My father says that if I hit 2,500 balls each day, I’ll hit 17,500 balls each week, and at the end of one year I’ll have hit nearly one million balls. He believes in math. Numbers, he says, don’t lie. A child who hits one million balls each year will be unbeatable.
Open. Andre Agassi | Amazon
Open. Andre Agassi | Amazon
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Thank you very much. Votes from more users make the channel more visible to new subscribers. The goal is to reach the top in this ranking.
Life versus science fiction
Imagine an ant crawling on a table; this ant lives in two dimensions. Suddenly, a fly lands in front of the ant. From the ant's perspective, since it cannot look up, the fly has appeared from nowhere. In reality, the fly has emerged from the third dimension, which is unknown to the ant. The fly walks around the table in 2D before taking off (i.e., moving in the third dimension) and landing elsewhere. "The teleportation is real," the ant concludes.
Science fiction often deploys a similar exercise with 3+ dimensions. If you had access to the 4th dimension, you'd be able to enter any locked room and exit it without using the door. You would disappear, slide along the fourth dimension, and reappear at the desired spot in a 3D world. However, if you aren't cautious while having access to the 4th dimension, you could also accidentally kill yourself by sticking your arm into your guts, literally.
But do we need science fiction to grasp the concept of gaining a dimension? Color is a dimension. If you see color, you enjoy an extra dimension vs. the color blind. If you have an exceptionally sensitive palate, you get to appreciate another delicious dimension from food and beverages. Do you see where I am going with this?
An author, political activist, and lecturer, Helen Keller was blind and deaf, basically from birth. In her books, however, she would give visual descriptions of things. Wait a second. How can a person without experience of seeing anything in her life describe the appearance of something?
If you aren't familiar with Helen Keller's story, try to figure out how she learned to read and write (and eventually even speak) given her complete blindness and deafness. If you cannot hear or see from birth, where do you begin? How do you know that the lesson has started? How do you know that there is such a thing as a lesson?
Isn't Helen Keller's story a much more poignant example of transcending the limits of known dimensions?
Imagine an ant crawling on a table; this ant lives in two dimensions. Suddenly, a fly lands in front of the ant. From the ant's perspective, since it cannot look up, the fly has appeared from nowhere. In reality, the fly has emerged from the third dimension, which is unknown to the ant. The fly walks around the table in 2D before taking off (i.e., moving in the third dimension) and landing elsewhere. "The teleportation is real," the ant concludes.
Science fiction often deploys a similar exercise with 3+ dimensions. If you had access to the 4th dimension, you'd be able to enter any locked room and exit it without using the door. You would disappear, slide along the fourth dimension, and reappear at the desired spot in a 3D world. However, if you aren't cautious while having access to the 4th dimension, you could also accidentally kill yourself by sticking your arm into your guts, literally.
But do we need science fiction to grasp the concept of gaining a dimension? Color is a dimension. If you see color, you enjoy an extra dimension vs. the color blind. If you have an exceptionally sensitive palate, you get to appreciate another delicious dimension from food and beverages. Do you see where I am going with this?
An author, political activist, and lecturer, Helen Keller was blind and deaf, basically from birth. In her books, however, she would give visual descriptions of things. Wait a second. How can a person without experience of seeing anything in her life describe the appearance of something?
If you aren't familiar with Helen Keller's story, try to figure out how she learned to read and write (and eventually even speak) given her complete blindness and deafness. If you cannot hear or see from birth, where do you begin? How do you know that the lesson has started? How do you know that there is such a thing as a lesson?
Isn't Helen Keller's story a much more poignant example of transcending the limits of known dimensions?
‘Safe as houses’: the phrase tells you all you need to know about why people all over the world yearn to own their own homes. But that phrase means something more precise in the world of finance. It means that there is nothing safer than lending money to people with property. Why? Because if they default on the loan, you can repossess the house. Even if they run away, the house can’t. As the Germans say, land and buildings are ‘immobile’ property. So it is no coincidence that the single most important source of funds for a new business in the United States is a mortgage on the entrepreneur’s house.
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. Niall Ferguson | Amazon
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. Niall Ferguson | Amazon
Enthusiasm is the mother of effort (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
A student has recently asked me for advice on learning the basics of coding. Enrolling in a course—offline or online—is an easy answer. However, experience has taught me that merely starting a course often fails to generate sufficient momentum and progress. What could be the missing ingredients?
