, that is very clear when you're studying Napoleon. There's a, there's a story that came to mind, uh, that I read in one of these biographies of Henry Ford many years ago. And I just want to read this quick story to you because I think it illustrates the same perspective that Henry Ford and Napoleon had the same perspective. It's like, well, you're spending all this time, you're in school, but you're learning things that are not actually applicable to life.

32:20So what are you actually doing? So it says Henry Ford, uh, had an old schoolmate whose son wanted to become a forester.

32:26Nathan Latka:Ford paid for the young man's college education, arranged his transportation, and later helped him obtain a forestry job in Oregon. When the young man arrived, a lumber company put him on a large wagon traveling over a rough road to a remote camp. During the journey, the boy fell from the wagon, was run over, and died. And so when he's hearing about the news, this terrible news, Ford responds, do you realize that they forgot to teach that boy in college how to ride a wagon? Ford's point is that information would have actually been useful. Going back to the inevitability of revolutions that you cannot make them nor control them.

33:05Nathan Latka:It is wrong to believe that the people does not act unless it is led. The people has an instinct that pushes it and makes it act spontaneously. During the revolution, it led the leaders. and then Napoleon on the importance of having the people on your side. Men who have changed the world never achieve their success by winning the chief citizens to their side, but always by stirring the masses. The first method is that of a schemer and leads only to mediocre results. The other method is the path of genius and changes the face of the world. And I think for our purposes, it's serving the customer best.

33:38In fact, I just talked to Travis, the founder of Uber, and he had a great line. He said something like, the person who serves the customer best gets all the customers. He is very blunt about the best education you possibly have is just reading history over and over again. In fact, he criticizes other people where he feels they haven't done so. And he says, speak as little as possible.

33:59Nathan Latka:Your knowledge is too limited and your education has been too neglected for you to engage freely in discussions. As I've mentioned many, many times in many, many episodes, I have a slight obsession with Game of Thrones. It's my favorite show ever and I love the books. And one of my favorite lines in the entire series is by Tywin Lannister. and he's giving advice to his son, who he wants to succeed him and to be his heir. And he says, the lion does not concern himself with the opinions of the sheep. Napoleon says something very similar here. It would be a joke if the conduct of the victor had to be justified to the vanquished.

34:30And then we see another example of Napoleon contradicting himself, being full of contradictions and hypocrisies like we all are. This is obviously not a critique of him. Obviously, it's present in him. It's likely it is present in you and I. And so he's saying, you know, the art consists in making others work

34:44Nathan Latka:rather than wearing oneself out. Okay, this is one of history's greatest micromanagers. And so what's great is, you know, it says, this is the quote, then the editor put this together, goes, this is good advice, but the following anecdote illustrates Napoleon's inability to leave even the most trivial details to others. And so one thing he says earlier is like, a lot of this, his mind moved faster than his hand did. And so he would dictate and have other people write as much as possible. And so here's an example. He's like, okay, yeah, the art, it's better. Have other people do the work rather than wearing yourself out.

35:18And so Josephine is taking to the water. So she's going on this trip she needs to go on. And Napoleon is telling the person that he's dictating to,

35:27Nathan Latka:Josephine is leaving tomorrow for her water cure. I must dictate her itinerary and outline her conduct. Right. And then he dictated 21 large sheets of paper. And then as you can imagine, there's a huge section in the book on the art of war. He says, war, an immense art which comprises all others. And one thing that Napoleon prioritized was spending a lot of time essentially over-communicating with his troops. And this gives you an idea of why. The morale of your troops, who are either strong and victorious, or weak and beaten, depending on which they think they will be. That goes back to one of my favorite maxims, that the mind is a powerful place in which you feed it affects you in a powerful way.

36:08Again, going back to the fact that he's unapologetically extreme. he is watching uh this town burn and he's talking to the person next to him he's like it's like vesuvius erupting don't you think this is a beautiful sight and the person sitting next to him says it's horrible sire and napoleon responds the corpse of an enemy always smells sweet and then there's just all these lines where again it's just one sentence you understand him you do not

36:31Nathan Latka:get peace by shouting peace another sentence i yield nothing one more an acute but short pain is preferable to prolonged suffering. He continues that idea on the next page. If you wage war, do it energetically and with severity. This is the only way to make it shorter and consequently less inhuman. And then this story illustrates the fact that, you know, he didn't think rules applied to him. He was willing to do essentially anything to get what he wanted. And in many cases, he was going up against opponents that wanted to win, but not nearly as badly as Napoleon did and would essentially stop themselves from doing things that Napoleon had no problem doing.

