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To say Singleton was a pioneer in the field of share repurchases is to dramatically understate the case. It is perhaps more accurate to describe him as the Babe Ruth of repurchases, the towering, Olympian figure from the early history of this branch of corporate finance. Prior to the early 1970s, stock buybacks were uncommon and controversial. The conventional wisdom was that repurchases signaled a lack of internal investment opportunity, and they were thus regarded by Wall Street as a sign of weakness. Singleton ignored this orthodoxy, and between 1972 and 1984, in eight separate tender offers, he bought back an astonishing 90 percent of Teledyne’s outstanding shares. As Munger says, “No one has ever bought in shares as aggressively.”5
The Outsiders
William N. Thorndike
Of all the people on god’s green earth that I had met or have yet to meet, there has never been anyone more important to me than Little Richard. There would be no rock and roll without Little Richard. And without rock and roll, there would be no me. We walked a few steps to the limousine parked on the curb beside us and the young man tapped the tinted window. It lowered just a few inches, and he leaned in, whispering quietly to the person behind the glass. Suddenly, the window began to roll down . . . and there he was, in all his glory! The hair, the smile, the eyeliner . . . and the voice that screamed, “Well, God bless you, David! It’s so nice to meet you!” I was at a complete and total loss for words. I stood there like a blathering idiot as he asked if I was a musician, the name of my band, where I was from, all while signing a postcard-sized black-and-white photo of himself, writing, To David, God cares. We shook hands, the window went up, and my life was complete. I cannot overstate the importance of these moments to me. I walk through this crazy life of a musician like a little boy in a museum, surrounded by the exhibits I’ve spent a lifetime studying. And when I finally come face-to-face with someone who has inspired me along the way, I am thankful. I am grateful. And I take none of it for granted. I am a firm believer in the shared humanity of music, something that I find more rewarding than any other aspect of what I do. When the one-dimensional image becomes a living, breathing, three-dimensional human being, it fills your soul with reassurance that even our most cherished heroes are flesh and bone. I believe that people are inspired by people. That is why I feel the need to connect with my fans when they approach me. I’m a fan too.
The Storyteller
Dave Grohl
There’s one thing we haven’t talked about. It’s the giant elephant in the room—the crippling weakness all ambitious performers suffer from and no one willingly admits. It’s the other reason we turn to our friends and family for feedback, loathe performance reviews, and, at times, invest weeks (if not years) “perfecting” projects in isolation before reluctantly seeking outside input. We’re petrified of negative feedback. It’s not an unreasonable impulse. Hearing that our best efforts are falling short is a painful, unsettling experience. In part, it’s because of the way the human brain experiences failure. Encountering criticism triggers the release of cortisol, a stress hormone that elevates our anxiety, disrupts our focus, and prevents us from listening attentively. Feeling threatened, we assume a defensive posture, characterized by fight (respond defensively) or flight (end the conversation), neither of which comes remotely close to sparking self-reflection or stimulating growth. Often, the emotional fallout is made worse by the stories we tell ourselves about our setbacks. Negative feedback is never simply about a lackluster performance on a task. It’s about what that failing represents—what it reveals about our talent, ability, and potential.
Decoding Greatness
Ron Friedman
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