0:00

Welcome to the profitable Painter Podcast biography

0:03

edition , where we delve into the lives

0:05

of some of the most successful individuals

0:07

to cover the strategies , tactics and mindsets

0:10

that propel them to greatness . Today

0:12

we're exploring the extraordinary life of a figure whose

0:15

ambition , strategic genius and

0:17

leadership redefine what's possible . So

0:20

join me as we navigate the

0:22

journey of this remarkable individual and

0:24

extract invaluable lessons you can apply

0:26

to elevate your professional

0:29

painting business . So get ready to

0:31

be inspired , to learn and to transform

0:33

the way you think about success and leadership

0:35

in your own entrepreneurial journey

0:38

. So I read a couple

0:40

books Napoleon by

0:42

David A Bell and also the

0:44

Mind of Napoleon by J Christopher

0:47

Harreld . Both are great books . The

0:49

first one , napoleon , is actually a

0:52

very concise biography . It

0:54

was only a few hundred pages . I read

0:56

it over the weekend . The

0:59

Mind of Napoleon by J

1:01

Christopher Harreld is basically

1:04

written by Napoleon himself . It's

1:06

just edited by J Christopher Harreld

1:08

. It's basically a

1:10

consolidation of a bunch of things that

1:12

Napoleon was recorded as

1:14

saying or writing and he just organized

1:17

it by topic . So it's

1:19

pretty interesting . So I'm going to basically

1:22

reference these two books throughout

1:24

the episode . So let's jump into the things

1:26

here . I'm going to read a quote

1:29

from David A Bell's book . His

1:32

life was enormously important , endlessly

1:34

fascinating and connected to

1:36

some of the most controversial and

1:39

constantly reinterpreted events in

1:41

world history . So

1:43

Napoleon's life was pretty grand in scale

1:46

, and I think , as

1:48

business owners , we can learn

1:50

from what he accomplished

1:52

, and so I'm going to try to highlight those

1:55

things throughout this episode

1:57

. Here's

1:59

another quote from David

2:02

A Bell's book . He's a man who

2:05

, born in obscurity , acquired

2:07

the greatest military reputation

2:10

in any European military

2:12

commander in centuries , while still in

2:14

his 20s . At 30 , he

2:16

ruled France and at 40 , he dominated

2:19

Europe as no individual

2:21

had since Charlemagne . The wars

2:23

he fought had changed the map of Europe

2:25

forever . So

2:28

basically , napoleon

2:31

started from pretty much nothing right

2:33

, and he ended

2:35

up being one

2:37

of the greatest conquerors , if not the greatest , the

2:40

world has ever seen . So it

2:43

highlights the fact that you should

2:45

set your ambitions high . There's

2:47

no reason you should put any limits on

2:49

yourself as you build your business , and

2:53

this is actually a quote from Napoleon himself

2:55

, from the mind of Napoleon . Ambition

2:58

which overthrows governments

3:00

and private fortunes which feeds

3:02

on blood and crimes . Ambition

3:05

is , like all inordinate passions , a

3:08

violent and unthinking fever that ceases

3:10

only when life ceases . So

3:13

that's a pretty intense quote

3:15

from Napoleon himself on

3:17

ambition , and

3:20

that quote does pretty much describe

3:22

his ambition

3:24

and how far it took

3:26

him . But one of the

3:28

things Napoleon was

3:31

really focused on was not just the military

3:33

aspect of things . Obviously he was a

3:35

military general . He

3:38

was also very focused on crafting a public

3:40

image , and this is a quote

3:42

out of David A Bell's book . Stage management

3:45

is as important as the drama

3:47

itself for understanding Napoleon's life

3:49

. From his first campaigns in

3:52

the mid 1790s

3:54

he knew the political

3:56

importance of actively crafting his message

3:59

in all available media print

4:01

, painting , sculpture , oratory , even

4:03

architecture . There's no coincidence

4:05

that so many images

4:07

of the man have achieved iconic

4:10

status , and

4:12

there's actually an

4:14

anecdote in the book which

4:16

demonstrates the how

4:20

far he would take . You know , crafting

4:25

an image in kind of creating a

4:28

scenario where it

4:31

would put him up on a pedestal . So

4:33

here's another quote from David

4:35

A Bell's book . As armies faced each

4:37

other indecisively , the royalist

4:39

battalion commander steps forward . If

4:42

you do not withdraw , he shouts hesitantly

4:44

to Napoleon , you will be arrested . On

4:47

both sides , hands nervously clutched

