During my eighty-seven years, I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.”
April 19, 2011
“No! I can’t talk to you now. Call me another time,” bellowed the man on the other end of my phone. Despite the abruptness, the voice had sounded cultured … even upper class. But then why wouldn’t it? As a young broker, I had cold-called the Chief of Psychiatric Services of Harvard University. It was 1966 and my firm,...
March 09, 2011
Imagine building a house knowing that if you wanted electricity, you would also have to build your own electrical power plant! The amount of additional knowledge you would need is … unfathomable. The additional expense would be … incomprehensible. But that is what corporations have been doing for decades in their migration to new technology...
February 15, 2011
It was extremely difficult, but I had played seven holes without asking my partner the question I was “dying” to know; how many shares of Equity Funding did he own in his mutual fund? He seemed very relaxed ... even cheerful. Yet, I felt his mutual fund had to own a ton of the stock. For me, in not asking, it was like driving by a car crash...
January 18, 2011
It was late 1997 and a roaring bull market; close to the very apex of the Internet bubble. Strangely, most portfolio managers were not beating the S&P 500 benchmark. Lost in thought about this, I reached for my ringing telephone. It was Roland Grimm asking if I were free for lunch. That’s like Peter Lynch calling for...
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