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At long last, and on the brink of turning 50, I finally made it into business school. And not just any old B-school - Wharton, no less.
Full disclosure... they only let me in for a couple of hours in order to give a talk - "What Got You From There To Here Won't Get You From Here To There: How To Get Out Of Your Own Way In Business."
Not only was the audience of executive MBA students sharp, they were also indulgent. They put up with gross gender generalizations, war stories and the occasional Star Trek reference, as I spoke about what it is that makes for a healthy relationship between your business and your self.
I had a blast. But it was more than just a fun couple of hours.
Both preparing for the talk and facing a milestone birthday led me to ruminate even more than usual on what makes for success in life, in business and in investing.
The key premise of my talk was that in the same way that we can never escape from our shadow, we can also never escape from our "stuff." Psychologically, we are the walking embodiment of an episode of Hoarders, loaded down with neurotic detritus.
And that's a problem - professional and business growth require personal growth. Unchanged, the same behavioral and psychological patterns that may once have served us well, now get in our way.
And what holds true for business also holds true for investing. The forces of entropy and complacency are powerful in the universe, and no matter how promising the start, as an investor you will be destined to mediocrity if you do not continue to grow.
Here's what I mean.
When you first start in this business you don't know the difference between a five-cent and a fifty-cent piece of information. You may be able to take apart financials and do a DCF calculation, but while you see the pieces, you don't see the whole pattern that tells you what expectations are embedded in a stock price.
This holds true for many professions, of course, from firefighter to ICU nurse. The novice can tick items off a checklist but still not see the constellation of danger they form. The expert instantly reads the whole pattern and sounds the alarm.
In this business, if you're any good, you start by becoming a student of market history:
You must know how stocks hopped the tracks and how mindsets changed completely in the past. This helps you to understand what might work in the future.
