Seeking Wisdom

15 Mar 2022

Book	Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger
Author	Peter Bevelin

This was book dense with rational and highly useful frameworks for thinking. Loved it.

A couple nuggets below.

Status Quo and Do-Nothing Syndrome

You can’t get anything done when there are constant objections to action and progress.

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

• Samuel Johnson

Be wary of group size.

People’s behavior may change when we change the scale of group. What works well in one size may not work at all in a group of another size. group of Garrett Hardin illustrates this as he examines the religious Hutterite communities in the northwestern U.S.:

“As colony grows in size, the propensity of the individual to claim a share of production ‘according to his needs’ increases, while his eagerness to work ‘according to his ability’ diminishes. The effectiveness of the overseers (preachers or bosses) also diminishes, as shrinking increases. Those less inclined to ‘goof off’ begin to envy the drones, whom they presently join.

Do The Least Bad

Figure out the worst approach and then do the opposite.

At the weekly meeting with his managers, John asked: “What actions could our company take to destroy as much value as possible in as short time as possible?”

“Treat the employees badly. Reward bad work. Don’t appeal to the employee’s self interests but to a goal no one understands. Don’t inform people what the company stands for, what rules apply, and the consequences for breaking them. Make sure people don’t know their areas of responsibility. Put the right person in the wrong place. Don’t let people know if they achieve a goal. Everything should be impossible to measure. Never tell people why something should be done.

Surround the CEO with confused, unmotivated subordinates. Give key customers reasons to be angry. Late and wrong deliveries, delays, and arrogance will help. Let the customers associate the business with misery and make sure that this feeling gets reinforced at every contact with the company.”