New Zealand Listener – March 02, 2018

MARCH 10 2018 LISTENER 33

DEREK HANDLEY COLLECTION; NEWSPIX

Hesse, many times. It is easy to read and

anyone would get something out of it. A

more contemporary version of it would

be Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, which is

more mystical, but has a similar takeout.

When you take those two with Joseph

Campbell’s Reflections on the Art of Living,

that is what I am interested in.

What else?

On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kübler-

Ross, who wrote about her experiences

with dying patients, what it meant to die,

how they died. Thinking about dying

gives perspective. There is an old ritual

called memento mori, thinking about

your death once a day for a few minutes

to give you perspective on how fortunate

you are to be alive. I want to write more,

so I am reading The Writing Life, by Annie

Dillard.

Given your business background, any in that

field?

Principles, by Ray Dalio, possibly the

most successful hedge-fund manager of

our time; he made about US$15 billion

through his hedge fund Bridgewater in

Connecticut. He has recorded in great

detail the principles by which he lives and

that he has incorporated into his business

practice. Some people attack Bridgewater

for being like a cult or a machine, taking

people in, then spitting them out. It has

a mixed reputation. But the book is fasci-

nating. I like some of his principles, not

others, but admire that he has thought so

methodically about it.

You’ve just turned 40. Do you have any

thoughts on that milestone?

I know myself now better than when I

wrote Heart to Start. A lot of things were in

gestation with The B Team, of which I was

founding CEO, developing at that time.

There is a sense of ego in the book that I

have moved on from. I really feel I have

evolved, and now when I do something, I

know it is with 100% integrity. l

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2 3

1. Derek Handley with Stephen Hawking, Cambridge University, 2015. 2. Sir Richard Branson recorded a message for the launch of Handley’s mobile
   advertising company Snakk Media, in March 2013. 3. With cousin Shareen, 1981. 4. Mum Latifa helps cut the third birthday cake. 5. With son Finn.
   6. With Finn and wife Maya.

“There is an old ritual

to give you perspective

on how fortunate you

are to be alive.”