18 Comments
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Guy Filippelli's avatar

Your words continue to impress! Part of the challenge of discussing sorrow or problems, though, in a public setting, is that those scenarios often involve other people and I find that it's tough to do so without drawing other people into it. Regarding investments, I'm happy to share some of my failures the next time I see you :)

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Jen's avatar

Very interesting, David. Having just had the biggest failure in my career to date, I’ve thought about how to share it as a learning lesson for others but also realize that it leaves room for misunderstanding or criticism that will only pour salt in the wound. You have to be brave to be vulnerable. It’s a hell of a lot easier to broadcast the successes…. Though I probably avoid broadcasting in general. I think I’ve shared before my dad’s words about fame which were “should it come your way, treat it with respect and return to the anonymity of your regular life.” ❤️

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Harold Berliner's avatar

Well written david you should resume your writing carer

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David Roberts's avatar

Thanks.

For now, I'm enjoying writing these short posts.

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Jonathan Glynn's avatar

Great points…. But can you advise me on and invest that will return tenfold! 😂

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David Roberts's avatar

I'll tell you if you tell me!

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Sam Rittenberg's avatar

Not too bad. Not too bad at all. And pass the brownies please.

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DANIEL ROBERTS's avatar

Great one. Personal and brave. (as you and I have discussed it is always the poor reviews, the poor investments, etc., on which I dwell. The good stuff doesn't move the needle for me/us. I think that's a good way to be as long as it doesn't lead to self-loathing.)

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Andrew Roberts's avatar

Great post.

My biggest investment mistake was letting you talk me out of investing in ANR, a stock with a great ticker.

I would have thought that truly wealthier investors would be more comfortable admitting their losses.

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DANIEL ROBERTS's avatar

Jim 's steaks suffered a fire.

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Lowell Murphree's avatar

As always, your writing is a pleasure. Your thought that cooperation has been the key to human advancement brought to mind Robert Wright's book, The Evolution of God, in which he expresses the same idea. We are taught from a young age, "put your best foot forward." So we do. Does that mean we are untrustworthy? Only if we are duplicitous in what we present. If we fail to disclose our failures or faults when asked for a fuller picture we have entered unreliability.

My lovely wife is fond of comparing the way we introduced ourselves over the first few weeks of our relationship. It is her perception that she shared with me a comprehensive list of her "faults." (I think she had years of training in Catholic girl's school to perfect her list and list making.) Then she turned to me and asked what my faults were. I responded honestly, "I can't think of any." Was I being deceptive? Not at all. I don't think of myself as having "faults" and I didn't think what she had disclosed were faults either. I think in different terms. It isn't that I do not behave badly, react too quickly to situations, and wait for all the pieces to come together before completing assignments. Of course over our 48 years together, she has helped me identify these as stubbornness, failure to listen, and procrastination. But her (sometimes) moral assessment that because these were not disclosed up front, I am therefore an untrustworthy person, is still not my assessment of myself. Am I being dishonest? I have a different frame for assessing human behavior than she has.

In the case you mentioned when flying, I can understand why he might not want to share up front. He was not your mentor. He might he had to retain an emotional competitive edge over a young hungry new comer. He likely felt he would loose esteem in your eyes if you knew his misjudgements. Perhaps the memory of them caused him debilitating self-doubt, something he could ill afford while gearing up for assessments of new risks. I get the question though. I once thought I would love to study sociology. Then I took an intro class in the subject and discovered that that discipline breaks down human beings into the roles they play (the faces they prepare). I was so morally offended by the idea of seeing people that way, that I left the class and didn't look back for many years.

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cynthia wasserberger's avatar

Great post. My equivalent of Debbie’s brownies was baked eggplant. Please ask Simon about it the next time we are together.

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David Roberts's avatar

Radical transparency has its downsides!

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Andrew Greenebaum's avatar

So perfect in so many ways.... I'm still waiting still waiting for my first 10 bagger......"Net Shmet worth"

stay just ok that's pretty good imo

Surprised the brownie comment only took only 20 years for Debbie to get over!

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Josh Blumenthal's avatar

You leave us without the key information required and it is a glaring omission. How were the brownies after all those years? Did she ask how they were? If so, how did you answer? Without this information, we're left wondering how long it will be until she makes brownies again for you. Sorry, you get an Incomplete on this one.

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David Roberts's avatar

I thought I'd replied, but it didn't show up.

All baked goods are now "perfect," brownies have made rare appearances.

Something about a bell once rung...

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David Roberts's avatar

Every baked good, including brownies, has been perfect for the past fifteen years!

Although brownies have been a rarity. Something about bells once rung...

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Josh Blumenthal's avatar

There are costs to gaining wisdom, but they prove to be small when we learn our lesson and that was a well written response.

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