Mitch Rales: The Art of Compounding - [Art of Investing, Forever Episode]

We are excited to share a great conversation with Mitch Rales , the co-founder of Danaher and one of the living legends in the world of business and investing. Consider that Danaher has annualized at over 21% for four decades, resulting in an 1800-times multiple on invested capital! This is Mitch's first long-form interview of any kind, and he covers his entire history and business philosophy. Interviewing Mitch are Paul Buser and Rick Buhrman , who host the Art of Investing podcast on the Colossus network. Please enjoy this comprehensive discussion with Mitch Rales. Listen to more Art of Investing . For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Passthrough . If you've ever filled out a subscription document to invest in a fund or worked with LPs to fill out their docs to invest in your fund, you know what a nightmare this exercise can be. Passthrough finally solves this problem. They configure custom workflows for your electronic subscription agreements and KYC & AML requirements to shrink the time for your investors to complete their sub docs. It's the best way to manage a critical part of your relationship with your LPs and is simply a drastically better experience for both investing firms and LPs alike. To learn more, go to passthrough.com . This episode is brought to you by Tegus , the only investment research platform built for fundamental investors. Whether you’re trying to get up to speed on a new market or keep tabs on a portfolio company, Tegus is the end-to-end investment research platform you need. With Tegus, you can quickly understand a company's business model, drivers, benchmarks, and management quality. To monitor an entire market, download our pre-built financial models — or update your own with the latest data using Tegus’ new Excel Add-In. Tegus gives you all of this and more, all bundled into a single software license. Find out why 95% of the top 20 global private equity firms are Tegus customers. Learn more and get your free trial at tegus.com/patrick . ----- Art of Investing is a property of Pine Grove Studios in collaboration with Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Art of Investing, visit joincolossus.com/episodes . Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant ( https://thepodcastconsultant.com ). Show Notes (00:00:00) - Welcome to The Art of Investing (00:05:32) - The Philosophy Behind Glenstone's Creation (00:12:57) - Benchmarking and Continuous Improvement: Lessons from Danaher and Glenstone (00:21:22) - The Influence of Mitch’s Father and Upbringing (00:28:43) - Transforming Danaher During The George Sherman (00:30:39) - Embracing Long-Term Vision and Patience (00:36:47) - The Role of Leadership in Navigating Change (00:42:21) - Danaher's Evolutionary Journey: From 1.0 to 4.0 (00:56:37) - Building a Culture of Internal Growth and External Innovation (00:58:42) - The Art of Successful Acquisitions and Integration Strategies (01:03:03) - Seeking Leadership Qualities and Business Traits for Long-Term Success (01:06:14) - The Journey from Personal Experience to Philanthropy (01:13:10) - Investment Philosophy: Concentration vs. Diversification (01:29:46) - Operational Expertise as a Catalyst for Company Growth (01:34:17) - Identifying and Supporting Talent in Business (01:43:02) - The Impact of Secular Trends on Long-Term Investments (01:49:53) - Revitalizing the Washington Commanders (01:57:36) - Engaging with Fans and Building a Winning Culture (02:05:16) - The Importance of Long-Term Vision