The Best One Yet - 📚🏖️ “Our Vacay Reading List” — Creativity Inc (Pixar). Bitter Brew (Budweiser). The Bezos Blueprint (Amazon).

Episode Date: August 23, 2023

We’re dropping something vacation-themed: The Best Books Yet. Here are 3 of our favorite pop-biz books we’re bringing to the beach — they contain incredible stories with insights we’ve weaved into Takeaways before. These are our 3 Beach Biz Reads: Jack’s pick: “Creativity Inc.” — The founding of Pixar, the animation studio behind Toy Story. Creativity can be a one-off hit. But creativity at scale is what Pixar built. Nick’s pick: “Bitter Brew: The Rise & Fall of Anheuser-Busch” — The history, strategies, and family drama behind Budweiser, decades before the latest issues. It’s Succession, but real life. And it ended horribly. The 3rd book is one we’re about to read: “The Bezos Blueprint” — Communications Secrets from the greatest Salesman.Subscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletter Want merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.com Follow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypod And now watch us on Youtube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's someday over our vacation and today's bonus pod is the best one yet. Nick, you look like a bronze warrior over there. Yeah, I don't know what you're putting on, but put on more of it, my friend. Yetis, let's get to this T-boy bonus pod right now. Oh, Jack, first story, open it up. What do we got, man?

Yeties, since Nick and I are both off right now, we're not reading a single page of the news. So this isn't your typical T-boy pod because we're not covering news stories today. What are we covering? We are reading pages of books. So this is the first ever T-boy vacation reading list. Jack and I whipped up our three go-to beach reads. Jack, first story.

Sorry, first book. What do we get? Our first book is about Pixar, the movie studio, because Pixar invented computer animation. Yaddy's Jack's Beach Read pick is for movie buffs, technology folks, and connoisseurs of creativity. For our second,

book. One family turned Budweiser into the King of Beers. not just for America, but for the whole world. So my book pick explores how Anheuser-Busch lost its soul 15 years before this year's Bud Light Drama. And our third and final book. It's about Amazon. Amazon is the physical embodiment of Jeff Bezos's philosophy.

It's a shrine to Jeff's mind. So Bessie's the one book we both haven't read, but both really want to read, is how Amazon's founder communicates. But yet is, before we hit that wonderful mix. Jack, put down the bifocals, fantastic mix for today's five. This is a page turner, isn't it, Nick? Literally, let's get to it. Able.

Always be launching everything. Everything. A, B, L-E, Yeti's while Jack and I are on vacation, we figured, you know what? We may as well launch a new thing. So we're launching today our first ever book report pod. Oh, this is Johnson from seventh grade. So happy right now, Jack. And the focus of these books is the category we created with this podcast, Pop Biz.

Pop Biz, Yeties. Jack and I are presenting our favorite pop biz books that you need to know. Now, Nick, I am salty and fresh right now because I'm hitting the dunes of Block Island. Jack, I'll have what you're having. I'm heading to the Cisco Beach of Nantucket right by 14B. Both Nick and me, we brought our Sunblock, we brought our sandwiches, and we brought these three books. SPFT, boy, and these are the three business beach reads we are deep into right now. Yet these many of you have asked us, how do we whip up our takeaways on a daily basis?

Well, one key way, we constantly read books. So, Yetis, pause the spike ball and hold on to that towel. These are the best business beach read books yet. Let's hit our T-Boy vacay reading list. Let's hit our three books stories. Let's hit our three books stories. Let's hit our book stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm.

They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but need to practice. 50% that's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your eyes. At list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show.

For our first reading list story, Jack's book pick is Creativity, Inc. It's about the founding of Pixar, the animation studio behind Toy Story. Creativity can be a one-off hit, but creativity at scale is what Pixar built. All right, Jack, let's just kick it off with the title, because this thing's a mouthful. Creativity, Inc. overcoming the unseen forces that stand in the way. of true inspiration. Thanks for getting that out of the way, Nick. That title is as long as a movie script, and I love it.

Yeti's Wilder loves Disney movies generally and Pixar movies specifically. What were you just watching with Wilder? You mentioned something the other day. The Lion King, which has its score by Hans Zimmer, by the way. Fantastic. Can hear it in my ears right now. 1994, Lion King was a great movie. It actually won two Oscars. But here's the thing, Yeti's about the Lion King.

