Entrepreneurship and politics know quite a few high-achievers who studied history as undergraduates. Famous names like JFK, Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca, and Facebook’s co-founder Chris Hughes are just some of the individuals on the impressive roster. There are many ways to become successful, but is there a connection here? Historians likely have a broad understanding of business, but are historically trained businessmen more industrious? We would go as far as to argue that there is some correlation between historical pattern recognition abilities and the ability to accumulate and manage resources. And of course, the ability to better understand the present and predict the future. One rising star who embodies this paradigm is Christian Carbone, a 26-year-old real estate mogul and venture capitalist who studied History at Harvard, who views the world through this historical lens. Carbone’s real estate development business has over $100 million of projects underway, and he attributes his success and net worth to spotting patterns that other people don’t see. A In a June 2020 interview by Elite Luxury News, Carbone says “investment analysis and historical analysis have a lot in common. History is all about looking for patterns and inconsistencies, and understanding why situations are the way they are, who is involved, what works, what needs to be fixed. It encompasses people, places, companies, buildings, everything really. If you want to make money, study the people who made and lost lots of money. And mirror those who got it right.” And that is precisely how he built his career.
Carbone claims to have gotten his start in the real estate business around the time he left home to attend boarding school, so we would estimate around age 13 or 14 based on various interviews. While an undergraduate at Harvard University, he hit his first business homerun when he developed an $8 million condominium project in the Boston suburbs, netting him the startup capital he needed to start building an empire. His early success might have suggested that somebody in the family was in the business, but this was not the case and he claims to be entirely self-taught by studying the successes and failures of others. According to a 2021 article in LA Weekly, he came to grips with the totally unchartered waters of the real estate business when still in school by figuring out who was successful in the business and cold calling people until he found somebody who would agree to teach him. Eventually, he met a large property owner who shared secrets of the trade with him. By humbly studying business history on his own, outside of the classroom, Carbone found a proxy for experience that gave him the confidence to act when he saw the stars align for the right opportunity.
As a self-proclaimed student of historical patterns, Carbone seems to be doing something right and it is our opinion that this very pattern suggests a true superstar in the making. His lifestyle is that of someone always on the move, and we cannot help but wonder who inspired his deliberately methodical, unusual way of living. A fast learner and an energetic person, Carbone demonstrates his innate traits in everything he does. In 2019 alone, he boarded an aircraft over 60 times traveling—mostly private and mostly on business—to New York, London, and Tokyo, the hubs from which he conducts his global business dealings. Carbone travels like a true jetsetter, and for somebody who spends so much time traveling, he applies the same logical, pragmatic framework to staying sharp and comfortable that he applies to assessing business deals. For him, comfort and mobility are key when aboard a plane and when on the ground. Known for his unusual lifestyle choice to reside full time in a hotel suite, his favorite brands being Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental, Carbone was quoted in a 2020 Disrupt Magazine interview saying “It is the most efficient way to live. Anything I need is at my fingertips 24/7. I also value the security and anonymity.” And in a 2020 Toys for Boys article he said “It is one less thing that I need to worry about when I am busy. I can take the time and focus on making money” about the advantages of living life in a good hotel.
As is evidenced by his lifestyle, another key component to Carbone’s success, shared by many of his historical precedents, is his ability to manage a huge number of things at once. Business history shows that good time management is not only good business, but a huge predicter of success, a concept that JFK, Iacocca, and Hughes would certainly relate to. Carbone is no different with his addiction to efficiency in everything he does. As Elite Luxury News summarized in 2020, “he has no time to waste.” Carbone is quoted saying “Life is short and precious. Know what you want, and then find the simplest, most direct way to accomplish your objective. That’s how I approach life, whether I am negotiating a business deal or scheduling my day.” He makes time to give back, as a generous patron of the New York City Ballet and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among other causes. He also makes time to build his art collection, as was reported by Vegas Magazine on his record-setting painting purchase in October 2020. Carbone’s approach to managing so many different things sounds almost athletic, and may have stemmed from his career as a professional swimmer, where he logged thousands of hours in the pool over the course of his 10 year athletic career. A national swimming champion, Carbone competed in the United States Olympic Trials in 2012 and 2016—a historical case study on his extraordinary efforts, discipline, and talent applied to sports, and now business.
So is it good business to understand the past? And what can we learn from this case study on the industrious Christian Carbone? There are many ways to be successful, some of which are more certain and less risky than others. What do we think about Carbone’s historical case study method of setting big goals and emulating, step-by-step, those who have already achieved them? From a risk-adjusted standpoint, we think it is smart. Rather than re-invent the wheel, Carbone chose to buckle down and study the world around him. And it seems to have paid off. All one needs to do is look at Carbone’s private Instagram where he shares glimpses of the products of his success to his 22 thousand followers.
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