I remembered a break-through that happened in my coding journey. In graduate school, I started playing squash. Similar in appearance—but not substance—to tennis, squash allows fast progress and soon becomes a strategic mental game and not just a physical act.
The gym located next door to the Economics department had two squash courts available for reservation through an online system 72 hours in advance. Since any student could reserve a court for free, demand massively exceeded supply, especially for convenient time windows. If you want to play at 8 am on Monday, you must log in and book a court seconds after 8 am on Friday before others do so. If you want to play at 8 am every day, good luck with that.
Seeing the opportunity, I decided to write a script for placing such reservations milliseconds after the cutoff. After several weeks of tinkering with the code, learning new methods, testing, and polishing for half an hour or so after dinner, I made it work. And I never failed to get a reservation again. My friends and fellow squash players would even ask me to make bookings on their behalf.
The methods underpinning the code to make squash court reservations turned out to be indispensable for my dissertation. If I weren't enthusiastic about squash, it would have been harder to master these methods.
So what are the missing ingredients to progress in coding? Enthusiasm for something beyond coding and vision of how coding can help you fulfill this enthusiasm.
A student has recently asked me for advice on learning the basics of coding. Enrolling in a course—offline or online—is an easy answer. However, experience has taught me that merely starting a course often fails to generate sufficient momentum and progress. What could be the missing ingredients?
I remembered a break-through that happened in my coding journey. In graduate school, I started playing squash. Similar in appearance—but not substance—to tennis, squash allows fast progress and soon becomes a strategic mental game and not just a physical act.
The gym located next door to the Economics department had two squash courts available for reservation through an online system 72 hours in advance. Since any student could reserve a court for free, demand massively exceeded supply, especially for convenient time windows. If you want to play at 8 am on Monday, you must log in and book a court seconds after 8 am on Friday before others do so. If you want to play at 8 am every day, good luck with that.
Seeing the opportunity, I decided to write a script for placing such reservations milliseconds after the cutoff. After several weeks of tinkering with the code, learning new methods, testing, and polishing for half an hour or so after dinner, I made it work. And I never failed to get a reservation again. My friends and fellow squash players would even ask me to make bookings on their behalf.
The methods underpinning the code to make squash court reservations turned out to be indispensable for my dissertation. If I weren't enthusiastic about squash, it would have been harder to master these methods.
So what are the missing ingredients to progress in coding? Enthusiasm for something beyond coding and vision of how coding can help you fulfill this enthusiasm.
— Language brings with it an identity and a culture, or at least the perception of it. A shared language says “We’re the same.” A language barrier says “We’re different.” The architects of apartheid understood this. Part of the effort to divide black people was to make sure we were separated not just physically but by language as well. In the Bantu schools, children were only taught in their home language. Zulu kids learned in Zulu. Tswana kids learned in Tswana. Because of this, we’d fall into the trap the government had set for us and fight among ourselves, believing that we were different.
— I became a chameleon. My color didn’t change, but I could change your perception of my color. If you spoke to me in Zulu, I replied to you in Zulu. If you spoke to me in Tswana, I replied to you in Tswana. Maybe I didn’t look like you, but if I spoke like you, I was you.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. Trevor Noah | Amazon
— I became a chameleon. My color didn’t change, but I could change your perception of my color. If you spoke to me in Zulu, I replied to you in Zulu. If you spoke to me in Tswana, I replied to you in Tswana. Maybe I didn’t look like you, but if I spoke like you, I was you.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. Trevor Noah | Amazon
The Last Emperor (1987) | Prime Video | Wiki
Won nine Academy Awards.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Cast: Peter O'Toole — Reginald Fleming Johnston; John Lone — Puyi
Background: Johnston is the tutor of Puyi (1906–1967), the last Emperor of China.
— Words are important.
— Why are words important?
— If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.
Won nine Academy Awards.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci
Cast: Peter O'Toole — Reginald Fleming Johnston; John Lone — Puyi
Background: Johnston is the tutor of Puyi (1906–1967), the last Emperor of China.
— Words are important.
— Why are words important?