The Lion King is a cartoon. The same technology puts Simba on the screen as Mickey Mouse 70 years prior to it. Cartoons. All right. Now, Jack, why don't you share what you just watched last week? Somebody poised into the waterhole, Nick. We watched Toy Story. You watched Toy Story. Now, here's the interesting thing, Yetis. Toy Story was just one year after the Lion King, 1995 versus 1994. But even though it was one year distant from the Lion King, it was centuries different in terms of

technology. Because Yeties, today, every blockbuster movie has computer-generated images. But Toy Story was the pioneer. of CGI. Toy Story was the first ever fully computer animated film. That's right. Woody and Buzz, they were not drawn with the pencil. They were designed on a PC for the first time. The CGI that we saw with Woody and Buzz was as big a jump for film as when black and white became color. Okay, now here's where things get freaky. Creativity, Inc., the book, was written by Pixar's co-founder Ed Catmull, wasn't it, Jack? Yes, he is a storyteller and computer science gap. But it turns out Pixar has a shockingly

unknown founding story. Because there are two much bigger founding fathers of Pixar Animation Studios. Get this. Pixar was apparently created under George Lucas as part of Lucas film. Yeah, George Lucas Star Wars George Lucas.

George Lucas won a computer animation to enhance the human actors on screen like you probably remember from the Star Wars movies. So Master George Lucas hired a team and he created Pixar. Yet he's George Lucas invented Pixar. But you're, he's, George Lucas invented Pixar.

But here's the funny thing. A few years later, George Lucas was tight on cash because he was going through a divorce and he realized he kind of had to sell Pixar to get some money. Guess who he sold Pixar to in 1986? Jack, why didn't you enlighten us? George Lucas sold Pixar to Steve Jobs. Yeah, that's Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs just after he'd been kicked out of Apple and didn't have anything to do. Before Steve Jobs went back to Apple, he ran Pixar and he brought. It brought it all the way through an IPR. Ultimately, the inventor of the iPhone sold Pixar to Disney in 2006 for nearly $8 billion.

That's right. The year before Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone to the world, he sold Pixar to Disney. Now, Yeti's since Woody and Buzz, Pixar has produced 26 more films and the average box office for those films, Jack? Over $500 billion, which is incredibly high for 26 movies. Sit down, stand up, and stare at the screen again. Yeti's, the story of Pixar is incredible. But the lesson of Pixar is even better. So, Jack, whip us open to page 86 and tell us the takeaway for our buddies over in the Pixar book. Pixar achieved creativity at scale by trusting the process.

Yeti's creativity, it can be a one-hit wonder. Like the macarena, like Chumbo Wamba, or like Lou Bega's Mombo No. 5. Or creativity can be scaled like the Beatles, Billy Joel, or Beyonce. Well, Pixar is in that Beatles category. They've done Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, Monsters, Inc., you name it, they have built a hit. Ed Catmold, the offer of the book, explains the systems that he built at Pixar to sustain creativity. And here was the key. Don't stifle creativity with bureaucracy and micromanagement.

Instead, empower creatives to think freely, but also give them structures and support. So he created a system and inspired his employees to trust that system. To know that system, you got to read this book. And that book is Creativity, Inc. For our second book recommendation, my pick is Bitter Brew, the rise and fall of Anheiser Bush. This book is about succession in real life and ended horribly. So well put check.

Now, yet is everyone is talking about the Bud Light Drama of 2023. We've covered it on the pot. But the real Bud Light Drama was 15 years earlier in 2008. That's right, because for all the American flags you see on Budweiser cans every year, Budweiser hasn't actually been an American company for years. And this book tells you the tragic story of why. Let's jump back in time. Jack, we're going to Adolphus Bush, born in Germany,

co-founded Anheuser Bush in St. Louis, Missouri after the Civil War. His co-founder was Aberhardt anheiser, his brother from another pretzel. Or was it his brother from another Spetzel? Spetzel. That's really good. It's pretty good. It kind of works on fun. Yeties, for the next 156 years, Anheiser Bush dominated the U.S. beer industry. For 156 years, this family became one of the 16 wealthiest families in America.

