On advice-giving: People don’t care what you know until they know that you care. — source unknown One of my favorite Far Side cartoons shows a man in his bedroom getting dressed for the day. A sign by his mirror reminds him, “First Pants, Then Shoes”. This cartoon and the […]
Yearly Archives: 2007
56 posts
Back in March, my friend Barry Campbell and his wife started investing in their own White Trash and Minor Vices Portfolio. As Barry explained: Everyone says “invest in what you know.” I’m about to put my money where my big mouth is. Carrie and I invest, mostly in index funds […]
Early in my career, the management team of a large professional firm asked my opinion about how they were conducting their affairs. I responded with a very honest, direct and candid answer–”Here are the things you are messing up, and this is what you should have been doing!” To my […]
Chief executives at charitable hospitals in Massachusetts received substantial pay and benefit increases in fiscal year 2005, for the first time boosting their overall compensation to more than $1 million at most of the largest institutions. Also, the highest-paid hospital executive in the state, Partners HealthCare chief executive James J. […]
Old saying: When you owe the bank $10,000 and can’t pay up, you’re in trouble. When you owe the bank $10,000,000 and you can’t pay up, the bank is in trouble.
Venture capitalist Howard Morgan long spoke of the “Four P’s” of sizing up a business for potential investment: People, Product, Plans and Profits. Later, he added two more: Starting about 1996, when I was a lead investor in Idealab, I was inspired by Bill Gross to add a Fifth P. […]
Some of you will be going into business. For that you need two eyes. With one eye you have to check accounts receivable and accounts payable, overhead and profit margins, payroll and insurance costs. With the other you have to attend to your employees – are they receiving just reward […]