“It is all about habits,” Mr. Royce said. “Setting goals is easy — but without good habits you are not getting there.”
Some executives have long sought insight from the printed page — and not just in the business section. Emmanuel Roman, the chief executive officer of the bond giant Pimco — who is reading “On Grand Strategy,” an assessment of the decisions of notable historical leaders by the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer John Lewis Gaddis — called reading “a pure passion.” And Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman of Goldman Sachs, has talked up the benefits of reading books, especially those not related to economics or finance.
Mr. Parrish is an unlikely guru, a computer scientist from Halifax, Nova Scotia, who seems bemused by his sudden cachet. On a recent swing through New York to meet with clients, Mr. Parrish was dressed in a T-shirt and shorts and carried a worn backpack. Slight and balding, he looked more like an unhurried graduate student than a counselor to some of the wealthiest executives on Wall Street.
Mr. Parrish joined the Communications Security Establishment, a division of Canada’s Defence Department, straight out of college. His first day was Aug. 28, 2001, and he was soon promoted in the tumult that followed the Sept. 11 attacks. Suddenly, he was managing a large staff at the age of 24.
Wanting to improve his decision-making skills, Mr. Parrish found inspiration in Charlie Munger — Warren Buffett’s longtime investment partner. Mr. Parrish quickly became an acolyte, drawn to Mr. Munger’s thoughts on multidisciplinary thinking and mental models.
He pored over Berkshire Hathaway annual reports and became a regular attendee of Mr. Buffett’s yearly meetings in Omaha. The name of his site is another tribute to the billionaire investor: Berkshire Hathaway’s address in Omaha is 3555 Farnam Street.
Last year, Mr. Parrish left intelligence work to tend to the site full time. He wouldn’t disclose how much his various projects were making. Farnam Street now consists of book lists, essays, podcasts and a vibrant social network — all of which are anchored by Mr. Parrish’s self-improvement musings. There are also branded goodies to be had, such as a decision-making journal and a Farnam Street thinking cap.