It was a dynasty. Now, yeties, you know Budweiser is really into marketing today. But here's what you may not know. Budweiser has been marketing pioneers, ironically, since prohibition 100 years ago. 100 years ago. 100 years ago, almost to the year, Prohibition killed and then also saved Budweiser's beer business. Because to sprinkle on more context here Yeti's prohibition was that era in American history where alcohol became illegal. In 1920, you could not buy or consume alcohol. That was bad.

So the entire Budweiser business became illegal overnight. So here's the shocking thing. As soon as prohibition ended, the Bush family turned that into a marketing stunt for Budweiser. The first ever marketing stunt for Budweiser. The day that President Roosevelt wrote into law that prohibition is over, Augustus A. Bush Sr. did something we'll never forget. Here's what he did. The executive, the owner, the leader of Budweiser, got 12 horses and rode them down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., to the White House and handed the first beer to the president.

And those 12 horses delivering the first beer in 12 years to FDR, they, They were the Clydesdales. The Clydesdales. Those huge horses with bell bottom feet. Yeah, those cute little big old horses with like the freaky white stuff on them. Those were the horses delivering the first beer to the American president. The Clydesdales go back as a marketing stunt to 1933. Now, Eddie, since then, you've probably partied with a Bush product and you didn't even know it.

Turns out, though, the Bush family, they knew how to party too. Yeah. Because, for example, have you ever been to Bush Gardens, the theme park? That theme park was owned and run by the beer company, Anheuser-Busch. Maybe you went to a Cardinals baseball game over at Bush Stadium in St. Louis. The Cardinals were owned and run by the beer company, Anheuser-Busch. Yeties, for 156 years, it was good to be a bush. But four generations later, for August Adolphus Bush the 4th, it was too good to be a bush.

Akya. So, Jack, what's the book takeaway for our buddies who wrote Bitter Brew, the story of Budweiser. Family-led companies often become family-dead companies. It is in 2008, the great-great-great-grandson of the co-founder was in charge of Budweiser. That's right, three great-greats for those keeping track. That great-great-great-grandson became CEO, not because he was the most qualified, but because he was the most Bush. Looks like Anheuser Bush's commitment to keeping leadership in the family led to its demise. Today, Anheiser-Busch isn't based in St. Louis, Missouri. They're based

in Belgium. And it's not owned by the Bush family. It's owned by private equity and a bunch of fund managers. The company had to sell off Bush Gardens and they had to sell off the Cardinals. No more proud beer story anymore. To find out how the Anheiser Bush Empire crumbled, you got to read this book. And that book is Bitter Brew by Bill Nadelceder. Full disclosure, this is Jack. Ten years ago, Nick's mom gave me this book. She gifted it. I loved reading this thing. Full disclosure, this is Nick. And the reason my mom sent Jack that book is because she was the literary age. for that book. For our third and final book recommendation, we've got a book that we haven't actually read yet, do we, Jack? No, full disclosure. This is still on a reading list. Yeah, that book is

called the Bezos Blueprint. And we're going to read it this vacation because we want to know the communication secrets from the greatest salesmen. Yeties one year ago, almost exactly one year ago, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, stepped down from CEO of Amazon. But despite Bezos's physical absence from Amazon these days. His spirit is still there. Because almost exactly 20 years ago, Jeff Bezos actually banned PowerPoint at the office. At Amazon, you can use Word docs, you can use Excel. You can probably use MySpace if you want. You could use Clippy if you felt like it. But you cannot use PowerPoint. Don't even think about whipping up an animation on slide 13, Jack.

Why? Because Jeff Bezos thinks slides are superficial. Exactly. Jeff Bezos believed that words are where the substance is, so why waste time on trying to make a little thing pretty. And what Jeff wants, Jeff gets. So Amazon has not seen a PowerPoint in 20 years. In fact, 80s, the way Jack and I see it, Amazon is basically one giant thought experiment from the brain of Jeff Bezos. Because Amazon, the company, is filled with Jeff Bezos' philosophy in every corner

of the company in great detail. Basically, Amazon is a capitalist shrine to Jeff Bezos. It's not just the banning of PowerPoint across the company. It's also Jeff's 16 leadership principles. Exactly. For over two decades, the company teaches every employee. From executives to security guards, their 16 principles. Used to be 14 and then they just added a couple. Some of these principles you knew already, like Amazon's obsession with the customer.

