Ep 54: Charles Schwab: The big entrepreneur looking out for the small investor

Charles Schwab is the founder and chairman of The Charles Schwab Corporation. What began as a small discount brokerage company in the 70’s has evolved to become the nation’s largest publicly traded investment services firm, with close to $4 trillion in client assets. He is also the chairman of The Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation, a private foundation focused on education, poverty prevention, human services, and health.  He is the author of several bestselling books with his latest memoir titled Invested.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • He had to work extra hard to build his self-confidence to overcome his dyslexia and to keep up in class.
  • People with dyslexia are conceptual thinkers who tend to not get lost in the weeds. Some people are very literal in learning and need to go from step 1 to 2 to 3 while dyslexics can go from step 1 to step 10.
  • Seeing an inherent conflict of interest between commissioned stock brokers and the customers, he invented a new contrarian business model by paying salaries to people placing trades with a bonus tied to the overall success of the company.
  • After the tech meldtown of the early 2000’s, Charles had to come out of retirement to run the company again. He had to lay off thousands of employees and get the company turned around.  Sometimes founders are the only ones who can make the tough calls and drive huge fundamental changes to the business.
  • He was a consummate innovator who continually pivoted, redefined the business, and opened up new markets. He knew it was important to disrupt yourself before someone else did it for you.
  • When hiring, beyond skills and experience, he looks at their character and ethics and their responsibility to the customer.
  • “Excellence is an ongoing pursuit. You are always striving for it but you never achieve it.”

Ep. 25: Bill Browder: Superstar investor turned human rights activist

Bill Browder is the founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital, which was the largest investor in Russia for a number of years.  More recently he has been spearheading a campaign to expose Russia’s corruption and human rights abuses. His efforts led to the passing of the Magnitsky Act in 2012.  He is the author of Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man’s Fight for Justice.

 

Some interesting insights from this episode:

  • Learn how he became the largest investor in Russia and one of the top performing investment funds in the world.
  • If you follow your passion before there’s any real business opportunity, the profits will eventually follow.
  • He had an epiphany one day that if his grandfather was once the biggest communist in America, Bill would become the biggest capitalist in Eastern Europe.
  • Hear about the trade of the century that would help propel his fund from $100 million to over $4 billion.
  • Learn how the Russian police stole his corporation and then committed the biggest tax refund fraud in the history of Russia.
  • Learn how he sought justice for his friend Segey Magnitsky, who was tortured and murdered by the Russians, through the passage of the Magnitsky Act.
  • “Excellence is about rolling up your sleeves, putting in the time and constantly working at getting better in yourself at every step of the way.”