This week’s highlights: The Future of the Senate, Seals, Navigating the Cold
Issue 404
by David Wells – Nashville TN
Happy Friday –
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving (2020 edition). Now the rush is on to the year end and the e-commerce onslaught begins! How many packages can Amazon/UPS/Fedex/USPS handle?
Original Content This Week –
- My Favorite Reads of 2020 This time of year, I typically get a few requests for book recommendations. In light of that, I thought I would compile a list of the favorite books I read in 2020.
- The Challenge and Complexity of Entitlement There is one word that is always close at hand any time wealthy individuals and families consider financial gifts to future generations – entitlement.
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Best,
David
Food for Thought
- Lamar Alexander Farewell Speech – December 2, 2020 – Not meant to support one party or the other, but Sen. Alexander’s retirement remarks were inspiring and challenging about the most august of our democratic institutions “But here’s my different view of why we’re here: It’s hard to get here, it’s hard to stay here, and while we’re here we might as well try to accomplish something good for the country.”
- NYT – Embracing My Inner Bob Ross While covering an exhibit of the famous PBS artist, I replaced my notebook with an easel and experienced even more of the joy of reporting.
- WashPo – No game days. No bars. The pandemic is forcing some men to realize they need deeper friendships.
- Vanity Fair – Matthew McConaughey and the Art of Livin’ He was 23 and making Dazed and Confused when he was blindsided by his dad’s death. An excerpt from the new oral history Alright, Alright, Alright about the devastating days that birthed a star.
- NYT – The Reigning Queen of Pandemic Yoga The YouTube celebrity Adriene Mishler made yoga accessible and search-optimized even before so many Americans were confined at home. Can she help us learn to live better lives in front of the computer?
Business
- Benedict Evans – Are You a Seal? I think about this theory a fair bit when I talk to big companies worried that Amazon or Google seem to circling around them, getting closer, and bumping into their legs. Maybe you look like a seal. And of course, maybe you are a seal.
- WashPo – Amazon’s big holiday shopping advantage: An in-house shipping network swollen by pandemic-fueled growth After struggling with shipping at the start of the pandemic, Amazon quietly built a logistics operation that rivals UPS
- NYT – ‘Field of Broken Dreams’: London’s Growing Taxi Graveyards Confronted with deserted streets during the pandemic, drivers are turning in their rented black cabs by the hundreds.
- II – Would You Pay a 22-Year-Old Stanford Grad to Expose Wrongdoing? Edwin Dorsey carves out a niche in the financial world: chronicling the doings of short-sellers.
- WashPo – Is San Francisco trying to hasten its own demise? Recent blunders point to yes. Judging by the number of California’s I have met in recent months looking to move to Nashville, I’d say this is true.
Culture / Tech / Science
- Bloomberg – How to Socialize in the Cold Without Being Miserable The still-raging pandemic means social activities will stay outdoors as the temperature plummets. Here’s what experts say about the art of keeping warm.
- BBC – Formula 1: Romain Grosjean’s escape leaves sport with soul-searching to do Last week’s crash was unbelievable, so shocking and violent that one of my kids burst immediately into tears when watching, the fact that Grosjean walked away with only light burns is miraculous.
- GQ – Brooks Brothers’s Future Looks a Lot Like Menswear’s Past New creative director Michael Bastian will steer the brand towards athleisure—and back to the halcyon days of #menswear.
- THR – Warner Bros. Smashes Box Office Windows, Will Send Entire 2021 Slate to HBO Max and Theaters
- NYT – How Francis Ford Coppola Got Pulled Back In to Make ‘The Godfather, Coda’
My Forthcoming Book:
When Anything is Possible – Wealth and the Art of Strategic Living, on January 12, 2021.
However wealth arrives – whether made or inherited, it can be a disorienting and worrying experience. When Anything is Possible is meant to be a guidebook about how to engage thoughtfully and strategically with wealth. Doing so requires a person to articulate 3 key items – Wealth Structure, Wealth Identity and ultimately a Wealth Strategy. The book walks through each of these items in great depth, and guides the reader through a process to develop each.
If you are interested in learning more, visit here and download a free chapter.