Category: Decision Making

Be a Monomaniac on a Mission.

To be truly successful, you’ve got to be a monomaniac on a mission. They say, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” But here’s the secret no one wants to admit — the people who say that rarely own any chickens. To be successful at something, you need to be a monomaniac on a mission. The great ones don’t scatter their attention like birdseed. They point it like a laser. They wake up thinking about it, go to sleep dreaming about it, and talk about it until everyone around them gets tired of hearing it. Then they do … Continue readingBe a Monomaniac on a Mission.

The Windmills of Your Mind

If you have been around the sun more than a few dozen times, you have seen more than one human get lost in his own thoughts. Usually happens on a Tuesday, just after a good meal and a bad decision. And let me tell you, once the mind gets to spinning, it don’t much care about gravity, reason, or polite company. It just goes. That’s what this here song is about—not love, not time, not some  trip to the grocery—it’s about the maelstrom upstairs. The human brain, bless its overambitious heart, is always trying to make sense of the … Continue readingThe Windmills of Your Mind

CEOs I’ve Known: The Good, the Bad, and the Beige

If you’re thinking about buying stock in a company and haven’t bothered to learn who the CEO is—well, friend, that’s like handing your car keys to a stranger and hoping they take you someplace nice. We live in an age where people obsess over charts, earnings calls, and analyst upgrades, yet forget to ask the most important question of all: “Who’s driving this thing?” A company ain’t a spreadsheet—it’s a ship. And the captain’s name is carved into the helm. If you don’t know where that person has been, how they think, what they value, or whether they’ve run … Continue readingCEOs I’ve Known: The Good, the Bad, and the Beige

The Great Derivative: How Debt Drives Everything—From Gold to the Dollar, Stocks, and Inflation

“Keep it simple, stupid: we’re in debt. Everything else—tariffs, earnings, rate hikes—is just noise.” — Matthew Piepenburg Now I ain’t no fancy economist with a necktie tighter than common sense, but I can tell you this: when your house is on fire, you don’t blame the thermometer for reading hot. So pull up a chair, grab a cup of reality, and let’s talk about what’s really going on. The folks in high places—central bankers, treasury secretaries, and every talking head on television—have been feedin’ us a steady diet of distractions. Tariffs, interest rates, and “soft landings” are the buzzwords … Continue readingThe Great Derivative: How Debt Drives Everything—From Gold to the Dollar, Stocks, and Inflation

The Three-Day Rule: A Modern Parable for a World in Panic

Now I don’t know much about quantum physics or whatever algorithms run Wall Street these days, but I do know human beings. And one thing I’ve learned in my time walking this crooked, beautiful world is that time—not talent, not luck, not money—is the greatest clarifier of all. I call it the Three-Day Rule, and let me tell you, it’s worth its weight in gold. The stock market crashes. Your girlfriend leaves you. Your business partner tells you you’re broke. Your best client walks away. That big deal you’ve been working on? Radio silence.You meet someone new who lights … Continue readingThe Three-Day Rule: A Modern Parable for a World in Panic

YODA now, you are.

To be the “Yoda” of your company—you need to understand that being a leader or manager isn’t about hoarding power or clinging to control like a miser clutching his last dollar. No, it’s about doing the exact opposite. Real leadership is about giving away power so that others can grow, and in turn, you can grow right along with them. Leadership Isn’t About Control—It’s About Freedom If you think leadership is about calling all the shots, think again. That’s not leadership; that’s micromanagement, and it’s about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. The more you try … Continue readingYODA now, you are.