#127 Larry Ellison (Oracle)

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th.
You wanna know what I think about Charlie Kane? Well, I suppose he had some private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself. He never gave himself away. He never gave anything away. He just left you a tip.
He had a generous mind. I don't suppose anybody ever had so many opinions, but he never believed in anything except Charlie Kane. He never had a conviction except Charlie Kane and his life.
That's from the very beginning of the book that I read, and I'm gonna talk to you about today, which is the difference between God and Larry Ellison, and the subtitle is God Doesn't Think He's Larry Ellison. And it was written by Mike Wilson. I'm gonna reread that because I think, well, first of all, that's a quote from Orson Welles' 1941 film, Citizen Kane. And I'm gonna reread that section to you. And instead of saying Charlie Kane, I'm gonna put in the name Larry Ellison, because I think that is what the author wants us to think. So let's see how that goes. You wanna know what I think about Larry Ellison?
Well, I suppose he had some private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself.
He never gave himself away. He never gave anything away. He just left you a tip. He had a generous mind. I don't suppose anybody ever had so many opinions, but he never believed in anything except Larry Ellison. He never had a conviction except Larry Ellison in his life. And I think once you change it from Charlie to Larry, everything still holds true. Okay, so first we're gonna talk about, and then I left myself on this section, is life feels like a dream. And it says, that was the way Ellison's mind worked. He was like a search engine gone haywire. If you asked him for information about Chicago in the 1950s, he told you about the Clinton presidency. So I wanna stop there. I wanna go back to what, I'm gonna continue that paragraph in a minute. But when he was quoting Citizen Kane, it says, I suppose he had some private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself. He had a generous mind. I don't suppose anybody had so many opinions. The reason I started with this section is the author's trying to get to pin down Larry. He says Larry is extremely hard to pin down.
One of the biggest criticisms of Larry is that, some people call him a pathological liar. Other people say that he's just exaggerates, and it's really hard to verify the authenticity of his stories. So what's taking place right now is the author's trying to get Larry to talk about his childhood. That's what he means about, tell me about Chicago in the 1950s. Larry's not interested in talking about that. He's gonna reveal only what he wants you to know about him. So he keeps things closer to the vest, you know?
And so he's asked this question, and Larry goes off on the difference of what Clinton could be doing, because Clinton's president at the time they were having this interview, what Clinton could be doing different in healthcare and education. Okay, so he says, I tried again. I asked Ellison how he had seen his adult life when he was a kid. What he thought was gonna happen to him.