37:08So he's having this conversation with this guy named General Mack, who is the commander of these Austrian forces that had just surrendered to Napoleon. And so Mack says to Napoleon, It is said that you had troops marching through Switzerland,

37:19Nathan Latka:whose neutrality we had respected. Napoleon responds, I had not recognized its neutrality. Consequently, I have a right to enter its territory. Mack says, Ah, we were always dupes of our good faith. You had violated neutrality of Prussia, thus gaining eight days and affecting the junction of your forces. This premature junction gave you the opportunity to crush us. And yet, if I had wished to violate Prussian territory, I could have easily cut you off. Napoleon responded, but at first he smiled. So why didn't you do it? He spends a lot of time writing and talking about the importance of building your army's morale, obviously for you and I, building your company's morale, really over-communicating.

37:59and one thing essentially,

38:01Nathan Latka:this is not a direct quote, but it's what he means. Like winning solves everything. You want to increase morale? Just win. It says, when I arrived, its morale was being undermined by all the malcontents. I took some strong measures. I used every means to reorganize their supplies and victory has done the rest. Winning solves everything. He stays on this subject his entire life. There's many pages on it. He's really talking about how to speak to your team. And he says, you know what words can do to the soldiers. And so then he goes and gives us a talk to in front of all soldiers. Soldiers, you were ill fed and almost naked.

38:35Nathan Latka:The government owes you a great deal, but it can do nothing for you. Your patience and courage do you honor, but give you neither worldly goods nor glory. I shall lead you into the most fertile plains on earth. There you shall find great cities and rich provinces. There you shall find honor, glory, and riches. Goes back to this idea again, over and over again. a general's principal talent consists in knowing the mentality of the soldier and in winning their confidence and then he repeats the importance before you start something make sure you're researching make sure you're unbelievably prepared know everything you need to know and then once you decide that is the path you are going to take hesitation is fatal burn the boats you have to go forward at the beginning of a campaign much thought should be given to whether strategy whether a specific strategy should be adopted however once the offensive has started It must be sustained to the last extremity.

39:25Nathan Latka:Retreats are always disastrous. They cost more lives and material than the bloodiest battles. In a battle, the enemy loses approximately as much as you. Well, in a retreat, you lose and he does not. And then this remark reminded me of Elon's perspective where he says, no work about work, just work. And so this is a repeated remark of Napoleon. The ancients had a great advantage over us in that their armies were not trailed by a second army of pen pushers. and then again one of the greatest lines in the book which already told you once in war men are nothing one man is everything and then he's giving advice to another general but again it goes back to this repeated maxim of his that a wasted life should be your greatest fear a wasted life should be your greatest fear he says these three things you must always keep in mind concentration of strength activity and a firm resolve to perish gloriously they are the three principles of the military art which have disposed luck in my favor and all my operations death is nothing but to live defeated and without glory is to die every day and then there's just a series of great ideas spread across these pages this is one of my favorite lines in the book too the simplest moves are the best another idea my great and most distinctive talent is to see everything in a clear light this is something he repeats over and over again i am rational and i do not let my emotions blur my judgment my great and most distinctive talent is i see everything in clear light.

40:44Then he goes back to doing, if you do everything, you'll win. The issue of a battle

40:47Nathan Latka:is a result of a single instant, a single thought. The adversaries come into each other's presence with various combinations. They mingle, they fight for a length of time. The decisive moment appears, a psychological spark makes the decision, and a few reserve troops are enough to carry it out. Sometimes a single battle decides everything, and sometimes too, the slightest circumstance decides the issue of a battle. Then he goes back to the importance of using history as a form of leverage. Knowledge of the grand principles of warfare can be acquired only through the study of military history and of the battles of the great captains and through experience.