— If you cannot say what you mean, your majesty, you will never mean what you say and a gentleman should always mean what he says.
Nikola Tesla, Elon Musk, and the ability to visualize
In his 1919 autobiography “My Inventions,” Nikola Tesla talks about a childhood affliction which made him sporadically see images or flashbacks of what he had witnessed in the past.
— When a word was spoken to me, the image of the object it designated would present itself vividly to my vision, and sometimes I was quite unable to distinguish whether what I saw was tangible or not.
Eventually, Tesla learned to control this feature and mastered the ability to visualize with the greatest facility. He needed no models, drawings, or experiments. He could picture them all as real in his mind.
— I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements, and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance.
Even more surprising is the parallel with Elon Musk, whose 2015 biography comments on the very visual way in which Musk’s mind works.
— He could see images in his mind’s eye with clarity and detail that we might associate today with an engineering drawing produced by computer software.
— Over time, Musk has ended up thinking that his brain has the equivalent of a graphics chip. It allows him to see things out in the world, replicate them in his mind, and imagine how they might change or behave when interacting with other objects.
Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that visualization may be helpful in numerous areas of life. However, closing your eyes and thinking or imagining that you see something is not the same as actually seeing that something with your eyes closed.
What a coincidence that the CEO of “Tesla, Inc.” appears to have the uncanny ability to visualize on par with the original Tesla, Nikola Tesla.
In his 1919 autobiography “My Inventions,” Nikola Tesla talks about a childhood affliction which made him sporadically see images or flashbacks of what he had witnessed in the past.
— When a word was spoken to me, the image of the object it designated would present itself vividly to my vision, and sometimes I was quite unable to distinguish whether what I saw was tangible or not.
Eventually, Tesla learned to control this feature and mastered the ability to visualize with the greatest facility. He needed no models, drawings, or experiments. He could picture them all as real in his mind.
— I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements, and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance.
Even more surprising is the parallel with Elon Musk, whose 2015 biography comments on the very visual way in which Musk’s mind works.
— He could see images in his mind’s eye with clarity and detail that we might associate today with an engineering drawing produced by computer software.
— Over time, Musk has ended up thinking that his brain has the equivalent of a graphics chip. It allows him to see things out in the world, replicate them in his mind, and imagine how they might change or behave when interacting with other objects.
Research and anecdotal evidence suggest that visualization may be helpful in numerous areas of life. However, closing your eyes and thinking or imagining that you see something is not the same as actually seeing that something with your eyes closed.
What a coincidence that the CEO of “Tesla, Inc.” appears to have the uncanny ability to visualize on par with the original Tesla, Nikola Tesla.
Why can’t we learn sound moral principles at home, or in a philosophy class, or by reading a book about ethics—and then apply them as needed? Aristotle says we don’t become virtuous that way. “Moral virtue comes about as a result of habit.” It’s the kind of thing we learn by doing. “The virtues we get by first exercising them, as also happens in the case of the arts as well.”
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? Michael J. Sandel | Amazon
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do? Michael J. Sandel | Amazon
This is Spinal Tap (1984), directed by Rob Reiner
A fantastic dry-humor mockumentary about the fictional English heavy metal band touring the United States.
This enclosed scene—as hilarious as it is—touches on a highbrow topic. Whenever you compare two numbers, they should be measured in the same units (i.e., with respect to the same numeraire). Otherwise, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison.
Having said that, when you feel like you've reached your limit of effort, perhaps untapped resources still exist. If so, you should turn it up to eleven.
A fantastic dry-humor mockumentary about the fictional English heavy metal band touring the United States.
This enclosed scene—as hilarious as it is—touches on a highbrow topic. Whenever you compare two numbers, they should be measured in the same units (i.e., with respect to the same numeraire). Otherwise, it's not an apples-to-apples comparison.
Having said that, when you feel like you've reached your limit of effort, perhaps untapped resources still exist. If so, you should turn it up to eleven.
YouTube
Spinal Tap - "These go to eleven...."
Spinal Tap lead guitarist, Nigel Tufnel explains the importance of going to 11...2021 update: I'm now planning to actually make something of this channel, so...
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Dog University
Domesticated c. 40,000 years ago, dogs have lived with humans since before the oldest civilizations emerged, since before the Agricultural Revolution. Forging a bond with one is a purely human experience.
