By Peter @Newton Bell, 29 December 2016
Brian Leni is the publisher of the Junior Stock Review and is active on CEO.CA as @Leni. He willingly agreed to answer the Proust Questionnaire with me and it’s my pleasure to bring you his thoughtful answers below. Thanks, Brian!
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P: What is your idea of perfect happiness?
B: A balance in all parts of my life.
P: What is your greatest fear?
B: Death.
P: What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
B: I don’t deplore it, but my shyness holds me back sometimes.
P: What is the trait you most deplore in others?
B: Deceitfulness, if that’s a word. The intent to do evil may be the best way to put it.
P: Which living person do you most admire?
B: I’d have to break that up into a couple of categories. From the family side of things, my parents have definitely played a big role in my life. Financially, Rick Rule has been a huge influence. And philosophically, Doug Casey.
P: What is your greatest extravagance?
B: Up until we had our second kid, we spent a lot of money on travel. That was a big part of what my wife and I liked to do. We haven’t done it in a while, but I would still say that travelling is my greatest extravagance.
P: Well, I look forward to seeing you in Vancouver soon! That will be a bit of travel for you with the conferences there in January.
B: I can’t wait for it. Looking forward to it.
P: Have you been there before?
B: Once when I was 16.
P: Great, well I hope you added some time before the conference and then again after the conference to explore.
B: I did!
P: And what is your current state of mind?
B: Focused.
P: What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
B: I don’t think any of them are overrated. I think you need balance in each of them.
P: On what occasion do you lie?
B: I don’t try to make a habit of it, but maybe to save a person’s feelings. I’ve learned in my life that even when you are trying to save someone’s feelings, you’re often better off just telling them the truth.
P: What do you most dislike about your appearance?
B: Probably my weight! I carry a little bit too much fat.
P: Interesting that is an issue for so many of us these days. Which living person do you most despise?
B: That’s a hard one. I may despise someone in the moment, but I really try to let it go. I’m usually pretty good at that. I don’t really hold grudges. It doesn’t mean that cognitively I don’t remember what is said or done, but I don’t hold that emotion forever.
P: What is the quality you most like in a man?
B: Integrity, that’s very important.
P: And what is the quality you most like in a woman?
B: Same thing.
P: Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
B: This is more from my writing -- I quote Rick Rule a lot in saying that “money is made on the delta between price and value”. That hits home with me and I think it should with everybody else, too. I think that’s why I repeat it so often.
P: What or who is the greatest love of your life?
B: Each member of my family.
P: When and where were you happiest?
B: This is the time of the year!
B: This Christmas was fantastic. We hosted my family for Christmas this year, which is a first. And we had a really good visit with my wife’s side, too. Maybe not the happiest ever, but it was an awesome feeling – especially watching the kids. I’m working towards that happiest moment, even though I think I’d probably rather have just a constant happiness each day.
P: Well, that daily happiness can be a blinding sort of existence, I think. The whole Eastern religious philosophy around a state of being that is profoundly happiness.
B: I would say more than anything, more than financial aspects of my life, happiness is my #1 goal. That’s my focus.
P: Which talent would you most like to have?
B: Speak another language. With the travelling that my wife and I did, particularly throughout Europe, all the people that we met were all bi-lingual or tri-lingual. I can typically only say “thank you” or “hi” in their native tongue and I wish I had the ability to converse in more than one language.
P: And if you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
B: Going back to what we were talking about before -- if I could be more outgoing and lose a bit of weight, then that would be a good thing.
P: What do you consider your greatest achievement?
B: Again, it’s probably more segmented for me. The most important things to me, personally, would probably be my family. On the career side, this jump that I’ve made from a steady 9-to-5 job to the entrepreneurial publishing business was a great achievement.
P: If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
B: You know, I’ve never thought about that before. I’ve never met the “International Man” Doug Casey, but I admire his lifestyle and think that he has led a pretty interesting life. It would be cool to come back as somebody like that.
P: Where would you most like to live?
B: This is something that is on my wife’s mind and my own mind. We both work via the internet, so we can plant flags wherever. We would like to live in a couple of different places: France, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina. We’ve discussed all these places over the last couple of months and we’re figuring out which one we are going to try for a couple of months.
P: What is your most treasured possession?
B: I don’t have one. This is just something I think I’ve learned as I’ve grown. I tend to value experiences more than material things, therefore it’s hard to answer that.
P: When I answered that, I think I said “my mind”. It doesn’t have to be a material thing by any means.
B: Well, now you’ve made it harder for me! Maybe the memory of my kids being born -- I was there with my wife for both of them. We used a midwife, which is a lot different experience than the typical birthing experience. It was amazing.
P: What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
B: Probably living life not on my own terms, if that makes sense. I want to live life the way I want to and I don’t want someone else dictating it to me.
P: What is your favourite occupation?
B: I like what I’m doing now. I wish there was a little bit more money, but I like what I’m doing now.
P: It’s coming! All good things in time. What is your most marked characteristic?
B: I’m not sure. You’re probably better to ask someone else who sees me or has known me for a while. Introspection is really important, knowing yourself, and that’s probably something I have to work on.
P: It’s tough -- too much navel gazing can get you lost.
B: That’s why balance is so important.
P: What do you most value in your friends?
B: Loyalty.
P: Who are your favourite writers?
B: Fictional – I enjoy Lee Childs, he does the Reacher novels. I like Michael Connolly and Michael Crichton from the 90s. Non-fiction – Will Durant. Nassim Taleb. Buckminster Fuller, I would suggest him if you haven’t read his stuff.
P: Who is your hero of fiction?
B: I’m not sure. Honestly I don’t read a lot of fiction. Nothing comes to mind.
P: Always a fair answer. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
B: Again, I’ve never thought about that. I don’t have an answer.
P: Who are your heroes in real life?
B: My parents.
P: What are your favourite names?
B: I don’t really have any. I had input, but my wife – as far as what we named our kids – it wasn’t really a big deal to me. How about Peter?
P: The Rock. Thanks! And what is it that you most dislike?
B: Arrogant people. Actually, that goes back to one of the other questions -- most of the people I don’t like or end up not liking have an arrogance or a ‘know-it-all’ type of attitude. I just feel that there are definitely experts in different areas, but I think you learn every day. You can learn something from anybody and should never have an arrogant attitude or dismiss something because you think you’ve got it solved.
P: I suspect that we could talk a length about know-it-alls in engineering and know-it-alls in markets. How dangerous it can be to be a know-it-all in markets. For another day! What is your greatest regret?
B: I don’t have one. I like where I am in life. There are definitely things that I think could be improved but I wouldn’t trade places with anybody.
P: How would you like to die?
B: Peacefully, with family.
P: What is your motto?
B: Be happy.