4:49

, loaded muskets . But then

4:51

Napoleon orders his men to

4:53

lower their weapons and aid protests

4:55

. But he insists . He steps forward out in

4:58

front of his own troops , within 20

5:00

feet of the royalist regiment , soldiers

5:02

of the fifth . He cries I

5:04

am your emperor , acknowledge me . He

5:06

walks a few more steps and

5:08

a dramatic gesture opens his coat , exposing

5:11

his chest as a target . If there is any

5:13

soldier among you who wants to kill this emperor , here

5:17

I am . For a moment there's , there's

5:20

silence . Then , somewhere

5:22

in the royalist lines , a voice can be heard

5:24

ordering men to open fire

5:26

, but no one does . The line

5:28

stands , fearful and decisive , and

5:31

then a different cry is heard Long

5:33

live the emperor . A single voice

5:35

at first , but immediately repeated by others

5:38

Long live the long live the

5:40

emperor . In a moment the entire royalist

5:42

battalion starts shouting words as they do

5:45

, they throw down their weapons , surround

5:47

Napoleon joyously and rush to embrace

5:49

the men who have come with

5:51

him from Elba . Hardened soldiers

5:54

burst into tears and they clasp each other , screaming

5:56

deliriously Long live

5:58

the emperor . As the clamor subsides

6:00

, napoleon smiles

6:02

contentedly at a small army

6:04

which has just doubled in size . He

6:07

prepares to move onward

6:09

further north . So that's just

6:11

a . I guess that was something that

6:13

he actually constructed . He kind of had an idea

6:15

that the royalist

6:17

battalion would end up not

6:20

actually attacking his force , but

6:22

it just goes . He kind of goes to this whole dramatic

6:24

thing where he goes out in front of them and it

6:27

puts on the show basically . So

6:30

Napoleon

6:32

was very focused on crafting a public

6:34

image and

6:39

controlling the message . So

6:41

he actually purchased

6:43

several French newspapers

6:47

, printing presses and put out

6:49

his own story . And he was also

6:51

always talking to his

6:53

troops and managing

6:56

public perception

6:58

within his troops and also public perception

7:01

abroad , which I think is a very

7:03

good lesson for us as business

7:05

owners , constantly talking to our team but

7:08

also , of course , putting

7:11

our story out there , putting our brand out there and

7:13

controlling that and telling

7:15

that story of what we're doing

7:18

. Napoleon

7:20

was a master at this and you

7:22

know he obviously

7:25

a lot of the military successes

7:27

. He wouldn't achieve the

7:29

status he did , but he was

7:32

heavily focused on also the political side

7:34

of things by controlling the message

7:36

. And

7:39

here's another quote from David Abel Political

7:42

figures learned to appeal directly to ordinary

7:44

citizens to gain power . The

7:47

radical demagogue Jean-Paul

7:50

Marat was only

7:53

the most prominent revolutionary

7:55

who used the printing press to

7:57

forge intense bonds of attachments with

7:59

his followers and from

8:02

the mind of Napoleon . Napoleon

8:04

dictated all important army bulletins

8:06

himself . Their purpose

8:08

was multiple to inform the public , to counter

8:10

rumors , to mislead the enemy and to stir

8:13

up enthusiasm , serving

8:15

as his own minister of propaganda

8:17

. So , basically , I

8:21

think we can take away from this is that we should . We

8:23

should take this as a something

8:26

serious for our own businesses . You

8:29

know , we should act as the minister of propaganda

8:31

for our own company , right ? We should

8:33

always be talking to our

8:36

team , controlling the narrative

8:38

and then also our brand

8:40

, and controlling and

8:42

telling that story of ourselves and

8:44

of our business . Here's

8:48

another quote from David

8:50

Abel's book . He made frequent addresses

8:53

to them , praising their bravery

8:55

. He doled out medals by the beryphal , while

8:58

distributing a hundred specially engraved

9:00

sabers for especially valiant

9:02

acts of heroism . He appealed

9:04

to the soldier's sense of pride and destiny . The

9:07

Fatherland has the right to expect

9:10

great things from you , all

9:13

of which you wish to be able

9:15

to say with pride upon returning to your villages

9:17

. I was a part of the conquering army

9:20

. He did not hesitate to give his men

9:22

a share of the spoils . He took care to

9:24

remain personally approachable

9:26

. So he had this , this

9:29

relationship with his , his

