Ken Langone - The American Dream - [Invest Like the Best, REPLAY]

Summary

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Invest Like the Best — [REPLAY] Ken Langone: The American Dream

Host: Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Guest: Ken Langone
Released: October 28, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this special episode, legendary American businessman Ken Langone, co-founder of Home Depot and notable philanthropist, sits down with Patrick O’Shaughnessy to deliver an unfiltered masterclass on entrepreneurship, integrity, culture, and the American Dream. Langone recounts transformative moments from his career—including his pivotal work taking Ross Perot’s company public—offers powerful lessons in negotiation and leadership, and reflects on the enduring power of loyalty, humility, and America’s unique promise. The conversation is laced with memorable anecdotes and tangible, hard-earned wisdom that resonates well beyond business.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Career & The Ross Perot IPO Story

• Initial Opportunity & First Meeting

  • Langone describes a chance meeting at a Mardi Gras party leading to pitching Ross Perot to take his business public.
    • “Don’t be late. You got 30 minutes. When the 30 minutes are up, leave. And don’t swear.” (Ken Langone, 05:38)
  • Shares the tension and honesty in the first pitch, ultimately breaking the 30-minute rule and gaining Perot’s trust.

• Negotiation and Integrity

  • Langone was the only banker to value Perot’s company at 100x earnings—a proposal others thought foolish, but it won Perot’s faith.
    • “Mr. Perot, that’s the biggest pile of… I’ve ever heard in my life. This whole process is fairly simple. You’re going to pick somebody who’s going to tell you what he thinks you can sell your stock for, and your bet is, can they deliver on that number? It’s that simple.” (Ken Langone, 07:37)
  • The deal was struck, and the two developed a relationship built on absolute honesty.
    • “Texas, you put your hand out, your word is your bond… Not just the number, but the fact you kept your word.” (Ross Perot via Ken Langone, 15:44)

• Lasting Impact

  • The IPO’s huge success put Langone on the map and set a precedent of upholding promises over squeezing out every last dollar.
    • “We did it at 115 times earnings. The deal, for lack of a better way to describe it, put me on the map.” (Ken Langone, 16:12)

Negotiation Philosophy: Leave More on the Table

• Generosity in Business

  • Langone explains his belief that a good negotiation means ensuring the other side feels they got more than expected.
    • “The art of negotiating is to get a deal for yourself but to make sure the guy you’re dealing with feels he got more than he thought he was going to get… That’s the element of trust.” (Ken Langone, 17:27)

• Hard Lessons in Trust

  • He tells a story of walking away from future deals with a counterpart who tried to renegotiate after ‘winning’ a tough negotiation.
    • “We bargained hard all day. You assured me at the end of the day it was exactly what you wanted. I never wanted to do business with you again.” (Ken Langone, 19:20)

Personal Ethic: Family, Authenticity, and Loyalty

• Upbringing and Values

  • Cites his parents’ example for instilling integrity, hard work, and the Golden Rule.
    • “Just how they lived their lives, that was really where it was chiseled home to me: keep your word, work as hard as you can, and live by the Golden Rule.” (Ken Langone, 20:37)

• Marriage and Consistency

  • Attributes 68-year marriage to not holding grudges and staying genuine.
    • “Have your fights, but never carry a grudge. Don’t go to bed… Being authentic.” (Ken Langone, 21:21)

• Why Long-Term Holds & Loyalty Matter

  • Sees life and investing as “repeat games,” with loyalty and long-term partnership as key values.
    • “If I would like to be remembered for one thing, I’d like to be remembered that I was a loyal friend… Loyalty is in short supply and the world has become very transactional.” (Ken Langone, 21:51)

Home Depot and the “Upside-Down Hierarchy”

• Company Culture: Inverting the Triangle

  • Home Depot’s culture is built around front-line workers as most important; leadership serves and supports from the ‘bottom.’
    • “Most corporations have a triangle—CEO at the top, new employee at the bottom. We turn it upside down. The most important person is the one who comes in touch with the customer.” (Ken Langone, 25:18)

• People and Opportunity

  • Emphasis on employee training, fair treatment, and the life-changing wealth created for early workers.
    • “We have 3,000 kids that are still working for the company today. They started out pushing carts... they’re multimillionaires and they’re still working for the company.” (Ken Langone, 28:41)
  • Encourages and implements ideas from everyone, even those with little formal education.
    • [Plunger display anecdote: listening to a junior employee leads to a surprise top-seller, 34:15]

• Culture Saves Companies

  • When cost-cutting leadership threatened culture, Home Depot restored it by changing CEOs, prioritizing values and service.
    • “How do we fix it? We change leadership. That simple... Frank Blake restored the culture. He led by example.” (Ken Langone, 29:10, 30:58)

Lessons from NYU Medical Center and Beyond: Culture First

• Institutional Turnaround:
  • Langone describes rescuing NYU Medical Center and a hospital in Brooklyn by focusing on culture and putting people first.
    • “The same thing I did with a 16–18-year-old high school kid, I did with highly educated, double-degree, triple-degree doctors. Treat them the same way. And it worked.” (Ken Langone, 31:00)
  • “Eating bees at the end of the day, you gotta celebrate—hourly people on the floor, they are the key. This is the magic source.” (Ken Langone, 31:00)

Investment Approach: Holding for Decades

• Buy, Hold, and Bet on People

  • Ken’s average investment hold is remarkably long (42 years). Attributes success to selecting—and sticking with—great people.
    • “I get to know the managements. My first and my principal concern is people. I bet on people.” (Ken Langone, 37:23)
  • Home Depot, Eli Lilly, and J.P. Morgan: extreme patience compounded returns.
    • “Lilly stock has split over all those years from 77 to now 16 to 1… Counting the dividend… it compounded at 15% a year. You’re a home run.” (Ken Langone, 37:06)

• Avoiding Bad Deals

  • When a deal was driven by hype, not quality people, it went south—teaching him to always focus on integrity and management above all.
    • “Those guys ended up all going to jail. It’s all about reputation. Always is and always will be.” (Ken Langone, 43:53)

Capitalism and the American Dream

• Deep, Prideful Belief in America and Opportunity
  • Langone extols America as uniquely offering the chance for someone of humble background to achieve greatness.
    • “This is the genius of America: that a poor kid, rough around the edges like me could do okay… That’s heavy duty stuff.” (Ken Langone, 41:03; 49:55)
  • Success is about getting the opportunity, working hard, and sometimes failing—and that failure is part of how capitalism works.