41:23Nathan Latka:There are no precise determinate rules. Everything depends on the character that nature has bestowed on the general. I think that's same for entrepreneurship too. There are no precise determinate rules. Everything depends on the character that nature has bestowed on the general. And he goes back again. Time is the best filter. You should be studying the greats. The principles of warfare are those which guided the great captains whose high deeds history has transmitted to us. So he named some like Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Frederick the Great, list goes on and on. The history of their 83 campaigns would constitute a complete treatise on the art of war.

42:02Nathan Latka:The principles that must be followed in defensive and offensive warfare would flow from it as from a common source. And then Napoleon starts analyzing Julius Caesar. And again, you see these ideas that he repeats over and over again, do everything that you and you will win the importance of boldness. And so he says Caesar's principles were the same as Alexander's and Hannibal's. And he lists them off what these three people had in common to keep his forces united to be vulnerable at no point to strike speedily at critical points to make use of every possible opportunity of increasing his chances of victory on the battlefield that is a way to say that do everything and you will win he took great risks in the adventures into which he was pushed by his boldness there's that word again his genius got him out of his difficulties he was a man whose genius and boldness were equally great this section is absolutely great because he's just going through in a few paragraphs, a few sentences, just analyzing all these great generals from history.

43:00Just want to pull out one on the next page.

43:02Nathan Latka:The boldness and length of these marches astonished France. And until they were justified by success, they were the target for criticism of mediocre men. That is happening in the 1600s is the example that he has given. That happens today. It'll happen a thousand years from now. Goes into Frederick the Great again. Again, Napoleon admires boldness. Napoleon wants you to be bold. What distinguishes Frederick most is not the cleverness of his moves, but his boldness. Boldness is the common quality singled out by Napoleon in the seven great generals whom he cites as examples in every single one. So then he goes back to this idea that you should be careful, even timid when planning, but then you're bold and relentless when acting.

43:49Nathan Latka:And so he says, there is no man more timid than I when I'm planning a campaign. I purposely exaggerate all the dangers and all the calamities that the circumstances make possible. I am in a thoroughly painful state of agitation. This does not keep me from looking quite serene in front of my entourage. Once I have made up my mind, everything is forgotten except what leads to success. That's a great line. Once I've made up my mind, everything is forgotten except what leads to success. And so then he talks again about his immense ambition. What I would say is one of the main takeaways from spending hours, essentially, you know, reading the thoughts of Napoleon, having Napoleon speak directly to you is that whatever you do, do it constantly and massively increase the scope of your ambition.

44:33Do it constantly and massively increase the scope of your ambition.

44:36Nathan Latka:And so he says, whether I waged constant warfare to indulge my personal taste, or whether I was pushed into it against my will, whether my immense ambition was spurred by lust for power or thirst for glory or the necessity of establishing order or love of general warfare. It is not up to me to deal specifically with these questions. So this conversation is like, well, these are what actually occurred. We could argue over why they were done, but the main takeaway of this entire conversation that plays on this page is like, whatever you're doing, doing it constantly and then having no limits on your ambition.

45:13Nathan Latka:And as the conversation continues, he goes back to that idea, which again, I think was the most shocking thing from the book, is that I was ruled by my circumstances. And he goes, thus, I never was truly my own master, but I was always ruled by my circumstances. This is so true that when at the beginning of my reign, my true friends and most enthusiastic champions asked me where I was headed, I always answered that I had not the least idea. This astonished and possibly annoyed them, and yet I was telling them the truth. The fact was that I was not master of my actions because I was so insane as to attempt to bend events to conform to my policies.

45:45Nathan Latka:On the contrary, I bent my policies to accord with the unforeseen shape of the events. And then several times throughout the book, he talks about the importance of being feared. He says, as soon as I cease to be feared, my empire will be destroyed. And then back to the importance of winning, that winning is the main thing. You have to keep the main thing, the main thing. solves almost all of your other problems. My power is dependent on my glory and my glory on my victories. My power would fall if I did not base it on still more glory and still more victories. Conquest made me what I am. Conquest alone can keep me there.

