Dress English, Think Yiddish!

“Dress English, think Yiddish“. I heard this comment during an interview with Dan Peña, a proud, non-politically correct millionaire and business coach known as “The 50 Billion Dollar Man”.

Well, the slogan stuck with me. Besides the reference to the English formal dress code, I was mostly intrigued by his reference to the “Yiddish thinking”. He commented such thinking as “canny, shrewd, real“. Dan Peña actually received such advice decades ago from Constantine Gratsos: “he had made his fortune as a lifelong associate of shipping icon Aristotle Onassis. He took a liking to me, became my first mentor, and showed me how to swim in the deep, dangerous waters of business”.

I admit that such a reference to canny Yiddish thinking intrigued me and gave me more historical readings opportunities. A quick search online immediately clarified that Yiddish is a language used by Jews in central and eastern Europe before the Holocaust. It was originally a German dialect with words from Hebrew (the official Jewish language) and several modern languages. It is now used only by a minority of Jews.

Looking for some books, I came across one written by Howard Ward Charles: “The Money Code: Become a Millionaire With the Ancient Jewish Code”. H. W. Charles studied Biblical Studies and is the recipient of several academic awards. The title sounded a bit “pop culture” for my taste, but I gave it a try. You can read my review in this article: “The Money Code” by H.W. Charles.

I then came across a book written by Rabbie Daniel Lapin: “Business Secrets from the Bible“. This second book was definitely a dive with new eyes into the Holy book and further sparked my interest in timeless money management wisdom in ancient books. More recently, I published an investment article inspired by the Parable of the talents.

My take on Dan Peña? Dress as it suits you, but make sure to Sweat Your Assets.