#225 Outliers: Henry Singleton – Distant Force

The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish

Farnam Street

Business, Investing, Entrepreneurship

4.7 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If Warren Buffett is the king of capital allocation—Henry Singleton is the ghost. Singleton built one of the most successful conglomerates in American history, transforming business while remaining virtually unknown. While Wall Street chased fads, Singleton, who could play chess blindfolded, quietly turned industrial conglomerate Teledyne into a business juggernaut with 20.4% annual returns over nearly three decades—outperforming Buffett, outmaneuvering rivals, and outlasting the hype. Dive into the mind of a man who Charlie Munger said had "the best operating and capital deployment record in American business—bar none." This is a masterclass in disciplined capital allocation and long-term thinking on the most underrated business genius of the 20th century. If you're building a business, allocating capital, or simply trying to think more clearly in a noisy world, you cannot afford to miss this one. (03:16) Prologue (05:59) PART 1: THE MAKING OF A MAVERICK (07:48) After MIT (10:24) Founding of Teledyne (14:04) The Future is Semiconductors (17:18) What to Acquire? (19:12) Integrating into the Teledyne System (21:49) Vasco Metals and George Roberts (23:40) PART 2: MASTER CAPITAL ALLOCATOR (28:10) Entering Insurance (29:44) The Great Buyback Revolution (32:46) Teledyne Operating Systems (34:56) Thinking Local (37:41) Building Knowledge (39:59) PART 3: PEAK PERFORMANCE (42:51) Planning for Retirement (44:09) Passing the Torch (46:45) End of an Era: Singleton Retires (47:41) Teledyne After Singleton (48:46) Singleton’s Legacy (51:05) SHANE’S REFLECTIONS This episode is for informational purposes only and most of the research came from reading Distant Force: A Memoir of the Teledyne Corporation and the Man Who Created It, with an Introduction to Teledyne Technologies by Dr. George A. Roberts with Robert J McVicker and The Outsiders by William N. Thorndike, Jr. Additional source: 1979 Interview with Forbes Check out highlights from these books in our repository, and find key lessons from Singleton here —https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/outliers-henry-singleton/ Upgrade — If you want to hear my thoughts and reflections at the end of all episodes, join our membership: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fs.blog/membership⁠⁠ and get your own private feed. Newsletter — The Brain Food newsletter delivers actionable insights and thoughtful ideas every Sunday. It takes 5 minutes to read, and it’s completely free. Learn more and sign up at fs.blog/newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Henry Singleton has the best operating in capital deployment record in American business.
0:07.1	If one took the top 100 business school graduates and made a composite of their triumphs,
0:12.9	the record would not be as good as Singleton's.
0:16.7	That's a quote by Charlie Munger on today's Outlier.
0:38.9	Welcome to the Knowledge Project podcast. I'm your host, Shane Parrish.
0:40.8	In a world where knowledge is power,
0:43.6	this podcast is your toolkit for mastering the best of what other people have already figured out.
0:45.7	If you want to take your learning the next level,
0:48.0	consider joining our membership program at fs.blog slash membership.
0:52.0	As a member, you'll get early access to episodes, no ads, including
0:56.5	this, exclusive content, hand-edited transcripts, access to the repository, which has highlights
1:02.5	from all my favorite books. Check out the link in the show notes for more. When the stock market
1:07.7	crashed in the 1970s, most CEOs panicked.
1:11.8	Henry Singleton saw opportunity.
1:14.4	While other business leaders were caught out of position and desperately trying to save their
1:18.6	companies, Singleton quietly executed a strategy so unconventional that Warren Buffett later
1:23.9	admitted, I wish I had had the courage to do it myself.
1:27.2	That single decision
1:28.7	created the most successful conglomerate in American history. Singleton is the greatest
1:34.0	businessman you've never heard of. The chess prodigy turned mathematician, turned CEO, generated
1:39.4	a 20.4% annual return over nearly three decades at Teledyne. Even Warren Buffett was in awe, calling it the
1:47.7	best operating and capital deployment record in American business, bar none. Plenty of CEOs
	...

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