“This all sounds simple,” said Li Lu, “but there are many cases in life where people violate common sense — and, indeed, every time it happens people pay a heavy price.”
Beautiful summary. Nailed it. Should be taught first thing in college, indeed, in high school. But never will be. Remains secret knowledge. I try to find solace in the maxim that when the student is ready the teacher will arrive. Unfortunately, both can be very late to class.
An oldie but a goldie! Thanks for this lovely post (even if it was a while ago!).
Avoiding systematic irrationality is perhaps one of my favourite concepts along of course with Charlie's wonderful wisdom regarding simplicity: "make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler". Concepts to live by.
"Rationality is not just something you do so that you can make more money; it’s a binding principle. Rationality is a really good idea. You must avoid the nonsense that is conventional in one’s own time. It requires developing systems of thought that improve your batting average over time"
Did Munger ever actually start or manage directly any innovative enterprise? Or did he just collect horses for his stable and tell the world, this stable of horses is my genius plan? I am not arguing, I'm just curious because it is one thing to spout 'how to be a great human being' and another to have $500 in the bank, a family and starting a company from the ground up, fight through all the legal, financial, managerial, sales, technical and physical problems that starting a real company with real products creates. I invest in Berkshire Hathaway but never understood what they do until I started researching Greg Ables investments in Japan. Which again, just amount to: here is a horse, I will buy all or part of it and hope it runs fast.
Beautiful summary. Nailed it. Should be taught first thing in college, indeed, in high school. But never will be. Remains secret knowledge. I try to find solace in the maxim that when the student is ready the teacher will arrive. Unfortunately, both can be very late to class.
Well said! I was pretty late to class myself, but doing my best to make up for lost time. 🤣
An oldie but a goldie! Thanks for this lovely post (even if it was a while ago!).
Avoiding systematic irrationality is perhaps one of my favourite concepts along of course with Charlie's wonderful wisdom regarding simplicity: "make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler". Concepts to live by.
Thanks again for the lovely read.
Yours Kindly,
Johannes Haavisto
Thanks Johannes! Much appreciated :)
It’s funny how avoiding stupidity consistently outperforms chasing brilliance. Most edge isn’t found—it’s protected.
Be most interesting to here Charlie s take on where the worlds funds itself now, especially America.
"Rationality is not just something you do so that you can make more money; it’s a binding principle. Rationality is a really good idea. You must avoid the nonsense that is conventional in one’s own time. It requires developing systems of thought that improve your batting average over time"
💯💯💯
Did Munger ever actually start or manage directly any innovative enterprise? Or did he just collect horses for his stable and tell the world, this stable of horses is my genius plan? I am not arguing, I'm just curious because it is one thing to spout 'how to be a great human being' and another to have $500 in the bank, a family and starting a company from the ground up, fight through all the legal, financial, managerial, sales, technical and physical problems that starting a real company with real products creates. I invest in Berkshire Hathaway but never understood what they do until I started researching Greg Ables investments in Japan. Which again, just amount to: here is a horse, I will buy all or part of it and hope it runs fast.