Dogs also teach valuable lessons to those willing to observe and learn.
1) A leader does not force; a leader leads. You cannot force your dog to do anything and keep its respect and friendship. If you want your dog to go on a walk with you, attaching a leash and gently pulling is a fool’s errand if the dog prefers to remain behind. You have to make the dog want to go on a walk with you.
2) The tone is essential. Dogs may be oblivious to the precise words that you say, but they are remarkably sensitive to your tone of voice. It’s not just what you say; it’s also how you say it.
3) Be present. Dogs can fall asleep in an instant because they neither dwell on the past nor worry about the future. When they eat, they eat. When they fetch, they fetch. Dogs are always present.
Domesticated c. 40,000 years ago, dogs have lived with humans since before the oldest civilizations emerged, since before the Agricultural Revolution. Forging a bond with one is a purely human experience.
Dogs also teach valuable lessons to those willing to observe and learn.
1) A leader does not force; a leader leads. You cannot force your dog to do anything and keep its respect and friendship. If you want your dog to go on a walk with you, attaching a leash and gently pulling is a fool’s errand if the dog prefers to remain behind. You have to make the dog want to go on a walk with you.
2) The tone is essential. Dogs may be oblivious to the precise words that you say, but they are remarkably sensitive to your tone of voice. It’s not just what you say; it’s also how you say it.
3) Be present. Dogs can fall asleep in an instant because they neither dwell on the past nor worry about the future. When they eat, they eat. When they fetch, they fetch. Dogs are always present.
The real decision is not whether to use that or which but whether to use a restrictive or a nonrestrictive relative clause. If a phrase which expresses a comment about a noun can be omitted without substantially changing the meaning, and if it would be pronounced after a slight pause and with its own intonation contour, then be sure to set it off with commas (or dashes or parentheses): The Cambridge restaurant, which had failed to clean its grease trap, was infested with roaches.
Having done so, you don’t have to worry about whether to use that or which, because if you’re tempted to use that it means either that you are more than two hundred years old or that your ear for the English language is so mistuned that the choice of that and which is the least of your worries.
The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. Steven Pinker | Amazon
Having done so, you don’t have to worry about whether to use that or which, because if you’re tempted to use that it means either that you are more than two hundred years old or that your ear for the English language is so mistuned that the choice of that and which is the least of your worries.
The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person's Guide to Writing in the 21st Century. Steven Pinker | Amazon
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) | Prime Video | Wiki
Director: Robert Hamer
Highly intelligent dark comedy.
Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini (played by Dennis Price) seeks to climb the inheritance ladder in an aristocratic family by, well, accelerating the deaths of those closer in succession. Sir Alec Guinness (the colonel in The Bridge on the River Kwai) acted in the movie, but I could not quite pinpoint his exact character. Only at the end of the film, when the credits rolled, did I realize that he portrayed not one, but eight different people. What a skillful shape-shifter!
The script also turns up to eleven the art of molding words into elegant insults.
Sibella: He's so dull.
Louis: I must admit he exhibits the most extraordinary capacity for middle age that I've ever encountered in a young man of twenty-four.
Sibella: He says he wants to go to Europe to expand his mind.
Louis: He certainly has room to do so.
Director: Robert Hamer
Highly intelligent dark comedy.
Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini (played by Dennis Price) seeks to climb the inheritance ladder in an aristocratic family by, well, accelerating the deaths of those closer in succession. Sir Alec Guinness (the colonel in The Bridge on the River Kwai) acted in the movie, but I could not quite pinpoint his exact character. Only at the end of the film, when the credits rolled, did I realize that he portrayed not one, but eight different people. What a skillful shape-shifter!
The script also turns up to eleven the art of molding words into elegant insults.
Sibella: He's so dull.
Louis: I must admit he exhibits the most extraordinary capacity for middle age that I've ever encountered in a young man of twenty-four.
Sibella: He says he wants to go to Europe to expand his mind.
Louis: He certainly has room to do so.
