In response to a discussion of wisdom in comments, I sincerely doubt that wisdom will ever catch on in the curriculum. Confucius taught that there were three sources of wisdom: contemplation which is the noblest, imitation which is the easiest, and experience which is the most bitter.
Young people have a predisposition towards action and experiencing new things. They generally lack the patience required for contemplation and imitation has fallen from favor as irrelevant, the province of dead white guys.
Wisdom gained through experience is the distilled essence of pain and regret, filtered through time, reflection, and compassion. It will never be popular.
Hey!! That Confusci guy was on to something….
Seriously, at least in my current business, after basic grounding in the fundamentals; a framework for thinking about things, it’s an apprenticeship business. You get to the point where it’s rare you see something or an argument you haven’t heard before. You can finish people’s arguments or sentences when they are 10-15% through them.
I wish I could tell you we’ve never made investment mistakes. I can’t. I wish I could tell you we were smart enough to avoid mistakes. I can’t. I wish I could tell you we had such tremendous insights into the next greatest thing that we are going to revolutionize the world. I cant. We are basically investment and managerial mechanics. We can take a “c” grade company with good fundamentals, but woefully underachieving, and turn it into an “A” or sometimes “A+” company.
I’m basically the number 2 partner in the firm, and in charge of keeping the permabull partner in check. I’m the baby, low – mid 50s, but the average age of the partners is about 58. (in a Rolling Stones documentary Ronnie Wood refers to himself as the “new band member” after 35 years. You gotta love it.) Aint nuthin’ we haven’t seen, and everything we touch these days seems to turn to gold. Is that wisdom? And wisdom accumulated at whose cost? I think about that.
As for Dave’s observation. The young are what they are. I recently made a comment that I work with young engineers who want to turn technical ideas into commercial ideas. (I have shared my save the world moment). They have stars in their eyes. They have the best intentions. Sometimes they have great ideas. And I ask myself “how do I bring reality to these people, lest they surely fail, yet not crush their youthful and invigorating spirit?”. It’s a bitch.
Perhaps this is a cry out to the commenters. I have a philosophy that it is an obligation of those who have been through the wars to impart their “wisdom” to the next generation, so that they might have a head start as they embark on their careers. Few listen.
Is it the nature of youth, or Drews failure. I don’t know.
“Wisdom gained through experience is the distilled essence of pain and regret, filtered through time, reflection, and compassion”
That is beautifully phrased, Dave. The more it reflectively rolls around in the mind, the better it gets.
It’s so true that much of the experience gained in life is through the pain of failure and/or the regrets we have in our own actions or inactions of words or deeds.
The elixir to all this is to own what we do and learn to do better. Youth, though, in it’s, more-frequently-than-not, ‘I am the center of the universe’ mind set, as well as impetuousness to not waste a moment by deferring any kind of gratification, is hard-pressed to indulge in this kind of wisdom until much later in life.