Memorable Anecdotes

• Kindness as a Driver
  • Recalls an early act of kindness when a store owner returned money earned from recycling boxes, even after Ken found a profitable angle on his own.
    • “He put a dollar a week in the envelope for all those weeks I was selling… Talk about kindness.” (Ken Langone, 49:27)
  • Countless acts of generosity shaped his life, confirming his belief in the goodness of people.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On negotiating with Ross Perot:
  “That’s the biggest pile of… I’ve ever heard in my life.” — Ken Langone (07:37)

• On keeping your word:
  “Texas, you put your hand out, your word as your bond means a lot to me.” — Ross Perot via Ken Langone (15:44)

• On business philosophy:
  “The element of trust is the most precious thing in living.” — Ken Langone (17:27)

• On leading Home Depot:
  “We turn it upside down. The most important person is the person that comes in touch with the customer.” — Ken Langone (25:18)

• On company culture:
  “Culture is it... The hourly people on the floor, they are the key. This is the magic sauce.” — Ken Langone (31:00)

• On the American Dream:
  “This is the genius of America that a poor kid, rough around the edges like me, could do okay.” — Ken Langone (49:55)

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Notable Segments & Timestamps

• Langone’s journey with Ross Perot & IPO story: [05:36 – 16:51]
• Philosophy of negotiation and trust: [17:15 – 20:28]
• Upbringing and lifelong values: [20:37 – 21:21]
• Home Depot’s culture & business model: [25:16 – 29:03, 33:11 – 34:51]
• Company culture at NYU & culture as “magic sauce”: [31:00 – 32:50]
• Investment philosophy & long-term perspective: [35:04 – 38:15]
• On capitalism & opportunity: [39:01 – 41:03]
• Bad deals & due diligence: [42:53 – 43:58]
• Importance of kindness: [46:52 – 49:38]

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Final Reflections

Ken Langone’s story is quintessentially American—rising from humble beginnings through grit, integrity, and authenticity. His business philosophy centers on trust, treating people right, servant leadership, and putting culture and loyalty above short-term gains. He remains unshakably optimistic about America's promise, convinced that capitalism at its best offers unrivaled opportunity. Every value he espouses comes alive through vivid stories and a candid, folksy tone—making this episode a living lesson on leadership and the American Dream.

Transcript

[Host/Announcer]

The best operators have a relentless focus on leverage, finding ways to multiply their impact rather than just working harder. But here's what I see happening in finance teams everywhere. Brilliant people getting buried in expense management. Busy work. If you think about it, you become a finance leader because you love strategic work. Modeling scenarios, optimizing capital allocation, finding the insights that actually move the business forward. But instead you're chasing receipts and categorizing transactions. It's the opposite of leverage. This is exactly why I'm so bullish on what the team at Ramp has built. Kareem and Eric understood that every minute spent on manual expense management is a minute stolen from high leverage work.

[Interviewer]

So they automated all of it.

[Host/Announcer]

Automatic categorization, receipt matching, spending controls that actually work. I love the network effect that this creates. When finance teams at companies like Shopify and Stripe automate the mundane stuff, they free up cycles to think bigger, to ask bigger questions, spot patterns others miss and make the kind of strategic bets that separate great companies from good ones. The math is simple. Get your time back, focus on what matters. Check out ramp.com invest and see what happens when you eliminate the busy work cards issued by Sutton bank member fdic. Terms and conditions apply. In asset management, growth often depends on customization. It's the nature of the beast in our industry. And I know, having experienced the problem firsthand as an active manager, it's a competitive differentiator to tailor products and services to clients preferences. Those of us growing our businesses always want to say yes to customers. It means delivering a tailored portfolio, a tailored report or a tailored expectation for service. Saying yes leads to growth and it also leads to customization and a big trade off. The more you grow, the more complexity you absorb. The more you say yes, the harder it is to scale efficiently and consistently. That's where Ridgeline comes in. Ridgeline automates customization. It gives asset managers the ability to deliver personalized experiences at scale without adding headcount, manual work or operational risk. Having been an early design partner myself, I saw firsthand the power of taking an entirely clean sheet of paper to building the system we've all been waiting for. A front to back platform that combines all of a firm's core functions on a single data set. It's how leading firms stop choosing between growth and efficiency and start saying yes to both. I believe the best firms will be built on Ridgeline as their operating system. I also believe they'll be a leading case study in combining the power of systems of record and AI. If you haven't spent time with them. Yet I urge you to see what Ridgeline might unlock for your business.

[Patrick O'Shaughnessy]

As an investor, gaining an edge means having the right tools and one platform leading the way is AlphaSense. Trusted by 75% of the world's top hedge funds, AlphaSense is the market intelligence platform that gives institutional investors access to over 500 million premium sources, from company filings and broker research to news, trade journals and more. And with its recent acquisition of Teagus, it also includes the world's largest library of expert interview transcripts, over 200,000 calls covering more than 24,000 public and private companies all in one platform. So investment teams can move faster, go deeper and make high conviction decisions with confidence. Now AlphaSense is transforming the research process with the launch of its Deep Research tool, part of the next generation of its AI powered platform. Unlike other deep research tools, AlphaSense's version is purpose built for investment research. It runs multi step iterative analysis using AlphaSense's proprietary content, including those 200,000 expert transcripts and in minutes surfaces, insights that would take multiple interviews and days of digging to uncover. It's like adding 10 analysts to your team, helping you accelerate analysis, deepen understanding and make sharper decisions. See it in [e-mail] invest.

[Interviewer]

Hello and welcome everyone.

[Patrick O'Shaughnessy]

I'm Patrick O' Shaughnessy and this is Invest. Like the Best, this show is an open ended exploration of markets, ideas, stories and strategies that will help you better invest both your time and your money. If you enjoy these conversations and want to go deeper, check out Colossus Review, our quarterly publication with in depth profiles of the people shaping business and investing. You can find Colossus Review along with all of our [e-mail].

[Podcast Disclaimer Narrator]

Patrick O' Shaughnessy is the CEO of Positive Sum. All opinions expressed by Patrick and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of Positive Sum. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. Clients of Positive Sum may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this podcast. To learn more, visit PSC um VC.

