#84 Aristotle Onassis

**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.
He thinks in terms of acceleration of progress and has achieved it. Only his quiet authority suggests that this is the same man who has for years figured in the headlines of English, French, Italian, Spanish, Greek, German, and American newspapers.
Predictable labels attached to unpredictable stories describing him as the mystery millionaire, the merchant adventurer, the golden Greek.
About his multimillion dollar deals, real or imagined, financial writers never cease speculating. However fascinating the true facts of his life, inventive minds keep developing new permutations to titillate the imagination with artificial ingredients.
Onassis is not an officer of any corporation, domestic or foreign, but an owner holding stocks of corporations which give him control. Control over interests worth an estimated 500 million dollars.
This is the insurance value of his fleet, but the figure is liable to change from month to month.
And Onassis himself can sometimes only estimate the exact total. It is not easy. The total is made up of some 85 companies in 10 or more countries, which apart from owning assorted real estate and considerable subsidiary properties and enterprises, operate all the tankers under the Onassis flag and employ the huge labor force, which serves Onassis' interest on land and sea and in the air.
At any one time, several projects in the pipeline demand the chief's personal attention. The new supertankers under construction, new air travel techniques under exploration, new financial ideas require constant study of economic trends, political developments, legal contingencies, and business practices, which vary from country to country. Sailors are said to have a girl in every port. Ship owners and airline operators have a problem on every seaboard.
Okay, so that's from the beginning of the book that I read this week. The one that I'm gonna talk to you about today, which is just named Onassis. It's by Willi Frischauer. I don't know how to pronounce this last name. And it says it's the definitive biography, the fascinating life of this awesome figure whose wealth and power have made him a legend, including the dramatic story of his marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy. And this book, before I jump into the rest of the book, is actually recommended and sent to me.
The link was sent to me by a listener. And I actually ordered the original version. So I have, holding in my hand is the first version printed in 1968 And it smells like it's from 1968, too. What I find fascinating, if you follow Founders Podcast on Twitter, I talked about it this week, but in the upper right-hand corner, it has the original price. And it says the original price was 95 cents.
So I decided to start with that section of the book because I think it gives you a good overview of the chaos, maybe the controlled chaos in which he operated.
And I think the way his businesses were structured, this perpetual chaos, has something to do with the chaos of war that he experienced as a very young person. So I'm gonna spend a lot of time talking about that today because I found it very fascinating. We're gonna see traits as a young Onassis navigates the perils of war.
Traits that I feel like the way he thought and the way he navigated that situation is very entrepreneurial in nature. But first, I just wanna start with some personality and then his MO is modus operandi. And it says, unlike other tycoons, he dislikes an entourage. He says it's undignified for people to be kept hanging around waiting for command. And invariably, he travels alone and without luggage. He has suits, shirts, shoes, waiting for him wherever he goes. So it just talks about his chaotic, it's gonna give you an idea of his chaotic travel. He's got, like they said, 85 plus different companies in almost, I think on every single continent, actually. So it just talks about he pulls up on his yacht in New York and then it says, London assumes that Onassis is about to take off from Paris for New York. No news on this end, New York says, his New York office, but he turns up in London instead. He was kind of just like a specter, just traveling the globe constantly. No one knew where he was going. And I think he did that intentionally. While a car waits to take him to the airport, a telephone conversation changes his plan. So he moves extremely. I think one of the things right off the rip that you're gonna learn from Onassis is the value of speed. This guy was really, really fast. Blackouts on his movements are accidental rather than deliberate. But if he is pressed too hard about definitive dates and places, he is liable to plead, please do not pin me down. So the only thing I could say, and talk about that a lot in this book, and I think something I learned from him is the value and always focusing on the most valuable thing you could be doing at that time. So he didn't have a strict schedule. He just said, what's the most important problem I need to solve? And he dedicate that. And then he move on, okay, what's the next problem? And inevitably, different problems would pop up constantly because he has such a wide and chaotic organization. I'm going to use that word a lot, I think, today. And so he's not like, oh, I know where I'm going to be next Tuesday. It depends on what's the most important way I could spend my time. And I think that is something that we can all apply as well. He says he knows every inch of the way. So he's talking about, right now, we find him in his home on the islands of Greece, or one of his homes. He says, this canal, he explains, everything Greek launches him on an historical, geographical, ethnographical lecture interspersed with items of topography and mythology. And he talks about this canal was originally built for Alexander the Great. I put that part in there because he's constantly learning. And so this serves him later in life because he studies a lot of history, studies a lot of political history, military history. And then he keeps an eye on what's going on. Obviously, his business was built in shipping, which is hugely affected as we've seen with the other entrepreneurs that we've covered that operate in shipping. So I guess I should back up before I get there. If you remember the podcast I did on the invisible billionaire, Daniel K. Ludwig, in that book, he's also mentioned in this book, interesting enough, so that's another example of this whole idea of books and original links. But in that book, it talks a lot about his competition with Aristotle Onassis and then this other Greek, which is actually Onassis' brother-in-law. And good luck if I'm pronouncing his name correctly, it's Stravos, I don't even know how to pronounce, I can barely pronounce words in English, there's no way I'm gonna take, and there's no way I'm gonna be able to pronounce names in Greek. But in any event, in the Ludwig book, the invisible billionaire, talks about Onassis, talks about Stravos.