Seymour Schulich is a billionaire whose career has spanned stock brokerage, investment counselling, mining and the oil industry. He is Canadian and is among the greatest living philanthropists and many universities has his name on buildings. He also awards 650 scholarships a year. He is in his 70’s and wrote a book to tell students about his life experiences and the book is called Get Smarter – Life and Business Lessons by Seymour Schulich published by Key Porter Books, Toronto, 2007.

Why Financial History is so Important to Study – financial history keeps repeating itself which is why you need to study it. A great book for the South Sea Bubble and Dutch Tulip craze is Charles Mackay’s Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

James Grant has said: risk is most threatening when it is most obvious. It is human nature to extrapolate current trends far into the future, to assume that excellent gains in the market will shadow even greater wealth. In reality it is the reverse, very high returns usually produce inflated asset prices, which return to normal only after a long period of poor returns.

The best years or decades of the market was when the markets were irrationally cheap. After WW I  the PE ratios were 6 or 7; they moved to 12 which was considered normal in 2007 they were 20. After the crash it was a great time to be a buyer as the markets rallied.

Speeches – 10 Rules to Utilize  – Be Brief; Try to communicate one main idea, no more than 3; create a surprise; use humor; slow it down; use cue cards and look at your audience; self praise is not honor; never speak before the main course in a dinner speech; reuse good material; and use positive body language.

What is a Leader?  – Andy Groove of Intel said when everybody knows that something is so, nobody knows nothing.

The qualities of a good leader are: persistence, discipline, conviction, judgement and an ability to share the credit. Discipline is the ability to figure out what worth your time and effort, what is not and to cut out the latter,

Partners – the primary benefit of partners is as sounding board.

An old Chines Proverb – behind an able man, there are always other able men.

Dealing with Bosses or Successful People – It is possible to divide people into 4 main groups and then work with them.

Amiable – want to be liked. They are good listeners and team players. They are responsive, but can be indecisive and reluctant to get rid of malcontents or other toxic people.

Drivers are the tough guys. The rise early, work long hours, make decisions quickly and demand a lot of themselves and others.

Analytics are the deep thinkers, They are the ones to lock themselves in the room to assess all the facts and when they make decisions they are more systematic about it.

Dreamers -people with a lot pie-in-the-sky ideas who leave it to others to worry about the details of their high-concept plans. They have their role but not leadership.

Investing in Foreign Countries – try to avoid swinish countries – the chief characteristic is they are governed by people who have little sense of how to create wealth but no shortage of imagination when it comes to stealing it. They change laws, concoct phony tax assessments or alter contracts.

Spending money – Mr. Schulich’s Dad had a golden rule when the money is in your pocket your are the boss. Once it is transferred to the merchant, he is in charge.

The Oil Industry – historically, oil has better profit margins than mining and is 10 times the size of mining. Oil and mining’s great attraction is you can double or triple the size of a company with one drill hole. Oil is entering a golden age of shortage of supply, eventually fusion power will be commercialized.

Business Axioms

Business is a means to an end, not an end it itself. Nobody on their deathbed says I wish I spent more time in the office.

Never quit a job unless you have another job. You are perceived as more valuable.

Always ask the question “if this decision is wrong, is it going to be painful or fatal?

Keep away from advisors and consultants. They know a 1,000 ways to make love but do not know any women.

The best test of a deal’s true attraction is to ask your partners Would you put your own money in the deal? if the answer is no – pass.

Always have at least 2 people from your side present at any negotiating or deal-making sessions. This give you time to think and compare perceptions.

Never confront or threaten people or institutions who have more power than you.

In negotiations always try to get the other party to name its asking price. If they will not give you one start low, you can always go up.

Almost everything in life is easier to get into than get out of.

A Successful Businessperson has to Learn to say No! – the art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is easy to say yes. In business, you will see dozens or perhaps hundreds of potential deals most are average or below average, the path to superior results is to accept only the best ideas. You can be diplomatic, firm or a combination but you must be comfortable with the idea of handling rejection.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, learning to say no or having patience to wait for opportunities is a factor in investing. Most weeks the stock market does not make major moves, in jumps in and out then goes down and then up. You need to have patience to wait for the times it goes down and then up; one method is to invest in profitable companies which pay dividends. As the stock goes up and down, you can determine what price you would pay to buy more and wait. When is it relatively cheap to increase your total return?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.