[Patrick O'Shaughnessy]

My guest today is Ken Langone. Ken is a legendary American businessman best known for his co founding of Home Depot. He is also a former Director of the New York Stock Exchange and a passionate philanthropist. He shares with us a lifetime worth of wisdom, building Home Depot into a powerhouse and prioritizing his employees. Above all else, he says he still bleeds orange to this day. You'll hear as he recounts his business endeavors, his strict belief in keeping your word and and his true pride in his country, what he knows to be the land of opportunity. We discuss his work with Ross Perot, the idea of an upside down hierarchy, and the power of loyalty. For anyone who may find it easier to follow along, we have a transcript of the episode on joincolosis.com Please enjoy this conversation with Ken Langone. So, Ken, it's hard to know where.

[Interviewer]

To begin a conversation with you given the number of interesting things that you've done across your life, your career. I saw when researching your history, so many interesting early anecdotes with you establishing.

[Patrick O'Shaughnessy]

Yourself, especially in your work with Ross Perot. And I always found Ross to be such an interesting character in business history. I'd love to hear the story of.

[Interviewer]

You taking his business public and what that represented to you at an early.

[Patrick O'Shaughnessy]

Stage of your career and what it was like to work with him.

[Ken Langone]

I happened to be at a Mardi Gras ball in Washington, and at the party I met a fellow there by the name of Jack Height. And he and I hit it off and he was telling me that he was partners in a company that was getting ready to go public and they had a hell of a record. And I said to him, is there any chance I can get a chance to pitch my firm to be the underwriter? He said, well, I want to see what I can do. We had a good time that night. Drank a little bit, raised a little hell. Monday, he called me up and he said, you got an appointment in Dallas at 11:30 on Wednesday. Two things I want to tell you. Don't be late. You got 30 minutes. When the 30 minutes are up, leave and don't swear, because I've been swearing like a sailor at this party. So I took two kids with me out of a salon. I say, kids, I was only 33 myself then. And we went down to Dallas. The scariest thing was exactly at 11:30 I got into his office and there he was, sitting behind a big desk. He's diminutive and he could hi, fellas.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Come on over here, sit over here.

[Ken Langone]

Have a little chat.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

How you all doing?

[Ken Langone]

I said, we're doing fine, Mr. Perot. I said, this is Roger Green, this is Duke Glenn. So we sit down. He lists the farms that he met with Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, White Weld, Chitter, Peabody. Every one of the top runners of Wall street was there to see him. He Talks nonstop for 29 Goldman says this, Merrill says that, Kidder says that, Whitewell says that, and he says, what do you think of that I'm looking at. I got 30 seconds left. I don't, Mr. Peru, I think I'll just take advantage of the time I've got left to say goodbye and I hope you'll see me again sometime. What do you mean? Well, Jack High told me I had 30 minutes and 30 seconds. By my calculations.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

30 minutes, forget that, tell me what you think.

[Ken Langone]

And I thought to myself, well, I'm going to blow the 30 minute rule. I might have to go all the way. I said, Mr. Perot, that's the biggest pile of I've ever heard in my life. And he backs back. What do you mean? I said, Mr. Perot, this whole process is fairly simple. You're going to pick somebody who's going to tell you what he thinks you can sell your stock for and your bet is, can they deliver on that number? I said, it's that simple. That's with all the talk they have about working the market, knowing the market, doing this, all those things.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

He said, well, that's interesting.

[Ken Langone]

He said, let's talk a little bit more. We talked until 1:00 clock in the morning. Drive, me and two guys. I was in the front seat. He had a big maroon Lincoln and he was driving us all over Dallas.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

We were going to go back on.

[Ken Langone]

A 3:30 plan in the afternoon. Now I figured I'm going to throw this meeting in. We were looking for a drugstore. We could buy shaving gear and toothbrush stuff like maybe even a T shirt because we brought nothing down. We finally found a place. We stayed at a hotel. He was going to make a decision by the following Friday. And he called up.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

He said, I'd like to get to.

[Ken Langone]

Know you a little bit better. He said, come on back down. So I went back down and we talked and we talked and we talked. I had not seen one number on how much his sales were, what his earnings were nothing. So he invited me back down.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

You get a chance, come on back down.

[Ken Langone]

Like dog to you. I said, sure. So the third time I went down, I went down alone. He picked me up at the airport. We were driving back to his office.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Ken, have you given that a thought to what you think we're worth, Mr. Perot?

[Ken Langone]

I said, first of all, I said, I haven't had the benefit of your numbers.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Let's assume the numbers are great.

[Ken Langone]

I said, can I get some kind of relevance? We got into his office and he had a closet. And on the inside of the closet door he had a graph, a chart. I didn't know what the Numbers were all it was a chart of the percentage growth of the earnings and of the sales and it was doubling every year. And I said to him I knew what the business was by now. I got a good understanding. I said, based on those numbers and if I could be made comfortable that they can continue that way for a while, I would argue your company's worth 100 times earnings.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

What?

[Ken Langone]

I said, yeah, about 100 times earnings. Are you sure? I said, well, Ross, I'm not sure of anything. I'm sure of this. Those numbers are what you say. I had no idea whether it was 5 million or 9 million. Well, it turns out it was 7 million of revenues and 3 million of pre tax profit. It was a staggering margin and the clear prospects that it continued its ascent. So he thought, I want to think about it. I left about two weeks later. What he had done was he was calling all the other firms up and said, okay, what do you think I'm worth? They settled in around 30 times. Now when did Mae called me up and he said to me, are you.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Comfortable with what you said?

[Ken Langone]

I said, ross, I'll say it again that you can continue this progression. You just do simple math. You got to cut the multiple every year by two. It's not going to take long to get this thing down to 25 time drawings. But I said, I won't be able to tell you that until I can get a better fix on the business.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

So he said, well, come on dad, bring some guy down, let's get to.

[Ken Langone]

Know each other better and talk about how we do things. He brought in a bunch of guys, one after the other. I swear to God, he has some kind of machine that created these guys who's unbelievable. One more talented than the other one and common sense, plain spoken gentleman. Don't forget he had a dress code. White suit, white shirts, no tassel loafers, wingtip shoes, highly shined, no facial hair, military style haircuts. And the more I got exposed, the more excited I got. So he thought, okay, well let me think about it. This comes into June. Two weeks later he called me up.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Ken, Mitch Harden and I have been talking. One of the things we expect of people, you know, we tattoo, we're optimistic people. And very frankly, he said, Mitch and I are a little worried that you don't show much enthusiasm.