But some of these 16 principles you may not have known. Like frugality, that's a principle. This trillion-dollar company is obsessed with frugality. Yeah, and here's why. Amazon believes that people are more innovative when they're given less, not given more. Back to the ban on PowerPoints. Instead of using PowerPoints, Jeff insisted that you use a six-page memo. You write a six-page memo. Jack, what was that fantastic quote from Jeff Bezos about why he thought that? Why, the focus on frugality? He says that constraints breed resourcefulness. They breed self-sufficiency and they breed invention.

Yadis, you are not getting a double-digit latte machine if you're working Amazon HQ. No, you are not because today, Jeff's philosophy from frugality to custody to custody to cut. customer obsession is preached to Amazon's 1.6 million employees. The second biggest employer in America is based on these 16 principles. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who wrote the book on Jeff Bezos's communication secrets? The Amazon School of Business. Yeties, there's a time when Goldman Sachs just popped off a resume. Goldman Sachs on a resume was a signal that you are a machine.

You can crunch numbers, work long hours, communicate clearly, and present. Impressively. And before that, GE, General Electric also popped off a resume. Working at GE, that was better than any MBA on your resume. But the new resume popper, what is it, Jack? It's working at Amazon. Yeah. So companies are hiring up ex-Amazon managers like crazy right now. Because going through an Amazon rotation program means that you have been trained on the ways of the Bezos. So Yetis, to find out how one treats every day like day one, we're going to read this book. We are really going to read this book. The Bezos Blueprint by Carmine Gallo. Frugal, this project manager is.

Jack, can you whip up the takeaways from our book reading list over there? Creativity, Inc. is the story of Pixar. From George Lucas to Steve Jobs to Buzz Lightyear. Creativity can be a one-off. Creativity at scale is what Pixar really created. For our second story, it's Bitter Brew. It tells the story of how Anheuser-Busch was once a proud and romantic symbol of American achievement. But today, Budweiser is a cold, corporate-run conglomerate based in Belgium.

And our third and final story is the Bezos blueprint. It goes deep into Jeff Bezos's 16 leadership principles. This book is The Spark Notes on the Amazon School of Business. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one's sent in by Jack and me, Jack on Block Island Sound and me over on Nantucket Sound. The earliest surviving written literature. In other words, the earliest book is from ancient Mesopotamia. It goes all the way back to the epic of Gilgamesh.

That was the hot read back then. The epic of Gilgamesh was written in the year 2000. Sorry, the year 2000 BC. Yeah, back then it was read on a tablet. Sorry, a clay tablet. Game changer, though, happened to the book industry 3,400 years later. Bring out Johann Gutenberg, Jack. This guy made it easier to produce a book with the first ever printing press.

Johanus Gutenberg's printing press made books so much easier to distribute. And books no longer chiseled into clay. No longer handwritten onto cloth either. Finally mass produced on a printing press just like they still are today. Unless you want to dictate your novel to Siri. And she'll write it for you. Or chat GPT. Unless your book is out of the blockchain.

Yeties, you look fantastic today. Jack, I got to be honest, I'm kind of shocked about something. Can I tell you what I'm shocked about? What is shocked about? How did the Brooklyn Bridge not make it on this list, man? I know you're itching for that thing. I know you want that. I think we should do this kind of episode again.

The next vacation, three more books. And there's definitely a business lesson in that Brooklyn Bridge book, isn't there, Jack? If you want a second edition of this vacay reading list, hit us up at T-Boy Pod and let us know. We really want to know your thoughts. If you want to share what you're reading on your Beach Read Vacay reading list, Jack and I want to see it too. Hit us up at T-Boy Pot. In the meantime, Nick and I wish you a happy vacation. and we'll see you in a couple weeks.

In the meantime, Jack and I are putting the SPF on, Jack. Nick, you want me to get your back? I can get your back. I think I missed a spot. Yet he's Jack and I. We'll see you on Tuesday, September 5th. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Disney,

and Nick and I both own stock of Apple.