46:24Nathan Latka:That's a great line. Conquest made me what I am and conquest alone can keep me there. And then a few pages later, he picks up this idea. Power is my mistress. I have worked too hard at her conquest to allow anyone to take her away from me. I know what it has cost me, the sufferings, the sleepless nights, and the scheming. From triumph to fall, there is but one step. And then it goes back to his immense ambition. I found the crown of France in the gutter and I picked it up. I wanted to rule the world. Who wouldn't have in my place? The world begged me to govern it. And then just two more ideas for you.

46:59This is Napoleon on why he wants his son to read history. He says,

47:03Nathan Latka:My son should read much history and meditate upon it. It is the only true philosophy. Let him read and meditate upon the wars of the great captains. It is the only way to learn the art of war. And then finally, this is Napoleon on his detractors. My soul is made of marble. Lightning has found no grip on it and had to slide off of it. I have no fear of becoming their victim. They will be biting into granite. one of my favorite descriptions of Napoleon. I read one time in a biography of him said that Napoleon was a man of stone and iron. And I think this book is a great way to get to know that man.

47:39Highly recommend reading it. That is where I'll leave it. That is 432 books down, 1 ,000 to go. And I'll talk to you again soon. So I have this AI assistant I've called Sage. You might've heard me talk about it in the past. Since 2018, I've been storing every single note that I've taken on a book and every single highlight I've made in a book in this database. Then I added to that database, uh, all the transcripts for all my episodes. And then my AI assistant has just read everything. And so I use this constantly. I use Sage constantly to make the podcast because I've now it's almost 10 years since I've been doing, uh, founders to start in September, 2016, there's no way I can remember everything.

48:15And so I was actually texting a friend today about what the benefit of Sage is. And I go, it allows you to pull up any idea from founders at the moment you need it. And so what I want to do is I was actually prepping for the episode that you just heard. And obviously, because I use Sage to make every single episode, I use it every day just to ask questions about whatever's on in my mind. And so what was fascinating is like,

48:34Nathan Latka:you and I've talked about this idea in the past, that there is like, you can just create a product. And if you just hold on long enough, somebody else is going to create technology that makes that product more powerful over time. So I think I've had this AI system for like three years now. And all I'm doing is keep adding notes from the books I'm reading, keep obviously making podcasts. so therefore producing transcripts from those podcasts. But the freaking models are just getting better and better and better. And this thing is getting more and more useful. So I want to give you an example of this.

49:03So let's say you didn't listen to the podcast you just listened to, or let's say a year from now, you want to figure out like, what are the best ideas from The Mind of Napoleon? Let's say you didn't even read the book. So simple prompt, what are the most important ideas from the book, The Mind of Napoleon? And I read through this several times last time. I was like, damn, this is so good. I'm going to essentially record me going through this real quick. should take just a few minutes as a demonstration of why you might want to get access to this tool.

49:28Nathan Latka:So it says, the mind of Napoleon is less a conventional biography than a collection of Napoleon's written and spoken ideas. Its central subject is the unusual combination of intense thought and immediate action. Napoleon did not think merely to understand, he thought in order to act. And so I was just like, okay, so what are some of the great ideas? And there's about, let's say 10 to 12 of them. So it's going to run through them really quickly. combine energy of thought with energy of action. Napoleon's defining characteristic was a conversion of thought into movement. Inaction was almost physically unbearable to him.

49:59Nathan Latka:Speculation mattered only if it clarified the next action. He says the essential elements of his mind were to eliminate anything that obstructed execution. That was one of my favorite lines in the book. This may be the book's central idea. Clear thought should terminate in decisive action. Number two, plan pessimistically, then execute boldly. How many times did you and I just talk about this? Napoleon's boldness was not carelessness during planning he deliberately imagined every danger failure and catastrophe but once he decided he stopped revisiting the decision and concentrated every faculty on victory and so he has this very powerful operating principle before deciding doubt investigate and exaggerate the downside that's really interesting after deciding eliminate hesitation and act with complete commitment I'm not reading those I mean the answer is huge so I'm just giving you the highlights of what I think are interesting and again this idea of hey I have now a tool that I built for myself first that I can pull up any idea from the 10-year history of Founders Podcast on demand when I need it.

50:54That is the value prop of this. Fortune is captured through preparation and attention.