Real estate buyers kill two birds with one dollar
My regular readers are familiar with Niall Ferguson's observation that real estate is an asset class attractive to lenders because of its unmovable nature. The equivalent of the term real estate in other languages is often revealing: immobilier (French), immobiliare (Italian), недвижимость = immovability (Russian), to list a few examples. If the borrower stops paying, the lender knows with certainty where the house is and can seize it whenever.
But real estate is also an asset class uniquely attractive to buyers because it simultaneously carries both investment value and consumption value.
When you buy a car, you enjoy driving it and spend less on cabs and public transportation; that's the consumption value. But the minute you leave the dealer's parking lot, the car's market value drops and keeps falling over time. Regular cars don't carry any investment value.
When you buy stocks or bonds, that's an investment that does not carry any consumption value. Your portfolio may increase your financial wealth over time. However, it won't directly affect your day-to-day consumption utility, unless you're Scrooge McDuck, who uses his giant money vault as a swimming pool. (Saves money on a gym membership?)
When you buy a house, you get to live in the house and enjoy its amenities. You may invite relatives and friends to visit (unless the pandemic intervenes), and no more rent. That's the consumption value. With a little bit of luck and foresight, you might also sell it at a profit years later. That's the investment value.
What else is an investment and consumption at the same time? Share your thoughts in the comments. And write in the comments if the term real estate also has an immobile connotation in your language. I'm eager to collect more examples.
My regular readers are familiar with Niall Ferguson's observation that real estate is an asset class attractive to lenders because of its unmovable nature. The equivalent of the term real estate in other languages is often revealing: immobilier (French), immobiliare (Italian), недвижимость = immovability (Russian), to list a few examples. If the borrower stops paying, the lender knows with certainty where the house is and can seize it whenever.
But real estate is also an asset class uniquely attractive to buyers because it simultaneously carries both investment value and consumption value.
When you buy a car, you enjoy driving it and spend less on cabs and public transportation; that's the consumption value. But the minute you leave the dealer's parking lot, the car's market value drops and keeps falling over time. Regular cars don't carry any investment value.
When you buy stocks or bonds, that's an investment that does not carry any consumption value. Your portfolio may increase your financial wealth over time. However, it won't directly affect your day-to-day consumption utility, unless you're Scrooge McDuck, who uses his giant money vault as a swimming pool. (Saves money on a gym membership?)
When you buy a house, you get to live in the house and enjoy its amenities. You may invite relatives and friends to visit (unless the pandemic intervenes), and no more rent. That's the consumption value. With a little bit of luck and foresight, you might also sell it at a profit years later. That's the investment value.
What else is an investment and consumption at the same time? Share your thoughts in the comments. And write in the comments if the term real estate also has an immobile connotation in your language. I'm eager to collect more examples.
“There are two goddesses in your heart,” he told them. “The Goddess of Wisdom and the Goddess of Wealth. Everyone thinks they need to get wealth first, and wisdom will come. So they concern themselves with chasing money. But they have it backwards. You have to give your heart to the Goddess of Wisdom, give her all your love and attention, and the Goddess of Wealth will become jealous, and follow you.”
Ask nothing from your running, in other words, and you’ll get more than you ever imagined.
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. Christopher McDougall | Amazon
Ask nothing from your running, in other words, and you’ll get more than you ever imagined.
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. Christopher McDougall | Amazon
"I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order." (Eric Morecambe, English comedian)
The first film in the James Bond series, Dr. No (1962), contains an interesting conversation between James Bond and Honey Ryder.
Bond: "I suppose you went to school somewhere?"
Honey: "I didn't need to; we had an encyclopedia. I started at A when I was eight, now I've reached T. I bet I know a lot more things than you do!"
The terms in an encyclopedia appear in alphabetical order to make it easier to find items. But is alphabetical order an optimal one for learning? Of course, not. Nietzsche said: "He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying." Flying appears in the dictionary after climbing and dancing but before standing, walking, and running. Good luck following Nietzsche's advice if alphabetical is your order of choice.
Order is essential and varies depending on a task or goal. Understanding the sequence in which to pursue actions helps to achieve success.
Chess players spend hours memorizing the correct order of moves in different openings. Even a tiny inaccuracy on their part would offer an advantage to their opponent. It's a mistake, however, to obsess over order in all areas of life. Mikhail Tal, the 8th World Chess Champion, was once taking a shower and asked his wife for advice:
—Honey, in what order should I wash myself?
