Problems are an Asset

Nugget by Brad Jacobs

Nov 07, 2025

👋 Hey friend,

Today’s nugget (on Wealth) comes from the book How to Make a Few Billion Dollars, written by Brad Jacobs.

It’s an insight that a young Brad Jacobs learned from his business mentor Ludwig Jesselson, and he wrote it was an invaluable lesson for his business career.

👤 Doers

💡Nugget

🟠 Brad Jacobs:
I’ve had multiple business mentors over the years, but none has been more important than Ludwig Jesselson. Before his death in 1993, Mr. Jesselson (I never heard anyone call him Ludwig) ran Phillip Brothers, or Phibro, then the largest commodity trading company in the world. I got to know him in my twenties, when Phibro became a client of my oil brokerage business. Before long, we were lunching regularly, and as we chatted, he would share bits of business wisdom that have stayed with me ever since.
At one memorable lunch, I arrived burdened with problems that I began to unload on him. Mr. Jesselson listened carefully—he was good at that—and waited until I had run out my string. Then he put down his fork, turned to me, and in his thick German accent said, “Look, Brad, if you want to make money in the business world, you need to get used to problems, because that’s what business is. It’s actually about finding problems, embracing and even enjoying them—because each problem is an opportunity to remove an obstacle and get closer to success.”
Life can be uncomfortable, but you can accomplish a lot if you can figure out how to reframe the uncomfortable things in ways that allow you to utilize them.
In that moment, I learned something invaluable: Problems are an asset—not something to avoid but something to run toward. Big ambitions often beget even bigger problems. If your initial reaction to a major setback is overwhelming frustration, that’s understandable, but it’s also counterproductive. Once you’re over that moment, pivot toward success: “Great! This is an opportunity for me to create a lot of value. If I can just figure out how to solve this problem, I’ll be much closer to my goal.”
The fact is, you’re not going to create a huge amount of value unless you’re courageous, and problems are the by-product of risk. As long as you’re honest with yourself, recognize mistakes as soon as they surface, and course-correct with no ego, the things about your business that aren’t good can become great. Tackle it head-on: Where are the inefficiencies in the process that created this problem? Where can my team reduce operational defects with Lean Six Sigma? Do I have the right people in place in key positions?
Embrace everything that comes your way, the good and especially the bad. And don’t just accept adversity—figure out how to capitalize on it.

*“Big ambitions often beget even bigger problems.”* - Brad Jacobs

“If you have any form of ambition, resistance [problems, challenges, etc.] will come.” 
– Matthew McConaughey


“What is happiness? The feeling that power increases — that a resistance is overcome.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche


When Mark Breier, early senior marketing executive at Amazon, brought bad news to Jeff Bezos:

“I brought him very bad news about our business, and for some reason, he got excited.”
[From the book The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone]

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