[Ken Langone]

I'm going, what the hell?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I said, of course I'll be on the next plane down. What are you talking about? I said, I've never seen that like this. And I've told you that. Well, I know. I told him, russell coming down. No, no, don't come down. He said, you know, we're taxing. Have a good rule here. We think if you got a good sense of humor, you're a good Texan. I said, well, God damn it, you guys were pain in the ass too.

[Ken Langone]

Okay, so anyway, he gives me the deal. The rest of Wall street is stunned. Here's this little pissant railroad farmhouse getting the most sought after piece of business probably in the last five or 10 years. And we go through the whole process. He wants the how guy do it. I go, ross, I'm going to make you one promise. I didn't tell you before. I'm personally going to be on every meeting with every investor. I said, I intend to build a short. Oh, I know. He calls me up at the very end, decided he's going to give me the business. One of the firms that wanted it was G.H. walker. There was a guy there by the Jerry Lodge, who he knew who he liked. Well, Lodge heard that we were going to do the deal Harder time journey. She said, ross, we'll go to a harder time journey and we'll be co managing. So Ross called me up and said that he'd gotten this call and how did I feel about having a partner. I said, ross, let me ask a question. You and I are in a high racing speed car going 200 miles an hour. I got the steering wheel and you got the brakes. We're sitting next to each other.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

How long before we're going to hit the wall?

[Ken Langone]

Because we're going to hit the wall. I said, ross, if I'm going to go 200 miles an hour, I got control in the clutch, the steering wheel, shift, everything, or I ain't getting in that car. I understand. I said, ross, you want to give them the deal. If you're more comfortable with them, you give it to them. I'm going to be around. I'm sure we'll figure a way out for you and me.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

No, sir, he said, you were the one that made him go from 70 to 100. You're my man. Let's go.

[Ken Langone]

We spent a whole summer getting the prospectus together. And the more I learned about it, the more excited I got. I had a home out here. Now, back then, New York State had a stock transfer tax. When you sold stock, it was the tax.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

And the way you get around it.

[Ken Langone]

With an underwriting, you go through the tunnel after midnight on the day of the deal, sign all the papers in Jersey and drive back in. So the Deal was done in Jersey.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

It was legal.

[Ken Langone]

The night before, the underwriting, Elaine and I and Margo and Ross had dinner at 21. We got to know each other that summer. We really hit it off personally. Well, by the way, I'll tell you, one of the great joys of my life was his friendship. And this is an aside, one of the great honors of my life. When I got the call from the family, Ross Jr. They'd like me to deliver you. And she had a funeral. Wow. Me. So anyway, we're driving through the tunnel. Elaine went home because our kids had to go to school the next day. We had three kids. So we're in a limousine. By the way, the limousine driver was always the witness signing the paper.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

So this was all legal stuff.

[Interviewer]

I love it.

[Ken Langone]

So we're driving through the tunnel. It was a back seat where you.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Had two seats looking at each other. Margo and Ross are looking ahead.

[Ken Langone]

I'm sitting with my back to the front looking at them.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Well, he said, margo, all the other guys on Wall street told me. Now, the ones he's going to back away from, what he said he's going to do.

[Ken Langone]

What are you talking about, Ruis?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Well, I'm told, Ken, this is when you guys say, sorry, Russ, I miscalculated. I can't do it at the hundred time journeys. I got to do it at a lower number.

[Ken Langone]

What are you talking about?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I suppose this is the one you're going to tell me I'm not getting 100 times journey. I said, how'd you know that? See Margo. See Margo.

[Ken Langone]

I said, how do you know that?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

What do you mean?

[Ken Langone]

I said, I'm not going to do it at a hard time journey. I'm sorry.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

See Margo.

[Ken Langone]

There you are.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

They're all alike up here. They get us country boys up here and they pick us clean.

[Ken Langone]

I said, wait a minute, wait a minute. Does 100 times earnings mean that much to you?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Damn right. He says, texas, you put your hand out, your word as you bought means a lot to me. Not just the number, but the fact you kept your word.

[Ken Langone]

I said, russ, look, the last thing I want is an unhappy client. We'll do it at 100 times earnings.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Damn well you will.

[Ken Langone]

I said, okay, so, Margot, I winked at Margo while he was in a little bit of a tizzy. She says to me, God bless Margo. She's short. She will. Ken, what were you going to do with that?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I thought I was going to do.

[Ken Langone]

It at 115 time journey, but it's the only 100 time journey. It's okay with me. We did it at 115 time journeys. And by the way, it went from 16 to 24 the first day. So it was a very successful deal. And that deal, for lack of a better way to describe it, put me on a map. The most important thing of all was he was a man. When you delivered to him and you kept your word, he never forgot it. So he became perhaps my staunchest athlete. I was a young kid, 33. I never done an underwriting. That friendship has lasted all through his life and now it was his family as well.

[Interviewer]

What about his style do you feel is most lacking in the world of leadership today?

[Ken Langone]

If anything, integrity. That's it, man. The man was maniacal about keeping his word. And the second thing would be loyalty. If you promised to and delivered for it, he'd never forget it. And this would be it.

[Interviewer]

One of my favorite ideas of yours is this notion of leaving more on the table for the other guy than you think the other guy thinks he deserves. Did that come from Ross?

[Ken Langone]

No. Let me tell you where that came from. That came from my experiences as a poor kid. When I realized if somebody expected this of me, I gave him that plus something. And to me, the art of negotiating is not see who bests who. The art of negotiating to me is to get a deal for yourself to make sure the guy you're dealing with feels he got more than he thought he was going to get or he should get 100 times earnings to 115 times earnings. I can't think of a deal I've done where I couldn't have gotten more than I got. That's okay. Because the element of trust is the most precious thing in living.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

If I trust my doctor that he's.

[Ken Langone]

Going to do the right thing for me, there's a better chance he's going to be more candid with me and more willing to try and help me whatever my condition is, or a friendship.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Or a marriage, I don't care what it is.

