Most business books study success; this one studies failure, the author's own. Jim Paul rose to a top trading job and then lost about $1 million on a single position, ending his career.
His honest autopsy yields a counterintuitive lesson: there are countless ways to make money but only a few ways to lose it, so the real edge is learning to avoid and manage losses. That same lesson (protect the downside before chasing the upside) runs through how we coach CEOs on money and fundraising: Your Guide For Fundraising.
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The key distinction is internal vs. external losses: a loss becomes dangerous the moment it stops being objective ("I lost X") and becomes personal ("I'm a loser"). Once ego is involved, people grind through the stages of grief on a position instead of acting, telling themselves the loss "isn't final" and turning a small loss into a ruinous one.
Paul's antidote: your last moment of objectivity is before you act, so make your decisions, especially your exit and loss limit, in advance. His rule of thumb: controls should precede strategy. Decide where you'll get out before you decide where you'll get in, because you can't predict your profits, only manage your losses.
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Get the book: What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars by Jim Paul and Brendan Moynihan on Amazon.
The lessons go far beyond trading. In any high-stakes decision, the real danger is letting ego turn an objective setback into an internal one you can't walk away from. Decide your "loss limit" while you're calm, and protect the downside before you chase the upside.
For more timeless lessons on money and risk, see The Richest Man in Babylon and our College Freshman Investing guide, timeless investing lessons for anyone starting out.
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Pairs well with Thinking in Bets.