Why the book “Business Adventures” is so popular with tycoons...

John Brooks’ bestselling book “Business Adventures” is considered a classic for its timeless insights into corporate life. It examines 12 critical moments in the 20th century that shaped the business world in different ways. Here are the key lessons...

Investors’ moods have more impact on Wall Street than current events. The NY Stock Exchange ticker experienced a delay on 28 May 1962, causing mistrust to spiral into irrational hysteria. Despite a record loss of $20.8bn, the market managed to recover within three days.

Trends are fickle. In 1957, Ford devised its Edsel model to muscle in on a booming market for mid-priced cars. It was specifically designed to appear trendy, so when an economic downturn shifted consumer taste, the Edsel’s lavish development backfired and cost Ford around $350m.

Keep your house in order. In 1963, a company called Texas Gulf uncovered a bounty of minerals while drilling in Canada. Texas Gulf’s staff decided to keep the find quiet while buying up shares in the company, leading to a big pay-off – and the outlawing of insider trading.

Stay humble, stay hungry. The rise of photocopying turned Xerox into the 1960s’ biggest business success. The company responded by branching into philanthropy and trying to impact society. Meanwhile, its R&D stagnated and its competitors caught up, losing Xerox valuable ground.

Communication is paramount. In 1961, the US electrical-manufacturing industry was rocked by a price-fixing scandal among 29 companies. Although clearly illegal, a federal trial found the root cause to be a culture of poor communication where nothing could be taken at face value.

Revenge can be costly. In 1922, several independent Piggly Wiggly Stores failed. Stock operators ganged up to short the franchise’s stock, prompting its CEO Clarence Saunders to teach them a lesson by buying it up himself. The tactic was deemed illegal, bankrupting Saunders.

You can’t assume there will be leaks. In 1962, Donald Wohlgemuth was recruited to develop spacesuits for Latex. Wohlgemuth’s former company Goodrich sued him, fearing he’d divulge trade secrets, but a landmark ruling found that he couldn’t be guilty of doing so preemptively.

Shareholders have limited powers. When investor Wilma Soss confronted AT&T’s chairman in 1965, criticizing the lack of women directors, it revealed the true nature of shareholder meetings: they were meant to be one-sided affairs where shareholders are pacified through dividends.

Bottom line: the stories collected in John Brooks’ “Business Adventures” show that any company can be defined by a single incident. More importantly, they illustrate why human behavior is what makes the financial world so volatile – and why history keeps repeating itself.