[Ken Langone]

I'll give you a for instance. I did a deal with a guy, I bought a company. He was a tough negotiator. He negotiated back and forth back and I virtually gave in on every point. We got done around 9:30 at night, my office, I said, now you say, oh, I'm happy. I couldn't be happier. I swear to you what, let's go back and I'll drop you off a hotel and I'll pick you up in the morning. We'll have breakfast. We'll talk to you. He said, okay. So the next morning, I pick him up. We're driving to my office. He said, ken, can I be honest with you? I said, please don't. He said, I'm sorry. He's a reflect on this. I don't think this is a good enough video for me as I'm entitled. I said, well, let's go upstairs. I said, okay. Where do you think this thing is? The fish? And he tells me, it's okay. You got it. What do you mean? Tell me what you want. You got it. I go to something else. I will never do business with you again. You bargained hard all day yesterday. You assured me at the end of the day it was exactly what you wanted. You were fairly treated. I said, I can't think at one point I didn't concede to you. I said, I'm sorry. You got what you want on this deal, but I never wanted the business with you again. And I feel strongly about that. And the best testimony is I never had a fear of client or a potential partner in a deal saying something bad about me because I did okay with all these folks that I do. Okay, you see where I started and see where I am right this minute. And it's okay to bargain on it. But when you're done, you're done. And he was shocked. I told him, you got your deal. You got exactly what you want now. You got it. Frankly, I said, I thought you had a great deal last night, but obviously you thought there might be more on the table, so I won't disappoint you. By the way, that company turned out to be a home run. We did okay. So that's the philosophy of life. I pride myself on that. I think there's nothing more precious in my life other than my family, than my work.

[Interviewer]

Was there an early formative experience, like a specific experience that most taught you that lesson? How did you come to that conclusion? It sounds like at a really young.

[Ken Langone]

Age, my mother and father, they were humble, uneducated, but incredibly honorable people. But just how they lived their lives, that was really where it was chiseled home to me. Keep your word, work as hard as you can and give it all you got. And live by the golden rule. One of the things that I feel strongly about is I'm very forthright about my childhood because that's where it all started. Then I had a good fortune meeting this lovely lady. She was 16 and I was 18. We got married. She was 18 and I was 20, almost 68 years later, we're still hanging around with each other. That's pretty good.

[Interviewer]

What's the key to doing that?

[Ken Langone]

Well, have your fights, but never carry a crush. Don't go to bed. We were two kids, truly loved each other and the trauma. Success wouldn't change, and I hope it hasn't. I urge my kids to be genuine, to be authentic, and that's to me, very important. Being authentic.

[Interviewer]

Life and business is a repeat game. The story you just told about not doing the second deal with that guy, even just the way you've created successful financial outcomes seems to have been by holding longer than anybody else.

[Ken Langone]

My loyalty, if I would like to be remembered for one thing, only one thing, I'd like to be remembered that I was a loyal friend, a loyal husband, a loyal father, whatever you want. Loyalty is in short supply and the world has become very transactional. My epic battle with Elliot Spitzer, which I whooped his ass. I can tell you right now, he ain't coming back for more. I can tell you right now, he ain't coming back for more. I got his ass gripped. And it was a fight that I loved every single second of it. But there people were saying to me that I showed my loyalty to Dick Grasso. I said, no. In that case, by the way, it wasn't just loyalty, it was the facts. The facts were that the whole committee, all nine of us, always voted unanimously to give them these pay packages, which, by the way, were magnified because every previous chairman of the stock exchange never had a 10 year chart of longer than 10 years. So I know when you got these deals every year, five years, six years, seven years. Dick Grasso started at the exchange at $82.50 a week. Union clerk went from that all the way to the channel. Guess What? He had 37 years of service.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

When you put the yardstick to that, that's what you wanted. He created it that way to get people to stay. And look what he did when he took over. They had 1200 listings. When he got the bullet in his head, he had 2,800 listings. He made all of us. I bought seats for $72,000 a piece. I got $8 million for each one of them. I mean, how bad a deal is that? We had guys on the floor, they exchanged more out with it. The whole key to the exchange was listings.

[Ken Langone]

But people say, well, that was loyalty. Yeah, it was loyalty, but more importantly.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

It was being loyal to the truth. I knew the truth. The truth was every single member of that committee knew exactly.

[Ken Langone]

And that was a sad thing to me that I remember the high powered guys that withered under the skies.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Oh, he is fit.

[Ken Langone]

Shit.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Bring him on, baby.

[Ken Langone]

I'll show you a wither.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Okay, bring him on.

[Ken Langone]

He did. He got it. What was that?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I didn't want it to happen. When Cuomo replaced him as AG and when the court of appeals found in our favor seven zero Cuomo called me.

[Ken Langone]

Up and it was a Wednesday. That's when the decisions came out. He said to me, you know, he said, I'm. I don't know, give me some advice. He said, I'm thinking of appealing you. He's lost. I know, I know. He's playing with my head.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

He says, I'm thinking of appealing it.

[Ken Langone]

What do you think as well? There's two things I think, number one, the most joyous thing I could hear is the fact you're going to appeal it, that the game goes on because I'm having a hell of a time in my life. And number two, you haven't got the balls to appeal it. He and I became good friends, by the way. So loyalty's in short supply of the world.

[Interviewer]

The idea about loyalty rings through the Home Depot story in such an incredible way. Like so many stories of people kind of like Grasso starting as a cashier and becoming, you know, a senior executive. I would just love to hear the beauty of the long term at Home Depot as you've experienced it as a co founder and now incredibly long term.

[Patrick O'Shaughnessy]

Holder of that business.

[Ken Langone]

The most precious thing Home Depot has are the kids on the floor where the orange aprons are. We had what we call the most corporations have a triangle. That's the base and the point at the top. And the point at the top is where the CEO is and the base is where the newly hired employee is. We turn it upside down. We say the most important person in the company is the person that comes in touch with the customer. If that customer gets what he wants at a fair price and feels he got great service, he's never going anyplace else again. The most precious part of that equation there, I call any kid anybody under 88. I'm 88 years old. You're under 88, you're a kid. So don't get pissed off. Those kids really challenging jobs, they need to learn what they're selling. They don't have the luxury of not being able to handle the difficult customer. They have crazy hours. And most of them are starting right at the bottom without an education, college education. And those kids made this Company. If there's one thing Home Depot is known for, it's our service. Big thing. We give you great prices, no question about that. We're always in stock, no question about that. We have every imaginable item you can want in the given category. So you got assortment. But the thing that holds it all together is a kid that's dealing with you. I'll give you a for instance. This is a good friend of mine, customer. His faucet was dripping. When he turned it off, it was still dripping, meaning that the washer had failed. So water got through where the valve was, printed the nozzle of the faucet and drip, drip, drip, drip. Three o' clock in the morning and your wife kicks you and says, go get the faucet. I can't sleep, the trip is keeping me awake. Guy gets up in the morning, he goes to the Home Depot store. I don't know how they make. Says to the kid, I needed a new one of these. The kid says to him, a new one of what? He said, I need a whole new stent leak. In his dirty job, sir. You see, you need a wash model made. We have little glassine bags of assorted size washes. Can't take 25 cents 30, I don't know if that cheaper. Takes it off the peg, opens it up, gets the right size washer. Has a screwdriver in his apron, takes it off, unscrews the screw, takes the band washer out, takes the good drop washer, puts it in, puts a screw back in. And he says to the guy, here, go home where we'll drink it anymore. Guys, what are I oe? He said, nothing, sir. He said happy. He came to Home Depot three months later. The wife wants a new kitchen. She's going to go to one of these foo foo joints. Kitchen and bath guys don't over to my friend. They went back, they found the kid. Kid brought them over to the kitchen designer where we'd sell kitchens. We got $100,000 kitchen order, that's the value. We make an effort to train the kids. We make an effort to treat them fairly. Last year, unilaterally we raised wages $1 billion across the country. Why? Because we really feel for our kids. They own stock. I guess I could say I made some money just a bit. I should. I'll tell you this. The greatest number of the world to me is not my network. We have 3,000 kids that are still working for the company today, 3,000 of them. They started out pushing carts in from a lot. They're multimillionaires and they're still working for the company. You want to talk about culture carries. Trust me, that's the value of treating your people right and taking care of them. We do everything we can for and they know it.