9:31

men . You know that he was always giving

9:33

out those awards , recognizing them , making

9:36

them feel important , and I'm proud to be

9:38

a part of the Napoleon's

9:40

army , and so that's something that

9:42

we can definitely take in our businesses

9:44

. We constantly need to be motivating

9:47

and showing our

9:50

team that we care Napoleon

9:53

had . It was very tied into the

9:56

psychology of people and

9:58

he he showed

10:01

that in his actions , on how he treated

10:03

his , his team , his , his

10:05

army , and how he tried

10:08

to control that narrative with with the

10:10

public abroad . So

10:14

, going back to David , a

10:16

bells quote from a book here

10:18

Napoleon's balance

10:20

of boldness and shrewdness . It

10:22

is vital to understand this point about

10:24

Napoleon Bonaparte from the start , because

10:26

it is all too easy to see him as a pure force

10:29

and Freak of

10:31

nature who imposed himself to the world

10:33

through sheer boldness and brilliance

10:36

. Bold and brilliant he was , but

10:38

also shrewd he did repeatedly

10:40

take Ignorance and dramatic risks

10:43

. In his battles he did everything

10:45

possible to maximize the odds in his favor

10:47

. So

10:50

Napoleon

10:52

was very bold and shrewd . This

10:55

is actually a quote from mind of Napoleon , something

10:58

from Napoleon himself . He said

11:00

what distinguishes Frederick the Great

11:02

Most is not the

11:05

cleverness of his moves but his boldness

11:07

. Boldness is the common

11:09

quality singled out by Napoleon in

11:12

the seven great generals whom he

11:14

cites as examples . So Napoleon

11:16

was a student of history and he

11:19

, he would always point

11:21

out and he

11:23

seemed to really admire boldness and

11:25

he also saw that his own actions . He

11:29

was , he was a big fan of being

11:31

bold and using the simplest moves

11:35

possible . He thought that

11:37

like simple , even though

11:39

you know he's he has a Greater

11:42

man of fame for being a military

11:45

strategist . But

11:47

he , he actually didn't want to keep things very complicated

11:49

. He , he wanted , he wanted things to be

11:51

as simple as possible and his and

11:55

his Tactical

11:57

and strategic actions because he

11:59

felt that the simplest moves were always

12:02

the best because they could be easily communicated . This

12:04

team is team could easily execute , but

12:07

he wanted to do it boldly and quickly , which

12:10

increased the Probability

12:13

of success . So I think we can take

12:16

this as a lesson in

12:18

our own businesses being

12:20

bold in our in our business

12:22

and not being timid , right , getting

12:26

out there , making things happen and Keep

12:29

you think simple . You don't have to do some

12:32

complicated marketing strategy

12:34

to work . You stick with the basics , do

12:37

it decisively and

12:39

boldly . If you think of cold

12:41

calling like door-to-door cold calling , let's

12:43

take that as an example . That's

12:46

a pretty simple strategy , right

12:48

? You go into a neighborhood

12:50

where you have

12:52

your ideal clients in and

12:54

you go from door to door , knock on the door

12:57

and say , hey , would you like an estimate

12:59

, a free estimate for exterior painting or

13:01

whatever you know , whatever you're selling ? Very

13:04

simple , but it's is a pretty bold

13:06

strategy and that's a lot of folks don't

13:08

do it for that reason , because it takes

13:10

some guts to go up to some strangers

13:13

door and not interrupt their day

13:15

and and pitch them at your

13:17

services . So it's

13:19

a very bold strategy but

13:21

it's also very simple and there

13:23

are businesses that

13:25

runoff of that one strategy , the

13:29

. I went to a college works painting , I did the college

13:31

works painting internship and and

13:33

that whole my home marketing was based

13:36

off of that Door-to-door

13:38

strategy and it's it can't . It's

13:40

effective , it's just all on the numbers

13:42

and your ability to execute

13:45

. Going back

13:47

to the book here , looking at the Defining

13:50

impact of Napoleon's early education from

13:53

David A Bills book , at age nine Napoleon

13:56

left his close-knit Corsican family

13:58

, dominated by his mother , for an

14:00

austere military boarding school

14:02

. This was , by any

14:04

measure , the defining experience of Napoleon's

14:07

childhood . He spent five years at

14:09

the school without once returning home

14:11