50:59Nathan Latka:The practical lesson is not that you can control everything. It's that you can prepare yourself to capitalize on what you cannot control. And so he talked about over and over again, kind of analyzing the way he thought. Neglect no potentially decisive detail. That's do everything if you win. Preserve optionality. Move quickly when an opening appears. increase the odds before taking a dramatic risk. And the cool thing is it tells you where it got that idea from. So you can click on it. You can see either the part in the transcript or the actual note or highlight from the book if you wanna go deeper.

51:28Number four, concentrate strength at the decisive point. Napoleon studied Caesar, Alexander, and Hannibal

51:33Nathan Latka:and extracted a reoccurring pattern. Keep forces united, avoid unnecessary vulnerability and strike rapidly where the outcome can be decided. Napoleon distilled his own principles into concentration of strength, activity, and unbreakable resolve in the three principles behind his victories. Number five, imagination and morale are material forces. Napoleon understood that people act accordingly to the reality that they believe in. Troops who imagine themselves victorious behave differently from those who accept defeat. That's why he invested so heavily in speeches, symbols, bulletins, and communication.

52:07Nathan Latka:Imagination rules the world was not a sentimental observation. It was a strategic doctrine. Number six, tell your own story. Napoleon did not delegate the meaning of his actions to outsiders. That's a great line. Don't delegate the meaning of your actions to outsiders. I just had a guest on my new show who had a phenomenal experience. He went on the show. He was, he's not widely known, but he's known to a, like, if you're a lot of, most elite entrepreneurs know who he is, but the general population definitely doesn't know. And even like the broader, you know, entrepreneurial community doesn't.

52:40And he was just explaining, like, he was like blown away by the people that listened to this and like, and what they thought and everything else. And that's one of the, he called me because he's like, Hey, I've been thinking a lot about you recently. And he called me and he said this, he's like, why don't you record it? So she, for founders, everybody knows why you're doing it. It's like kind of obvious, right?

52:57Nathan Latka:But for your new show, like you should record yourself, like explaining why you're doing what you're doing. It's like, it's exactly what Napoleon would tell you. Don't delegate the meaning of your actions to outsiders. It's awesome. Number seven, prefer adaptable projects to rigid plans. I think I just hammered that point so much in this episode with Singleton, obviously with Napoleon. It's a subtle but important distinction. I will read this one section because I think it's important. This is a subtle but important distinction. A rigid plan prescribes each move in advance. A project preserves the objective while allowing the route to change.

53:29Napoleon combined firmness of purpose with flexibility of means. That's an excellent line number eight unite long-term ambition with immediate usefulness that story is hilarious where it's like okay i'm gonna build i don't even know if i came across that idea anywhere else in any of the books so far that's it's very rare for that to happen you know 430 something books in and 10 years in but the idea of like hey i'm gonna build something i'm gonna divide when i'm building into stages every stage needs to become useful as soon as possible then the project could therefore begin generating value before the entire vision was complete pursue an immense objective through increments that stand on their own it's very interesting number nine character is intellect

54:04Nathan Latka:plus courage napoleon admired bold commanders more than merely clever ones knowledge can reveal the right move but character determines whether you make it under pressure it's another great line number 10 great creation begins with dissatisfaction this is something that napoleon obviously has a common with a lot of the great founders napoleon possessed dissatisfaction with the world as it exists followed by the determination to create a different one creation gives form to something that previously only existed only in the imagination. You are not limited to choosing among existing arrangements.

54:36Nathan Latka:You can construct a new arrangement. That's excellent. Number 11, immense ambition is both the engine and the disease. This is the book's deepest warning. The quality of the produced exceptional achievement can eventually destroy the person and the system he created. And number 12, exceptional people contain extreme contradictions. Napoleon could defend intellectual freedom and then later establish censorship. He could warn against false ideas while operating a sophisticated propaganda machine. He could adapt brilliantly to circumstances and yet become imprisoned by his own image of invincibility.

55:05Nathan Latka:And then this is a great synthesis of the main ideas that I pulled out from the book. Think clearly, prepare for disaster, concentrate your resources, act boldly, communicate constantly, and adapt rapidly, but never allow ambition, image, or past success to sever your contact with reality. So that is an example of what Sage can do. It can help you pull up any idea from founders on demand when you actually need it. If you want more information, go to founderspodcast.com forward slash Sage.