The first film in the James Bond series, Dr. No (1962), contains an interesting conversation between James Bond and Honey Ryder.
Bond: "I suppose you went to school somewhere?"
Honey: "I didn't need to; we had an encyclopedia. I started at A when I was eight, now I've reached T. I bet I know a lot more things than you do!"
The terms in an encyclopedia appear in alphabetical order to make it easier to find items. But is alphabetical order an optimal one for learning? Of course, not. Nietzsche said: "He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying." Flying appears in the dictionary after climbing and dancing but before standing, walking, and running. Good luck following Nietzsche's advice if alphabetical is your order of choice.
Order is essential and varies depending on a task or goal. Understanding the sequence in which to pursue actions helps to achieve success.
Chess players spend hours memorizing the correct order of moves in different openings. Even a tiny inaccuracy on their part would offer an advantage to their opponent. It's a mistake, however, to obsess over order in all areas of life. Mikhail Tal, the 8th World Chess Champion, was once taking a shower and asked his wife for advice:
—Honey, in what order should I wash myself?
The Davidov Effect
A billionaire was once asked: How did you amass this fortune?
— I had nothing when I found a dirty apple on the street. I washed it and sold it for one dollar. I used this dollar to buy two dirty apples. I washed them and sold them for two dollars. Slowly but surely, the scale grew. And then my rich aunt died and left me a $1 billion inheritance.
How did I go from 0 to 3,000+ subscribers?
— I focused on content and not numbers. Having added 50 friends over a few weeks, I registered my channel in a catalog and asked my subscribers to vote for it to make it more visible. Slowly but surely, the growth picked up. The daily increment rose from ~1 in Jan to ~8 in Jul. And that’s when my friend Nick Davidov (Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Twitter) whispered about my channel and 2,000 joined on a single day.
This experience made me rethink the billionaire parable. If that person hadn’t first built credibility at the fruit stand, the aunt might have left the inheritance to someone else.
A billionaire was once asked: How did you amass this fortune?
— I had nothing when I found a dirty apple on the street. I washed it and sold it for one dollar. I used this dollar to buy two dirty apples. I washed them and sold them for two dollars. Slowly but surely, the scale grew. And then my rich aunt died and left me a $1 billion inheritance.
How did I go from 0 to 3,000+ subscribers?
— I focused on content and not numbers. Having added 50 friends over a few weeks, I registered my channel in a catalog and asked my subscribers to vote for it to make it more visible. Slowly but surely, the growth picked up. The daily increment rose from ~1 in Jan to ~8 in Jul. And that’s when my friend Nick Davidov (Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, Twitter) whispered about my channel and 2,000 joined on a single day.
This experience made me rethink the billionaire parable. If that person hadn’t first built credibility at the fruit stand, the aunt might have left the inheritance to someone else.
— A hedgehog reduces all challenges and dilemmas to simple, indeed almost simplistic—hedgehog ideas. For a hedgehog, anything that does not somehow relate to the hedgehog idea holds no relevance.
— What can we potentially do better than any other company, and, equally important, what can we not do better than any other company? And if we can’t be the best at it, then why are we doing it at all?
— A Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best. It is an understanding of what you can be the best at. The distinction is absolutely crucial.
— The good-to-great companies at their best followed a simple mantra: “Anything that does not fit with our Hedgehog Concept, we will not do. We will not launch unrelated businesses. We will not make unrelated acquisitions. We will not do unrelated joint ventures. If it doesn’t fit, we don’t do it. Period.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't. Jim Collins | Amazon
— What can we potentially do better than any other company, and, equally important, what can we not do better than any other company? And if we can’t be the best at it, then why are we doing it at all?
— A Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best. It is an understanding of what you can be the best at. The distinction is absolutely crucial.
— The good-to-great companies at their best followed a simple mantra: “Anything that does not fit with our Hedgehog Concept, we will not do. We will not launch unrelated businesses. We will not make unrelated acquisitions. We will not do unrelated joint ventures. If it doesn’t fit, we don’t do it. Period.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't. Jim Collins | Amazon
New podcast
Georgetown Collegiate Investors (GCI) is a student-run equity investment fund at Georgetown University. A few weeks ago, Nick Giangiordano, portfolio manager at GCI and my former student, interviewed me for their recently-launched podcast.
