In Search of Wisdom

Posted on by

Big Red Car here.  Glorious day in the ATX.

Whither wisdom?

Wisdom is the exercise of good judgment on a consistent basis.

Good judgment is the result of experience.

Experience is the result of bad judgment.

You can rent experience.

The other day The Boss is talking to a particularly brilliant young entrepreneur.  An MIT grad with a side of Wharton.

He was flying full speed not wanting to be late for a rendezvous with disaster.  The Boss jerked him up short and asked him if he had considered a particular issue.

He had not.

The Boss ran him through a quick pre-flight checklist.  The brilliant young entrepreneur realized he was off a few degrees on his compass heading.  He self-corrected.

Disaster avoided.  Clear skies ahead.

The brilliant young entrepreneur asked The Boss how he knew that kind of stuff.  The Boss said he’d been in the CEOing business for over 33 years and learned a few tricks along the way.

The brilliant young entrepreneur asked The Boss how he remembered that stuff.  The Boss said:  “Tuition stubs.  I write shit down.”

Low hanging fruit for entrepreneurs:  “Get a Moleskine notebook.  Write shit down.  Rent experience when you can, it’s cheaper than tuition and less grueling than disaster.”

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway?  I’m just a Big Red Car.  Be good to yourself.  Write shit down.

 

2 thoughts on “In Search of Wisdom”

  1. Yes, write shit down. Even if you throw away the piece of paper or never look at the notebook again. Writing things on paper is recording them in your brain.

    • .
      Not to get too deep but writing things down is a response to how one processes information and how one learns. It is very important.

      The Boss has a quarter century of journals. Moleskine notebooks.

      He actually goes back and looks at them from time to time. They are very revealing. He laughs and recognizes what a doob he was all those years ago.

      Now when he is advising CEOs of startups and others, he will keep a single individual notebook for all of their conversations to track their progress. One notebook per CEO. The progress is monumental.

      He can watch them grow before his eyes.

      BRC
      .

Comments are closed.