#229 Sidney Harman (Founder of Harman Kardon)

**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. I am 84 years old as I write this book.
I do it because I believe finally that the time is right.
I had not intended this to be an autobiography, but as it developed, the book has unavoidably taken on some of the characters of a memoir.
Still, I feel that my 60 years in business have yielded some valuable lessons about management and people that are worth passing on.
Those lessons debunk much of business orthodoxy, much of business dogma.
I recognize that my life would be far less interesting were Harman International a struggling company. In fact, it is very successful, combining sophisticated digital technology and creative marketing with unconventional attitudes and practices. And surprisingly, perhaps in today's world, it does so while generating solid profits and consistent growth.
Harman Kardon, our original division, is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. By most standards, that's a long time.
I can honestly say that I do not feel that way. Not about Harman Kardon and not about me.
It has been an exciting and all too short journey.
In this book, you'll find no secret formula for success. You may, however, find it useful as you think critically about what works for you and what does not. What matters to you and what does not. My hope is that the book will help you generate your own style, your own compass. Then it'll help you find your own voice.
Ideally, it should prompt you to ask, what do I believe in? How do I use the knowledge of who I am and what I believe in when managing my business?
If the book is successful, it will be because of the lessons it helps you draw for yourself.
Through this effort, I have learned once again that writing is not the simple transfer of fully formed intellectual inventory from brain to paper. Time and time again, I have found myself surprised, occasionally puzzled and often delighted at what has transpired.
Writing is discovery. It is, as Dylan Thomas said, the blank page on which I read my mind.
I hope that this book leads to discovery for you also.
That is an excerpt from the book I'm gonna talk to you about today, which is Mind Your Own Business, A Maverick's Guide to Business, Leadership and Life. And it was written by Sidney Harman. Okay, so before I jump back into this fantastic little book, I wanna tell you how I discovered it. There's this investor, he's a venture capitalist, his name is Ho Nam. And I follow him on Twitter and I saw him say something. He says, I've known multiple founders who buy back their companies at a fraction of the price and make it successful again after it was ruined. I call that double dipping. I've once heard of a triple dip.
And he says, Sidney Harman did this with Harman International, so that's, you start a company, you sell it, then you buy it back at a later date, that's the double dip, right? And then you sell it again, and then you buy it back again, that's the triple dip. And that's exactly what Sidney Harman experienced in his career. And then that piqued my interest because he said this book that Sidney wrote was a hidden gem by a great practitioner. And as I made my way through the book, I thought his assessment was correct. This book is like 193 pages, something like that. I bought the Kindle version, so I'm working off this notebook right now. It says I have 202 highlights and 101 notes. So that's crazy, that gives you an idea of the insights per page in this book. Hopefully I can convince you to purchase it, to buy it, and then use it as a guide throughout your career. Before I jump, I do wanna talk about one other thing because he compares Sidney Harman, and Ho-Nam has this framework of thinking, and I think he gets it from this other book. So I'm gonna leave this post I'm about to read from in the show notes. I encourage you to read the whole thing. I think you can read it in like two minutes or something like that. It's called Foxes and Hedgehogs. And I thought this was a fantastic idea too. It says, so I'm just gonna read some highlights from this post because I think it sets up the person that I'm about to introduce you to in case you have, this is your first experience with Sidney Harman. So it says, for centuries, writers, poets, and philosophers have pondered the dichotomy of the fox and the hedgehog. In a business context, we first read about these characters in Jim Collins' book, Good to Great. The fox is a cunning creature, able to devise a myriad of strategies for sneak attacks upon the hedgehog. The fox is fast, sleek, beautiful, and crafty. The fox looks like a winner. The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a doubtier creature. So I had to Google that word. I don't know what that word is. And it means unfashionable and without style in appearance.