I would read a Rob Henderson version of Loveline, where readers pitch you questions about a life scenario. It's probably below your pay grade (but I have often been tempted to write you and get your take on a social situation.)
I just celebrated my 30th anniversary as the owner of the security guard company. I have 5000 employees.
Power is my want, my learned skill set and the bane of my existence. People are infinitely sneaky little bastards.
You see, for me it was the mandate of heaven, I inherited the company, so failure was more likely than not. My greatest good luck is that my temperament was mostly well suited to the challenge. And, as a practical matter it was all about power. That’s the way it works.
My limited business education was completely useless. It left out the study of power, the most crucial aspect of my job.
The left liberal mindset is extremely unrealistic because power as a topic of study is out of fashion, déclassé, impolite and referencing power is viewed as backwards and reactionary.
Our kids are being taught this stupidity in school right now. Our employment laws are absurd.
The way the world works never changes. We are just a stupid generation. Uniquely stupid I would say; every other generation knew that power was a significant component of the world . We are forbidden to speak about it.
Clown world is going to take us all down. Don’t be a clown when it comes to power.
Business education is very pumped up and positive about the mission of making money. It is sold as a virtuous thing, which is in contrast to society at large which invariably talks about business as pure exploitation. I needed that because I had a liberal arts education and as a result I was anti-business. Plus, I was depressed, my dad was dying of cancer at a young age, and I was going to be saddled with a big responsibility of running a company with 500 employees.
Somehow I survived it and we are now tenfold and I got rich, which is nice.
The half of the story business education tells us is very intelligent. But they preach it as though it’s the Starship Enterprise with Captain Kirk and Spook and everybody getting along. The reality is the opposite. All 50 of those points in this article had me reliving the real challenge of business. You’re gonna get a thick skin if you’re going to survive.
Thank you, sir, for taking the time to share your experience. That is very helpful.
I have a huge respect for everything you have gone through and for how you have become the person you are right now (making the company bigger and handling all the responsibilities).
I'm interested to know more about your experience with an education in business and whether it was useful for building a business.
I plan to study finance or psychology online while I'm serving in the military on active duty. My goal is to acquire knowledge and skills that can be useful to apply in your life and doing business later.
I was thinking of finance because you understand the numbers, how to structure deals, investments, etc.
Or psychology to understand human nature and how people are.
I would appreciate your experience having an education in business and your knowledge of doing it.
“Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect...success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.”
This is the lesson of focusing on the journey and not the destination, or focus on the process and not the result. However, that message can be corrupting in my experience, because, I think, the correct orientation is to set a course and then focus on the work to get there... and include that new course-setting will likely be required during the journey.
Success I think is defined by mastery. You become a master by practice... by perseverance... by not allowing failures to cause you to stop trying... but only to learn and try better the next step.
But mastery generally also requires the thing be a good fit. I know people that set a goal that they really have no business expecting, and never accept the revelation that they need to change course.
Interesting in my career working for well-managed companies, I experienced very few true dark triad people as the organization would tend to isolate them and cull them. Tyrants would not survive. However, outside of my own workplaces, I would sometimes encounter these types... and I would always be pretty quit to identify them. A large percentage of them are politicians and senior managers in public sector positions... or people working as consultants for public sector contracts. I often wondered if the public sector life where politics are a major influence would cause the dark personality traits, or if these career paths attracted the people owning the traits.
I tend to think it is a bit of both, but probably more of the latter. In the private sector, for the most part, surviving and successful companies have to hire and promote based on merit. The modern management processes have evolved with things like employee engagement, etc. Talent is expensive to recruit and retain, and we know that people leave because of bad management more than any other reason. Dark personality people don't do well rising to the top in this environment. Those that do end up with short stints.
However, in the public sector few get fired for performance reasons. It seems a more attractive environment for those with these more dark traits to flourish.
“When I was in the midst of writing my memoir, I was so immersed in that project that long dormant memories would suddenly surface in my dreams. I’d bolt awake at 3am and write everything down, worried that I would forget it before morning.”
Cool! The interplay of the conscious and subconscious is a fascinating subject.
What I left behind in the old country across the ocean, emigrating from a Socialist environment, I found it here on steroids, because of the love for money and power. Human nature is not changing just the time goes by and we call it history. This is why any dream of demolishing the forever-crude Capitalism and replace it with another socioeconomic theoretical contraption will prove to be just a bunch of smoke and mirror sessions. The rest is only survival, being - Dressed and Afraid...