[Interviewer]

What in the history of Home Depot went the most wrong and how did you fix it?

[Ken Langone]

Well, the thing that went most wrong was a mindset that cost was more important than the culture. How do we fix it? We change leadership. That simple. Frank came to the company. I'm going to guess around 2003, 2004. At that point, we were 23, 24 years old. But I would call Frank Blake, the founder of the company. Why? Frank restored the culture. He led by example. No doubt about it. His selection as CEO was, I think, the smartest decision. And I take great pride in that personally. Because when we were confidently decided that we had to go different ways, apart from, by the way, give Bob Credit. The first 40 years bobbers were coming, everything he touched, he made better. Everything. However, once we got past that four years, he started to now get a little too aggressive and I think got away from the culture. Frank was not a popular choice. Is a natural. And the reason Frank is a natural is he embraces the finest of values. Even me could have one year. Frank didn't even want to take a bonus. No, no. We're just getting this thing going, right? I don't need a bonus this year. Frank is Southwest front fertilizer, free fall vowels. He graduated from Harvard, Columbia Law School, graduate clerk to Justice Stevens of the Supreme Court, going on at him a year number two or three guy. And I think Paul and Abedige comes deeper to work on strategy and nerdy kind of guy immediate. You'll never get a prize for being a picture of sartorial splendid. Okay? And I say that because I tell them, I mean, that's Frank's charm. What you see is what you get.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

And I talk about being authentic.

[Ken Langone]

He has the best example of authenticity I could imagine. So culture is it. Interesting aside, when I was at the job at NYU Medical center, places that are shambles broke, morale was terrible. They just merged their hospital with Mount Sinai. And ironically, here's an example of bad faith. Each side was true. On the other side, they were getting rid of a bad hospital. So we took two bad hospitals and made it one huge bad hospital. The element of distrust was palpable. So when I took the job, I went and I said the morning, look, if you want me to do this really bad, so I need Help, Chairman, really bad chimp. I really need help. I said, okay, Marty, then I want the hospital back. I want to see the immerse. And I thought it would be easily legally attacked, but it was a difficult thing. We did it. And I think we at Home Depot, Bernie and Arthur, myself and Pat, we put this culture in place. Day one. We lived it. We lived it. I tell people here I had highly educated, double degree, triple degree doctors. And the same thing I did with a 6 to 18 year old kid that barely got out of high school with this professional, highly accomplished, fabulous doctor treated him the same way. And it worked. Just guess what. The eating bees at the end of the day, gotta celebrate. Hourly people on the floor, they are the key to. This is the magic source. Okay, this is a secret sauce. Not so much of a secret, but it takes effort, it takes time. And you try to do everything you can to let these kids know that they really matter. They can make a difference, that they're obtained. Share with us your ideas. Share with us. You re amazed the number of great ideas we had that we implemented in the stores that came out of the wide of a kid that barely got out of high school. We encourage them to be open, to come express themselves. So I give you, for instance, we were opening a store in Elmont. So the Wednesday before the stores got open, I'm in there and the kid in the plumbing department comes out to me. He said, are you somebody in this company?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Yeah.

[Ken Langone]

Come on, let's show you something.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I'm curious, were you guys born stupid.

[Ken Langone]

Or did you become stupid? Okay, I said, maybe it's a combination of both. You don't want these kids to feel intimidated or threatened.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

You want to get it out of their head.

[Ken Langone]

I says, okay. So he takes me over and he shows me a big cardboard box that's on the floor at the bottom of the rack. And in the box are a bunch of plunges. We got stopped up throughout.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

He said, you put your hand in that box, you think you were in a coal mine. You come out black.

[Ken Langone]

So what?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Nobody sees the plungers.

[Ken Langone]

Now think of this. You don't wake up on a Saturday morning, say, andy, let's go to Home Depot and buy a plunger. It's 3 o' clock in the morning, the toilet stopped up and you haven't got a plunger. You get your ass to the Home Depot store as soon as it opens to get the plunger. So the kid, I said, okay, what would you do? He said, I get pipe hooks like in a gun store. You know how they show guns on a wall and I put the plunges at the end of the thing on a rack. Why don't you do it? He said, get on. I said, why can't you? You think it's such a good idea? Why don't you do it? Okay. Saturday morning at 11 o', clock, the store is now open. People clap and I see.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Come on, come here, come here, come here.

[Ken Langone]

So I order. There's no plungers in the pipe cooks. I said, oh, you put them back in the box?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

No, they're sold. Hey, honey, $3 plunger.

[Ken Langone]

You could buy for three. 3:54.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Hey honey, we need a plunger. I don't have a plunger. You made it an impulse item that was out of the mind kid that barely got out of high school. You don't know where you're going to find a gem, but you're never going.

[Ken Langone]

To find them if you don't look for them.

[Interviewer]

What do you think was the reason you've been able to hold on to these investments, these positions for so much longer than everybody else saw. The average length of your investments is 35 years or something crazy like that.

[Ken Langone]

Stop at 42 years.

[Interviewer]

42 years. Sorry, I don't want to take that.

[Ken Langone]

I'm stupid.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Because I'm stupid, I'm liable. I'm even loyal to my investment positions. What am I going to tell you? You know, you're loyal.

