Happy New Year everybody.
Nothing like that New Year Eve fresh start feeling, is there? You know this year marks my 43rd year in the financial service business sector. The days crawl and the years fly. Well, I’ve learned quite a bit over the years and I’ll share a few things with you. Not only financial things. Just some general stuff.
When I’m mentoring young people just getting started I always tell them that every 5 years you take a quantum leap up in knowledge. You know the “I wish I would have known that 5 years ago” sentiment. And I also remind them that information is not knowledge. You’ve heard old cliches: It’s darkest before dawn, time heals all wounds, this too shall pass, the sun will come up tomorrow…as we get older, we realize those cliches are true.
On leadership:
Dwight Eisenhower said it best: Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.
I heard these someplace and they got me thinking:
Have you ever seen a bear attack a rat? The rat puts up a fierce resistance worthy of high praise.
Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the
hunter.
There’s a limit to our intelligence, but not to our stupidity.
A few thoughts on business:
Marshall Jaffe said this: The daily change in the stock market may be the most reported news item outside of the weather. The implicit message is that what is happening in the market today is important and worth your attention. It’s not. I said that.
Warren Buffett said this: What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact. A corollary to this is what Cicero said 2000 years ago …..Men construe things after their own thoughts.
If Henry Ford had asked his customers, they would have told him they want a faster horse.
A few general truisms I’ll share:
A good scare is worth more than good advice.
If a million people do a foolish thing, it’s still a foolish thing.
Hope is a good breakfast but a bad supper.
And lastly some tidbits:
Some problems can’t be solved, only managed. Peggy Noonan said that.
Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” Ian Betteridge.
If you are a gambler…your team doesn’t have to win, they just have to cover.
It always easy for the person who doesn’t have to do it.
It’s better to look forward to something, than to look back on something.
He who knows only his side of the case, knows little of that, said John Stuart Mill.
Finally, what will tomorrow bring?
That’s up to you, that’s up to me, and that’s up to all of us.
Until next time, I’m Phil Albitz…Happy New Year. Let’s knock it out of the park this year.
All information is believed to be from reliable sources. However, we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. The views stated in this letter are not necessarily the opinion of Cetera Advisor Networks LLC.