. Historians have made much of the

14:13

hazing he received from his fellow students

14:15

on account of his accent , his fierce

14:18

loyalty to court , courson

14:20

, or Corsica in

14:22

a first name unfamiliar

14:24

to French ears . Scholars

14:27

have speculated endlessly about the effects of

14:29

the experience on this character and it is indeed

14:31

likely that he derived considerable

14:33

resilience and self-sufficiency

14:36

from it . Early in his life Napoleon

14:38

had a lot of challenges

14:40

. He was basically

14:43

a foreigner and he had a weird

14:45

first name and this likely

14:47

built a lot of resilience in him and self-sufficiency

14:50

, which are common traits

14:52

of entrepreneurs folks

14:54

that go out on their own is that you have to be

14:56

very resilient as a business owner . There's

14:58

huge ups and downs and

15:01

you have to be self-sufficient and do

15:03

constantly problem-solve . So

15:07

we definitely see that

15:09

was something that Napoleon had faced

15:11

in his early years . Something else

15:13

we saw in his early years was

15:16

that he was dedicated to self-education

15:18

. Going to David

15:20

Abell's book , napoleon

15:23

found comfort and companionship in books . By

15:25

adolescence , the habit of intensive

15:27

reading had already become deeply

15:30

ingrained . I live like a bear , always

15:33

alone in my room with my books , my

15:35

only friends . He wrote . He

15:37

kept copious reading notes in

15:39

a file of obscure words that

15:41

might lend weight to his own writings

15:43

. And this

15:45

next quote comes from the mind of Napoleon

15:48

the principles of warfare

15:50

are those which guided

15:52

the great captains whose deeds

15:54

history has transmitted

15:56

to us Alexander , hannibal

15:59

, caesar , eugene Savioury

16:01

Frederick the Great . The history of

16:03

their 83 campaigns would constitute

16:05

a complete treatise on the art

16:08

of war . The principles that

16:10

must be followed in defensive and

16:12

offensive warfare would

16:14

flow from it as

16:16

a common source . My

16:19

son should read much history and meditate upon

16:21

it . It is the only true philosophy

16:23

. Let him read and meditate upon

16:26

the wars of the great captains . It is

16:28

the only way to learn the art of war . So

16:32

here we hear that

16:34

Napoleon wanted his son to read history because

16:36

it was the only true philosophy . So

16:42

we can see that Napoleon

16:44

didn't just become

16:47

a military strategist just because

16:49

he was a genius or something which he may have been

16:51

a genius , but he

16:54

did intensive study of his

16:56

predecessors and

16:59

that's how he got to where he was . He

17:02

studied Alexander the Great , hannibal , caesar

17:04

, frederick the Great , etc

17:06

. So he was all

17:08

about learning and reading and

17:12

that's something that we should definitely take as entrepreneurs

17:14

is

17:17

constantly acquiring and

17:20

learning new things and

17:23

applying that in our business , because

17:25

learning isn't just about reading , it's

17:28

also about applying , because you really haven't

17:30

learned anything if you just read it . The

17:33

act of learning is actually learning

17:35

it , reading it and taking

17:38

it in , but then actually doing the thing . That's

17:40

when you've actually completed that cycle of learning

17:42

, and that's something that we

17:45

see that Napoleon definitely did

17:47

. All right . So now let's look

17:49

at how Napoleon capitalized on changes

17:51

brought on by the French Revolution

17:53

. This is a quote from David A Bell's book

17:55

. What made it

17:57

possible for Napoleon to follow the path

17:59

of overweening ambition was the French

18:01

Revolution . In an instant , everything

18:04

has changed from the depths

18:06

of this nation and electric spark

18:08

has exploded . The revolution

18:10

was overturning age-old hierarchies

18:12

and giving worldwide prominence to

18:14

previously obscure figures

18:17

. So

18:20

that's something to be

18:22

aware of is the

18:24

market changes , not

18:28

just on a country scale , but

18:30

it could also be in a local market . You

18:34

can ride that wave in your

18:36

market . So it reminds

18:39

me I had a recent conversation with

18:41

Roger Carroll , who is a painting

18:43

contractor out of North Carolina

18:45

, and he was telling

18:47

me that back in the

18:50

Trump administration there's a lot of money

18:52