[Ken Langone]

You're loyal. Look, I got my Lily stock two years before Home Depot was founded at a little medical device company they bought. I got to know the management people. I liked them, you know, they were solid midwestern people. The guy that I negotiated the deal with was a tough son of a bitch by the name of Gene Step. But I had such admiration and respect for Gene. I had no doubt that Lilly would turn out to be a great company. Now, it didn't hurt that if I sold the stock, I'd have had a hell of a tax because my course basis, the little device company I took over at a proxy fight ready had a market cap of a million and a half thousand. Had a market get million and a half dollars. Lilly gave us $50 million. That was proxy five. It was May of 72. Lilly gave us a million and a half shares of lilly stock worth 3,750 a share of our stock per share. Roughly that. And Lilly paid a dividend. So the dividend was a nice thing. The little bit of income Lilly stock has split over all Those years from 77 to now 16 to 1 so the billion 5 shares 69 is 24 million shares. You ready now? $18,360,000,000. Now catch this. Lilly stock from 77 to 02 went from 37. It got to as high as 109.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

From 02 to 18 the stock did nothing. It was a 109 and 02. And it was 109 and 18. However going back to 77.

[Ken Langone]

11-30-77 until last August. Counting the dividend including the 16 years or nothing. It compounded at 15% a year. You're a home run very stock I own compounded at 15%.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I spent a lot of time with companies.

[Ken Langone]

I get to know the managements. My first in my major and my principal concern is people. I bet on people. I've got a Home Depot position now. I got literally 47 years people. I got 46 years.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

J.P. morgan. I bought the warrants but I bought them way back.

[Ken Langone]

I got my J.P. morgan stock today. 16 years.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I got my park ahead of them.

[Ken Langone]

16 years. They're puppies. They're still babies. I've got a new position called Option Care Holdings. I bought it six years ago. And I'll be there with them as.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Long as the management stays quality people. As long as the prospects of the business are bright.

[Ken Langone]

It's like my wife. These guys, you get married three and four times.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

How do they remember who, what to call them, what name they use? I mean, can you imagine? Jane, Mary. About Pat.

[Ken Langone]

Life is simple and holding on to these situations. The food I ate as a kid.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Is still my favorite food.

[Ken Langone]

Peasant food.

[Interviewer]

What's your death row meal?

[Ken Langone]

Pasta.

[Interviewer]

What's your last pasta vigil?

[Ken Langone]

It's got all of me and beans. Plant parmesan, fried peppers and potatoes. Oh God. They cook fried peppers and potatoes. And I got my mother. God, she was so cooked. But those are my favorite foods.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

I got a little dive in Port Washington.

[Ken Langone]

I.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Had a great pizza. Bowl of pasta fagioli or a bowl.

[Ken Langone]

Of Scarol and beans. Man. It's like dying and going to heaven.

[Interviewer]

What do you love most about capitalism? I love that title of your book. If you had to sum it up. What do you love most?

[Ken Langone]

Dakota decimal carded decimate. Look at our society. Look at every other country that moved towards socialism. Look at what's happened. Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina. Look at them. Brazil. Look at them. Look at Europe.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Look at Europe. How do you look?

[Ken Langone]

A poor kid working his ass off.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

With a shot at the brass ring. He may never get it, but he's going to do a Lot of good.

[Ken Langone]

Along the way, even if he didn't get it. Well, I'll give you for instance, you got a call one day we opened our first chandelier island in the late 80s. I walked the store he was working in one of our first stores on the island. Bam came in and says to me, mark said, you've got to come see you today. Okay? And I have a rule. Home Depot employees come first at. Bernie called me and it was another call from the kid. I said, father, I'll call you back. I got to talk to this kid. The kid comes in that same day. Hi, Mark. What's up? He smart one. He lets you know. I felt you should know. He said, this morning I got a call from my Merrill lynch broker that my Home Depot stock is now worth a million dollars. I'm a millionaire. I said, let me think of something else. He said, I paid my parents mortgage off before I paid my mortgage off. My two kids are in college and I'm a millionaire. Do you know the impact that had on that kid and all those people in the store? He did it. I can do it. They got to work hard. You're going to have deals that don't always work. Anybody she got six months tell you all my bad deals, everything isn't a home run. Oh, I'd be happy if they were break even. But you're going to get out of the plate and take a swing. You ain't going to hit the ball every time. You're going to have a few strikeouts. That's Dwight. But what does capitalism do? I think it always promised me B. A plumber's son, a cafeteria working son, not a very good student. Like I was a bad student. Look at what capitalism allowed me to do. You can't take that lightly. That's heavy duty stuff.

[Interviewer]

What did you see most commonly in the opportunity around Home Depot or other stuff that you got involved with early on beyond the people I know you were optimizing for amazing people.

[Ken Langone]

Was it just that that's 95% you.

[Interviewer]

Weren'T doing store fragmentation calculation for.

[Ken Langone]

Right, right. You get into a bad idea with a great guy, the great guy's going to tell you it's a bad idea. We made a mistake, they move on. Not everybody's going to. I haven't got a crystal ball. But that's the key. Jesse Haddock was a golf coach at Wake Forest. One time I asked Jesse, what do you look for on a high school kid? The one thing I never do is I don't mess with their swing. If what they're doing and their results of their play gives them my attention, I get my attachment. Because they got a great record, I leave them alone. What do you look for, Jesse? So I look for the kid that gets a nine on a part three and the next little goes back and birdies. I look for resilience. And that's about it. I look for a management guy, pretty Marcus fired at 49 years old. No money, a mortgage, no health insurance. All right, let's go. Let's do it. Let's start it off. Same thing by far. Same thing just took bankruptcy. You want people that can bounce. You want people come back. They got fighting, they got. Hey. Okay, that didn't work, but I'm going to give it a shot again. Home Depot look at it. You realize Home Depot donates on a market capital approximately $400 billion. $400 billion. That's a lot of money.

[Interviewer]

Now that what bad deal most stands out in your memory? We don't have six months, sadly, but we got a few minutes. What bad deal is most memorable?

[Ken Langone]

I did a deal that I got by virtue of. There was an article in Fortune magazine after Pro Deal. The title of the article, the Fastest richest Texan ever about Perot. And in that article, he was incredibly generous in describing me. The guy called me up from Avon, New York, outside of Rochester. They were building modular homes in a factory. I went up to see it and it blew my mind. I got so caught up in the moment, what they were doing. I failed myself to take a step back and talk about the people. But I did. And because I had a hard hand, there was nothing I could do that people weren't going to jump on. Those guys ended up all going to jail. Fortunately, I didn't know anything about it. They left me. We did the deal for them in 1970. It was a bad year. They left me and they went to Merrill Lynch. It's all about reputation. Always is and always will be. Nothing matters to me. War that I was a map of chief of my work.

