Henry J. Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West
, subject: Henry J. Kaiser and his construction, manufacturing, healthcare, shipbuilding, steel, aluminum, and western United States development businesses, 1989
Henry J. Kaiser treated problems as opportunities in work clothes, and this biography follows that idea across an industrial career that included shipbuilding.
About the book
Drawing on archival material, Foster follows Kaiser from road and dam construction through wartime shipbuilding, metals, automobiles, housing, and health care, placing his businesses in the development of the American West.
Why read it
Best if you want a detailed biography of an industrial builder who treated problems as opportunities and saw retaining and investing in employees as part of the work.
Key themes
- Problems as opportunities in work clothes
- Keeping and investing in employees
Evidence and original sources
Sources: official Founders episodes — #66, #67, #74, #91, #100, #179, #204, #220, #269
David calls this the most informationally dense book he has covered on Founders so far.
- Henry Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West — David dedicates the full episode to Henry J. Kaiser: Builder in the Modern American West by Mark S. Foster.
- Conrad Hilton: Hilton Hotel Dynasty — David applies the immediately preceding Henry Kaiser coverage's lesson about retaining and investing in employees.
- The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie — David names his Henry Kaiser podcast and reapplies Kaiser's maxim that problems are opportunities in work clothes.
- Jim Clayton (Sold to Warren Buffett) — David points to his Henry Kaiser podcast and uses its problem-solving maxim to frame adversity.
- Warren Buffett (The Snowball) — David identifies the Kaiser book and Founders episode and reapplies its problem-solving maxim.
- Jeff Bezos — David points to Founders 66 and uses the Kaiser maxim as the episode's framing reminder.