that went into improvement

18:54

of military

18:57

installations , and so there's a

18:59

lot of government contracts that came about that

19:02

he's just now reaping the reward

19:04

on , because it takes a few years for those

19:06

to be implemented , and so he's

19:08

basically riding a wave of a

19:10

whole bunch of government contracts for

19:12

things to be painted on military installations

19:14

, and so basically

19:18

recognizing and seizing those opportunities

19:21

as they come in your own market

19:23

, you can really ride a wave in

19:27

your local market . So

19:31

let's take a look at

19:34

Napoleon's leadership in tactical

19:36

genius . Thank you very much for joining

19:38

us . Here's from David A Bell's book

19:40

. Again , napoleon showed political

19:43

ruthlessness immediately . He

19:45

also demonstrated his tremendous energy

19:47

and military acumen by effectively

19:50

reorganizing the artillery

19:52

, identifying a crucial weak point

19:54

in Toulon's defenses and

19:56

leading the attack against it personally . He

19:59

demonstrated genuine physical courage as

20:01

well , receiving a bayonet wound to

20:03

the thigh and having a horse

20:05

shot out from under him . And

20:08

here's a quote from the mind of Napoleon . Caesar's

20:11

principles were the same

20:13

as Alexander's and Hannibal's

20:15

to keep his forces united , to

20:18

be vulnerable at no point , to

20:20

strike speedily at critical

20:22

points , to make use of every

20:24

possible opportunity of increasing his chances

20:26

of victory on the battlefield . So

20:29

basically , do everything and

20:31

you will win . Here's

20:34

another quote from a

20:37

letter that Napoleon wrote to Talley

20:39

Rand , one of his contemporary

20:42

political folks . He

20:44

says all great events hang by a

20:47

single thread . The

20:49

clever man takes advantage of everything , neglecting

20:51

nothing that may give him some

20:53

added opportunity . The less clever man , by

20:56

neglecting one thing , sometimes misses

20:58

everything . So

21:00

it's important to take

21:03

everything into account . Don't

21:05

ignore the details when

21:08

you're implementing , especially if you're implementing a plan

21:10

, whether that's a marketing plan , production

21:13

plan , whatever it is Pay

21:15

attention to those details , and so you can

21:18

be confident in your plan

21:20

and you can execute it with

21:22

maximum efficiency and

21:24

effectiveness . One of the things

21:26

that Napoleon had that should

21:29

be pretty self-evident is that he had an

21:31

incredible self-belief . Here's

21:35

a quote from David Abell's book More

21:37

than 20 years after defeating the

21:39

Austrian army at Lodi , napoleon

21:41

confided that only after the battle

21:43

did I believe myself to be a

21:45

superior man and did the

21:48

ambition come to me of executing the great

21:50

things which so far had

21:52

been occupying my thoughts only as a fantastic

21:55

dream . And this is a quote from

21:57

the mind of Napoleon . There

22:00

is no immortality , but

22:02

the memory that is left in the minds of

22:05

men to have lived without

22:07

glory , without leaving

22:09

a trace of one's existence , is

22:11

not to have lived at all , and

22:14

so , basically , we see here that Napoleon

22:16

really

22:20

valued the importance of

22:23

believing in yourself and

22:26

striving for glory

22:28

and leaving an impression

22:30

on the earth of the

22:32

fact that you were here , and

22:36

so you can use that as fuel to drive

22:38

success

22:40

in your own business as maybe having

22:43

some sort of greater purpose , whether

22:46

that's leaving a lasting legacy for your family

22:48

or whatever

22:51

it have a lasting impression on your community

22:53

. Whatever that is , you can kind of use

22:55

that as fuel to achieve

22:58

your greater goals . So let's

23:00

take a look at how Napoleon exploited the societal

23:03

changes for his personal gain . This

23:06

is from David Abell's book . It

23:08

was the French Revolution that made

23:10

this stupifying ascent possible

23:12

. The revolution badly damaged

23:14

the traditional hierarchies of

23:17

French society , opening the door to

23:19

radically new forms of social mobility . But

23:21

history is not just a matter of impersonal

23:24

forces , and nothing ensured

23:26

that an individual would come along to

23:28

exploit the changes as fully and

23:30

spectacularly as Napoleon

23:33

. Many opportunities have been

23:35

