Welcome
After 20 years of running private equity firm Alpine Investors, six years as a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a lifetime spent learning about business and self-improvement—I’ve experienced my fair share of wins, losses, and challenges. And my journey is far from over.
Many years ago, I started collecting my thoughts by writing journal entries, lectures, and articles. Every time I found myself contemplating a tricky challenge or next step, I wrote about it. Putting words on a page helped bring clarity to my ideas and challenges. By the time I finish writing, editing, and rewriting, I usually have a better sense of where I was headed and how to get there.
As we continued to build our team at Alpine, I wrote entries about why attributes matter more than experience, how to put people in their area of greatest passion, or why we should focus on building lifetime relationships. As I explored my own mental well-being, I wrote about how I could identify the voices in my head, let go of fear, and stop beating myself up. I compared duration versus intensity in exercise, calculated the math of retaining versus acquiring customers, and tried to understand why many of us can’t seem to do obvious things, like get enough sleep.
I typically write early in the morning, before anyone in my house wakes up. My stories and reflections rarely leave the folder on my computer. Launching this blog is my attempt to change that. Every month I’ll share perspectives, methods, and exercises as well as stories from others. As you explore, you’ll find three sections dedicated to different parts of “the whole self”:
Self Discovery: Building intention into your life, including reflections, inspiration, and tactics for becoming the best version of yourself.
Alpine: Stories from 20 years as founding partner and a window into the world of people-driven private equity.
Outside Voices: Perspectives I admire, thought-provoking content, and a bit of humor.
Stories to explore this month:
In Why I Started Alpine, I write about lessons I learned early in my career and a few Wall Street low points that shaped Alpine’s intentional, people-driven culture.
In The Most Common Question, I share reflections on an age-old question and an exercise for exploring your path.
And in Setting Intentions, I share the start of my series of exercises on self-improvement.
Take a read, dig into the exercises, or send me a note at grahamweaverblog@gmail.com. And share this letter with anyone you think would enjoy it. I’ll check back regularly with new content and ideas. Until then, happy reading!
Cheers,
Graham