[Interviewer]

Curious how the hospital thing resolved. It was a mess when you showed up and you oversaw it for a long time. And it's one of the best ever.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

We're number one in America. We got a culture that won't stop. We're hitting on all cylinders. We got three and a half billion dollars cash in the bank. The greatest thing of all. We took over a rundown broken down hospital in Brooklyn called Luther Hospital. The zip code has the highest percentage of welfare patients in the United States. It's the poorest zip code in the country. We don't make a nickel on that hospital, but that hospital on its own was now ranked number one. We have three hospitals. Long Island, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. We put all those three in separately. All three of them separately got a number one. How good are we doing?

[Ken Langone]

What?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Kicking ass and taking names like you can't believe.

[Patrick O'Shaughnessy]

Is it all culture?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

100%. Oh, wait a minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

[Ken Langone]

Culture and making sure you bring the very best with you as you embrace that culture.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

We're number one in brain surgery. We're number one in neurology, the top 10, and virtually every specialty you can name. Urology, dermatology. You name it, we're there. How do we do it?

[Ken Langone]

We celebrate these people.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

We pay them well. Okay, we pay them well. But we're delivering a product second to none. A guy shot me the other day in a restaurant.

[Ken Langone]

I own a piece of a restaurant down in Bogus called Gallagher's. It's unbelievable that there's a good example. The kid that runs Gallagher's, and he's 67, I call him a kid. He bought that restaurant. I was doing 6 million a year. 2012, last year, he did 30 million in business.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

One restaurant, Home Run. This year, he's going to do 33.

[Ken Langone]

34 million dollars in business. It's all about the people. Now, all I can say to you is, I say all the time under promise and over deliver, but it's always about the people. And if you get those people to go, you're going to take good care. You got to be fair with them. It's critical. This guy in a restaurant the other night comes to me and go, you miss lying on it? Yes, I am. Your hospital saved my wife's life. That's a pretty strong statement. He said, no, no, no. I'm telling you, he's got tears coming down his head. I said, yo, they can just be my daddy. You made me feel like I'm somebody. How do we do it? Go down?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

Go to NYU and grab a guard. They think I'm a white job.

[Ken Langone]

I walk in and I say. I say, security has a big security guy.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

You happy?

[Ken Langone]

Yeah, I'm happy.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

You like it? I love it here. If you ever got a problem, I hope you know who I am. Pull me up.

[Ken Langone]

And I prefer that you call me Ken, by the way. Mr. Is a barrier that blocks you from authenticity with each other. Call me whatever you want. Just don't call me late for an order, okay? That would piss me off.

[Interviewer]

The last question I ask everybody is what is the kindest thing that anyone's ever done for you?

[Ken Langone]

Oh God, I've had so many kind things done for me I can't count. I'll give you, for instance, here's one thing. I worked in a butcher shop as a kid. Among my many jobs I had two or three jobs at one time. In fact, I worked in a butcher shop and the guy that ran the butcher shop didn't know I worked for the supermarket down the street down packing, next to the shelves up in the store, closed 9 o' clock at night. He defied me. If you'd known that there was this competitor. Anyway, next to the butcher shop was a liquor store and the Orman family ran. Maybe we had five Jewish families in town. Ross, Lenny Orman, good man, came to me, said to me, hey kiddies, you want to make a couple of bucks? I said yeah sure, a couple of bucks. I'd kill you for a couple of hours. What do you want me to do? He said I want you. I got cardboard boxes comes in, I put him up. He had a little porch, back of a store. He says, garbage company, we'll come and make it. You gotta take them down 150 yards where there's a spot where they pick them up. All you gotta do is take the boxes, they're there, right? He says I'll give you a dollar a week, do two nights a week, 50 cents. You got it honey. About three weeks after I'm doing it, one day I'm carrying the boxes. The guy on a garbage truck is there putting the boxes by, not he's breaking the boxes up. What are you doing with the boxes? Oh, he says they're worth a lot of money. What are you talking about? Yeah, he said I break them up and I tie them up and I take them to the junkyard and they buy the scrap paper. I'm going to see you again John. Probably get three bucks a day. You can. Yeah. So I go back to Lenny, I said lenny, we got a deal. I said if you let me break the boxes up, stack them in a pile on ecosystem, the box is broke, you got a lot of space. I'm going to tie them up with twine and we haven't got to pay me anything.

[Host/Announcer]

Why not?

[Ken Langone]

I said because I'll be able to sell it. Okay, two to four, make it three, four, five dollars a week selling the boxes. About a year after that I'm walking past the liquor store. He said hey Mayor, So, hey, you're going to college. I said, yeah, come on in. Takes me in. He had a counter and he had a little opening to the back. In the back. There was a shop in the back of the county. Here's a counter, here's a shelf. Back of that shelf you have a little desk where he did his bookkeeping. Takes out a envelope. He says, here you go to Trilogy. He said, who might need this?

[Interviewer/Co-host]

He put a dollar a week in.

[Ken Langone]

The envelope for all those weeks I was selling my. Selling stuff. You talk about kindness. Hang on. There have been so many people who have been so kind to me, I can't count them.

[Interviewer/Co-host]

People are good.

[Ken Langone]

Talk about kindness. If you gave me a month, I couldn't have enough time to list all the people that have been good to me. That's one of the reasons I believe in God. I really do. That's me.

[Interviewer]

Your story, your book, all your ideas, they're wonderful.

[Ken Langone]

Remember this most important thing that book covered an American story. It only happened in America. This is the genius of America that a poor kid, rough around the edges like me could do. Okay, that whole promise not to the matter. Born not with a silver spoon in my mouth. Just the chance to live in this great country was all I needed.

[Interviewer]

I've so enjoyed our time together. Thanks for doing this with me. Cheers.

[Patrick O'Shaughnessy]

If you enjoyed this episode, visit joincolas.com where you'll find every episode of this podcast, completely complete with hand edited transcripts. You can also subscribe to Colossus Review, our quarterly print, digital and private audio publication featuring in depth profiles of the founders, investors and companies that we admire most. Learn [e-mail] subscribe.

[Ken Langone]

SA.