lost for lack of talent or vision

23:37

. In Napoleon's case , the man

23:39

met his hour . So again

23:41

, this is kind of showing us that Napoleon

23:45

, he was in the right place at the right

23:47

time with the

23:49

French Revolution . But

23:51

he did have the tools

23:53

needed . He had the military

23:56

acumen , he had the

24:00

focus on crafting

24:03

the

24:06

public perception through

24:08

politics . He

24:11

had those things in his toolkit

24:13

, and so he was well positioned for

24:16

the French Revolution to take advantage of

24:18

it . And this reminds me

24:20

of something that Charlie Munger

24:22

says

24:25

a lot . Here's a quote from Charlie Munger

24:27

. He says when new businesses

24:29

come in , there are huge advantages to the early

24:32

birds . And when you're an early bird there's

24:34

a model I call surfing . When a

24:36

surfer gets up and catches the wave and just

24:38

stays there , he can go a long

24:40

, long time . When he gets off the

24:43

wave he becomes mired in the shallows

24:45

. But people get long runs

24:47

when they're on the right

24:49

edge of the wave , whether it's Microsoft

24:52

or Intel or all kinds of

24:54

people . So basically getting

24:56

on a wave and riding it . And

24:59

so Napoleon

25:01

basically rode the wave of the French

25:03

Revolution . You

25:07

can do this on a smaller scale in

25:10

your local markets . I

25:14

gave the example of Roger Carroll riding the

25:16

wave of military installation

25:19

improvements . But

25:22

this could be maybe a trend of

25:24

people wanting to paint

25:27

the brick on their house . There's

25:31

these trends where there's a whole bunch of

25:33

brick houses everywhere . But now it becomes

25:36

a cool thing to put color

25:38

your brick white , which is great

25:40

because that takes a whole bunch of product and

25:43

you can make a good chunk

25:45

of change . But maybe that's like a trend that happens

25:47

in a local neighborhood and you can

25:49

be the person or the

25:52

company that provides that service

25:54

. So let's look at some of the

25:56

things that we

25:58

can learn from Napoleon some of his mistakes . So

26:01

the pitfalls of rapid expansion

26:04

without a solid foundation . So here's

26:06

a quote from David A Bell's book . Impressive

26:08

as it was , from the outside

26:11

the Empire was increasingly coming

26:13

to resemble a skyscraper built

26:15

in haste without a proper foundation

26:17

. And it did not help that Napoleon

26:20

, after his victories of 1805 and 1806

26:23

, felt himself virtually

26:25

invincible . Behind

26:28

me of a quote

26:30

from David Packard . He says more

26:32

companies die from indigestion than

26:34

starvation . We

26:38

received really significant

26:40

orders to be compliant with that providers such as the Pennsylvania State

26:42

Examination Office a few weeks ago

26:44

, and he was

26:48

doing like around 300,000

26:50

in revenue . And then the

26:52

next year he shot up to about a million in

26:55

revenue . But he had grown so quickly

26:57

that his marketing

26:59

and sales outpaced his production and

27:02

he had to really dial it back in the following

27:04

year after that $1 million a year

27:06

because the production

27:09

side couldn't keep up and he was having a

27:11

lot of production issues . Basically

27:14

, in digestion right , he

27:16

was unable to keep up with the marketing and sales

27:19

and in the following year he had to kind of

27:21

dial it back a little bit . He only did like 500,000

27:24

. So

27:26

in order to scale successfully , grow

27:28

your business successfully . You got to have

27:30

a solid foundation of your people

27:32

and your processes before you try to

27:34

scale it up . Alright , now let's

27:37

take a look at the catastrophic

27:39

consequences of hubris and

27:41

poor planning . Here's

27:43

a quote from David A Bell's book . A

27:45

week later , the French marched into Moscow

27:47

to find it largely deserted , between

27:51

straggling disease

27:53

and death , napoleon had almost

27:55

lost more than a third of his men . Russian

27:58

saboteurs carried out

28:00

orders to burn Moscow . The

28:03

fire destroyed nearly two-thirds of the city

28:05

private residences and

28:07

killed thousands . The

28:09

fire left Moscow uninhabitable

28:11

, forcing the French army to withdraw

28:13

. And Napoleon then made

28:16

matters worse by delaying the

28:18

army's departure for nearly a month , believing

28:20

his men had plenty of time before Winter

