One Insane Piece of Wisdom from Charlie Munger That’ll Take Your Food Brand to The Next Level

One Insane Piece of Wisdom from Charlie Munger That’ll Take Your Food Brand to The Next Level

There is One Rule to Rule them all.

Charlie Munger was Warren Buffet’s sideman.

Partner in Crime.
Dec to Ant.
Butter to bread.
Perinnaise to Extra-Hot-Half Chicken, Peri Chips, G Bread, Hallmoui- don’t @ me braaahhhhhhhhh

Pithy polymath.

Charlie’s mind a Buffet of Bright, a deep Warren of Wisdom. No wonder Warren Buffet loved him so much.

Charlie was co-founder of Berkshire Hathaway. Gazillionaire. Caked. Minted. Doughed.

Charlie has ONE rule. A special rule. A rule no one really thinks about.

When you learn this one rule, you see things no one else sees.

Charlies ONE rule is VITAL for food and drink brands.

Keep listings. Keep culture alive. Avoid failure.

Yes, Charlie looks cuddly Oxford librarian who scoffs Oreos and Orwell. Orates on the Ostensible things in life…. ….who got lost at the Warehouse Project.

Walking out of Warehouse Project at 5am pon route to an afters in Salford with a recently-engaged-couple-from-pale-as-printer-paper Glasgow he just met in the smokers.

“Oiiii Chazza wee boi, shall yer get yers some fookin’ Buckfast n Tinnies from t’ Offy”

Charlie Munger just popped his clogs sadly. He didn’t actually wear clogs. Especially not at raves. That would be totally fucking silly. How can you two-step in clogs?! It’s basic maths.

I’ve been reading the Almanack of Charlie Munger.

One rule from Charlie Will Take Your Brand to the Next Level

The Inversion Rule:

Charlie learnt the Inversion Rule from Benjamin Disareelli, from UK Prime minister.

Charlie says “Invert, Always Invert”

The Inversion Rule definition (which I pilfered off Google): thinking about and planning for the opposite of what you want to happen could give you a competitive advantage in anything you do. This thinking technique, also known as “inversion,” has been used by great thinkers, scientists, Stoics and innovators throughout history.

Let’s go Deeper into the Warren of Inversion:

I

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s

i

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Rule

Charlie gave a commencement speech at University of Southern California to bunch of bug-eyed, eager-beavered-yet-slightly-baffled Americans. Brodies. Brads. Bethany’s.

Instead of giving a speech “How To Live a Good Life”

Charlie gave a speech: “How to Guarantee a Life of Misery”

Why?

Not all knowledge is created equal. Knowing what to avoid is better advice vs. what to strive for.

As Charlie says.

Wisdom is prevention.
Wisdom is prevention.
Wisdom is prevention.

Charlie teaches us how to guarantee a life of misery if you do these things. If you avoid these you’ll live the good life. Invert. Invert. Invert. Always Invert.

The Inversion Buffet:

1. Resentment

“Resentment has always worked for me exactly as it worked for Carson. I cannot recommend it highly enough to you if you desire misery.”

2. Be Unreliable.

“Do not faithfully do what you have engaged to do. If you will only master this one habit you will more than counterbalance the combined effect of all your virtues, howsoever great”

3. Avoid learning the mistakes of others.

“My second prescription for misery is to learn everything you possibly can from your own personal experience, minimizing what you learn vicariously from the good and bad experience of others, living and dead.”

“If I have seen a little farther than other men it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.” - half the reason I started the podcast, so you don’t have to make mistakes!!!

4. Ingesting chemicals in an effort to alter mood or perception

5. Envy and Jealous.

If you avoid these things. You’ll lead the Good Life.

I’d also add from my personal experience

1. Living in the Past

2. Rushing (rushing things makes me miserable)

3. Overthinking Before Action

4. Acting like a Victim and Being Entitled

5. Looking at podcast downloads (makes me fucking neurotic).

Charlie Munger Rule of Inversion for Brand Building.

The inversion rule is INSANE for brand building. None of your competitors think in Inversion terms. So it’s an unfair advantage for you, mi amiga.

Let’s say you win a Saino’s listing

Most ask: How Do We Keep A Sainsbury’s listing?

That’ll give you okay-meh-meagre -pretty-fucking-wank knowledge. You’ll meander through the land of mediocre before being swallowed up by the Delist Demons and their Huffy Breath.

Not all knowledge is created equal

Instead, ask your buyer or sales team: What do we need to do to guarantee we get delisted in 6 months?

• Do not build a relationship with supply chain and demand planner to manage stock

• Do not check stores for availability and be all over availability like a rash

• Do not lock in a joint business plan or marketing plan with retailer or buyer

• Do not do some form of trial driving activation - even if its guerrilla

• Do not find out hurdles rates and expectations

• Do not put in a monthly catch up call to check up with buyer

• Do not ensure there’s 40% true gross margin after LOGS, media spend, promo spend

Wisdom is prevention.
Wisdom is prevention.
Wisdom is prevention.

Instead of asking, How Do We Create a Great Culture?

Invert,

How Do We Absolutely Ruin our Culture So Everyone Leaves?

Do Believe the values and mission statement creates a culture
Do avoid installing clear behaviours of “this is how” we do things around here
Do as a leader say one thing, but do the other thing
Do bring in senior high salary execs and letting them put their imprint on the business immediately
Do believe that a fruit bowl and packet of fucking hobnobs builds culture.
Do message your employees on Slack all hours of the day.

You learn more about what go wrong. What to avoid. The Mistakes. Common pitfalls.

Constantly invert to find better knowledge.

Wisdom is prevention.
Wisdom is prevention.
Wisdom is prevention.

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big fish has worked with pretty much EVERY single brand in your cupboard.

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Still Hungry? Course you are…

Please feel free to gorge on the most downloaded podcast episodes of all time (these are CERTY: BANGERS)

1. Rory Sutherland: Why Challenger Brands Must Never Follow Logic to Truly Disrupt Categories 

2. Waitrose CEO: How Challenger Food & Drink Brands Can Win and Build Profitable Partnerships with Waitrose - James Baile

3. Spencer Matthews: How Spencer Matthews Built Unshakeable Resilience and Raised + £10m to Launch Clean Co. in Sainsbury's, Tesco and the U.S.A. 

4. How Grenade Exited to Mondelez for £200 Million and Lessons in Unapologetic Authenticity- Juliett Baratt

5. Tyrells Tycoon: How William Chase built and sold Tyrells for £50 million and sold Chase Distillery to DIAGEO 

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