We talked about finance, decision-making, happiness, bottlenecks, and books. I tried to stay away from making chess analogies, but failed miserably. So there is some chess also.
If you get to listen to the podcast, let me know in the comments what you liked and disliked. I appreciated how outstanding Nick was as a host.
Georgetown Collegiate Investors (GCI) is a student-run equity investment fund at Georgetown University. A few weeks ago, Nick Giangiordano, portfolio manager at GCI and my former student, interviewed me for their recently-launched podcast.
We talked about finance, decision-making, happiness, bottlenecks, and books. I tried to stay away from making chess analogies, but failed miserably. So there is some chess also.
If you get to listen to the podcast, let me know in the comments what you liked and disliked. I appreciated how outstanding Nick was as a host.
Linkedin
Georgetown Collegiate Investors, LLC on LinkedIn: #financepodcast #businesspodcast #georgetown #decisionmaking
How can finance guide our personal decision making? Can you equate happiness to a stock price? Our latest guest is BFM Prof. Vladimir Mukharlyamov interviewed…
Life teaches how to code
Many a book exist on life lessons one can glean from different areas. Garry Kasparov, the 13th World Chess Champion, outlined what chess teaches about life in his book How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom. Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths explain how understanding computer science may lead to better decision making in everyday life in their book Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions.
Is this a one-way street? Or can we use life principles to enhance our understanding of some narrow areas?
In an elementary school programming class in the mid-1990s, we studied the archaic language GW-BASIC. I remember using for-loops and wait to get a yellow circle—representing the Sun—to move from left to right.
We also regularly used the GOTO command, which instructs the computer to jump to a specific line number in your script.
But I haven't encountered or used the GOTO command analog since then. Why? It feels that jumping to a particular line in your script may be part of the fastest solution to a programming objective. If speed is good, why do programmers frown upon the GOTO command?
Let's learn a lesson from life. If you're on the 11th floor of a building, what's the fastest way to get to the ground level? Stairs or elevator? Neither. The quickest way to get to the ground level is through a window—it will take less than 3 seconds.
Speed in life may come at the expense of safety. Same with coding. Using the GOTO command exposes you to unnecessary risks of uninitiated variables, infinite loops, logical errors, etc.
Ironically, my elementary school's programming class met on the ground floor level. Maybe that's why the GOTO command was considered safe.
Many a book exist on life lessons one can glean from different areas. Garry Kasparov, the 13th World Chess Champion, outlined what chess teaches about life in his book How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom. Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths explain how understanding computer science may lead to better decision making in everyday life in their book Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions.
Is this a one-way street? Or can we use life principles to enhance our understanding of some narrow areas?
In an elementary school programming class in the mid-1990s, we studied the archaic language GW-BASIC. I remember using for-loops and wait to get a yellow circle—representing the Sun—to move from left to right.
We also regularly used the GOTO command, which instructs the computer to jump to a specific line number in your script.
But I haven't encountered or used the GOTO command analog since then. Why? It feels that jumping to a particular line in your script may be part of the fastest solution to a programming objective. If speed is good, why do programmers frown upon the GOTO command?
Let's learn a lesson from life. If you're on the 11th floor of a building, what's the fastest way to get to the ground level? Stairs or elevator? Neither. The quickest way to get to the ground level is through a window—it will take less than 3 seconds.
Speed in life may come at the expense of safety. Same with coding. Using the GOTO command exposes you to unnecessary risks of uninitiated variables, infinite loops, logical errors, etc.
Ironically, my elementary school's programming class met on the ground floor level. Maybe that's why the GOTO command was considered safe.
The night before Jordan and his parents were to fly to Oregon to hear Nike officials present their vision for the Air Jordan campaign, Jordan phoned his parents and told them he wasn’t going. He was tired of all his recent travels and the last thing he wanted was a cross-country trip for a shoe he didn’t even like. Deloris Jordan insisted that her son be at the airport in the morning. She would have it no other way. Sure enough, Jordan was at the Raleigh-Durham airport early the next day.
Michael Jordan: The Life. Roland Lazenby | Amazon
Michael Jordan: The Life. Roland Lazenby | Amazon