Guiding Principles

Personal Guiding Principles

A collection of well-said quotes, and important thoughts we would all do well to keep in mind. Sources acknowledged. For the full list of quotes that appear in the sidebar on the right, download quotes.

W Kerr’s Personal Creed

Philosophical Approaches

  1. “Shakespeare” Caution: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
  2. “Mgmt 100″ Interdependence: Admit you need help. It makes you friends, it is not a sign of weakness, it draws the best from both parties.
  3. Me: The key to success is managing your signal-to-noise ratio and cutting through that of others’.
  4. JK Rowling: “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”
  5. Me: Unsolicited help is unwanted help, which is no help at all.
  6. Gretchen Rubin “Time Value of Time”: The Days are Long, but the Years are Short. (post)

Leadership/Management/Teamwork Guidelines

  1. “Ed Rendell” Presence: “Leadership is first and foremost about showing up.”
  2. “Hwa Chong Motto”: “Live with Passion, Lead with Compassion.”
  3. Me: “Leadership (of capable, committed teams) is the generation of an inspiring vision and the clear communication of that vision.”
  4. “Greenspan” Facts vs. Opinions: “Everybody is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.”
  5. Me: Trust is the hardest currency to earn, easiest to spend.

Negotiation Guidelines

  1. Self: Establish Expectations before a Negotiation (post)

Rhetoric/Public Speaking Lessons

  1. Aristotle: Use cue words to incite audience interest at key points: “Now this is especially important to you because…”
  2. Self: Repeat important points. Repeat Important Points.

Educational Philosophy

  1. “Doug Coulter” Selflessness: “My goal in teaching you is for you to one day realize you don’t need me.”
  2. Self: Students learn the most when the teacher is not “teaching”. i.e., Learning by doing. Identify the difference between knowledge (or ideas) and knowhow (or skills).

Approaches to Finance (Personal, Corporate, Financial Services, Macroeconomy)

  1. “Penny wise, pound foolish.”
  2. “Keynesian” Fallacy of Composition: The macro level behaves differently from the micro.
  3. “Buffett” Mr. Market Approach: “Price is what you pay, value is what you get.”
  4. Self: Value creation comes from liquidity provision as well but most directly from the direct financing of quality investments. 85% of active traders underperform the S&P. The incentive structures in liquidity provision are also essentially indistinguishable from zero-sum “theft”.
  5. Self: All probabilistic approaches should account for risk of ruin. The strategy of doubling a bet on a 50-50% binary outcome after a loss is profitable except for the fact that you have to stop when you run out of cash.

Principles I don’t dispute but don’t respect

  1. (Multiple sources) Aimless Wilfulness: “You should do what you love.” What do you love?
  2. “Be yourself.” Do most people even know what they are and who they are? Dumb advice, even if true.
  3. “Live every day as if it were your last.” Then you’d never save ANY money or worry about consequences. Dumb. better to “End every day with no regrets.”

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