28:22

Senate . Instead , one

28:24

of the coldest winters on record became earlier

28:27

than usual . On one occasion

28:29

, temperatures fell to lower than 35

28:32

degrees below zero . The

28:34

French retreat from Moscow has deservedly

28:36

gone down in history as one of the greatest

28:39

military catastrophes of all time

28:41

. The Napoleon's forces were ill-prepared

28:44

for the murderous cold . Frostbite

28:46

seized the penises , snow-glare

28:48

induced temporary blindness . Each

28:51

morning the sun rose on the

28:53

frost-covered corpses

28:55

of men who had fallen asleep and frozen

28:57

solid in the night . Horses

28:59

, dead and living , were devoured raw

29:02

while desperate soldiers sought warmth

29:04

in the animals' eviscerated

29:06

bellies . All in all , the original

29:08

655,000 strong

29:10

force , scarcely 85,000

29:13

men made it back out

29:16

of Russia . The aura

29:18

of invasibility had

29:20

disappeared . So

29:24

Napoleon went into Russia

29:26

with over half a million men , came

29:28

out with less than 100,000 . That's

29:31

pretty devastating and

29:33

this pretty much ruined his reputation

29:37

and he was unable to

29:39

use

29:41

his propaganda machine to

29:43

save him from this horrible

29:46

loss against

29:48

Russia . It

29:51

really is , you know , even

29:54

though he apparently

29:56

did read . There's

29:59

a prior general that had

30:01

tried to invade Russia and

30:04

Russia employed the same strategy . It's

30:06

the same one they did in World War I

30:09

as well , or , excuse

30:12

me , world War II , and

30:14

basically Russia used

30:16

their large land mass

30:19

to buy time and to basically withdraw

30:22

, withdraw , withdraw and to draw

30:24

the invading force further and further into

30:26

their country , while they burned all

30:28

the supplies . And that's

30:31

a successful strategy that they've done many times . You

30:35

know , napoleon probably

30:37

was drinking

30:39

his own Kulade and thought he could , even

30:41

though once before Russia had done this to another

30:44

commander

30:46

. He thought he could somehow do

30:48

it differently , but he ended up doing the same

30:50

mistakes that the prior general had

30:53

committed . So you

30:55

know , you need to have humility in

30:58

your planning and you need to learn

31:02

from others' mistakes which you

31:04

know . Early in his career , napoleon definitely

31:06

did this , but he definitely did not

31:08

do this in this scenario

31:10

, and so that is something

31:13

that we should definitely take into consideration . You

31:15

know , as

31:17

an entrepreneur , even though you're getting those wins

31:19

and things are seemingly go great , you

31:22

know at any point in time if you

31:25

make the wrong decision . You

31:27

know those wins can

31:29

turn into losses pretty quickly . So

31:33

I definitely recommend you grab a

31:36

copy of the

31:38

Mind of Napoleon and also Napoleon by David

31:40

A Bell . Both are great books

31:43

. I enjoyed them immensely

31:45

. I think there's a lot of lessons

31:48

that we can learn on being bold

31:50

in our businesses , really

31:53

communicating well

31:55

with our team and building

31:57

our brand for others to

31:59

see . And also , you know

32:02

, being ready to ride the wave

32:04

of those things in

32:07

your local market . You know , having prepared

32:10

ourselves to ride those waves Like

32:12

we've prepared ourselves mentally

32:15

, because we

32:18

know our industry , we know our

32:20

marketing , we know our team and we're ready to ride

32:22

that wave in our local market , and

32:25

first recognize that wave and

32:27

then ride that wave , whatever

32:29

that might be , and

32:31

the importance of believing

32:33

in yourself that you

32:35

can accomplish great things for you and

32:37

your business , but not

32:40

but being aware of overextending yourselves

32:42

right and not falling into

32:44

that trap of trying

32:47

to scale too quickly without having that proper foundation

32:49

and realizing

32:52

that you are not invincible and

32:55

even though you might have many wins on your belt

32:57

, you are always susceptible to

32:59

losses and

33:01

being knocked down . So I

33:03

think those are great lessons that we can

33:05

take for our own

33:07

businesses , and with that

33:09

I'd love to hear your thoughts and

33:13

any ideas that you have for our future biographies

33:15

. And with that

33:17

I'll see you next week .