“We are captivated by appearances…Instead of determining people’s character — their ability to work with others, to keep their promises, to remain strong in adverse circumstances — we choose to work with or hire people based on their glittering resume, their intelligence, and their charm. But even a positive trait such as intelligence is worthless if the person also happens to be of weak or dubious character…This is the source of endless tragedies in history, our pattern as a species.”
"people assign more than twice as much importance to moral character than competence."
I wish Ivy League admissions officers did more of that—except how can they know? They let in what appear to be a bunch of Mother Teresa's, most of whom upon graduation "sell out" for careers on Wall St..
How to reconcile #22 with #20? Yes, dont make the superior look foolish but ie. ascribe your winning idea to him/her? Someone smarter than me please elaborate?
I would read a Rob Henderson version of Loveline, where readers pitch you questions about a life scenario. It's probably below your pay grade (but I have often been tempted to write you and get your take on a social situation.)
I just celebrated my 30th anniversary as the owner of the security guard company. I have 5000 employees.
Power is my want, my learned skill set and the bane of my existence. People are infinitely sneaky little bastards.
You see, for me it was the mandate of heaven, I inherited the company, so failure was more likely than not. My greatest good luck is that my temperament was mostly well suited to the challenge. And, as a practical matter it was all about power. That’s the way it works.
My limited business education was completely useless. It left out the study of power, the most crucial aspect of my job.
The left liberal mindset is extremely unrealistic because power as a topic of study is out of fashion, déclassé, impolite and referencing power is viewed as backwards and reactionary.
Our kids are being taught this stupidity in school right now. Our employment laws are absurd.
The way the world works never changes. We are just a stupid generation. Uniquely stupid I would say; every other generation knew that power was a significant component of the world . We are forbidden to speak about it.
Clown world is going to take us all down. Don’t be a clown when it comes to power.
I like your style of writing, for giving us a glimpse of leadership and a fresh socioeconomic view.
Bain capital and private equity are late stage capitalism/financialization and they are atrocious pigs.
For me, it was enthusiasm.
Business education is very pumped up and positive about the mission of making money. It is sold as a virtuous thing, which is in contrast to society at large which invariably talks about business as pure exploitation. I needed that because I had a liberal arts education and as a result I was anti-business. Plus, I was depressed, my dad was dying of cancer at a young age, and I was going to be saddled with a big responsibility of running a company with 500 employees.
Somehow I survived it and we are now tenfold and I got rich, which is nice.
The half of the story business education tells us is very intelligent. But they preach it as though it’s the Starship Enterprise with Captain Kirk and Spook and everybody getting along. The reality is the opposite. All 50 of those points in this article had me reliving the real challenge of business. You’re gonna get a thick skin if you’re going to survive.
Best wishes and thank you for your service.
Enthusiasm.
Thank you, sir, for taking the time to share your experience. That is very helpful.
I have a huge respect for everything you have gone through and for how you have become the person you are right now (making the company bigger and handling all the responsibilities).
I appreciate your answer and your opening up.
Nicely written/expressed. I didn't actually LOL, but I did chuckle at the typo - "Bain" of your existence indeed (cf Mitt Romney :).
I’m a spelling retard. How do you spell it BANE?
I'm interested to know more about your experience with an education in business and whether it was useful for building a business.
I plan to study finance or psychology online while I'm serving in the military on active duty. My goal is to acquire knowledge and skills that can be useful to apply in your life and doing business later.
I was thinking of finance because you understand the numbers, how to structure deals, investments, etc.
Or psychology to understand human nature and how people are.
I would appreciate your experience having an education in business and your knowledge of doing it.
Thank you.
“Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect...success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.”
This is the lesson of focusing on the journey and not the destination, or focus on the process and not the result. However, that message can be corrupting in my experience, because, I think, the correct orientation is to set a course and then focus on the work to get there... and include that new course-setting will likely be required during the journey.
Success I think is defined by mastery. You become a master by practice... by perseverance... by not allowing failures to cause you to stop trying... but only to learn and try better the next step.
But mastery generally also requires the thing be a good fit. I know people that set a goal that they really have no business expecting, and never accept the revelation that they need to change course.
Interesting in my career working for well-managed companies, I experienced very few true dark triad people as the organization would tend to isolate them and cull them. Tyrants would not survive. However, outside of my own workplaces, I would sometimes encounter these types... and I would always be pretty quit to identify them. A large percentage of them are politicians and senior managers in public sector positions... or people working as consultants for public sector contracts. I often wondered if the public sector life where politics are a major influence would cause the dark personality traits, or if these career paths attracted the people owning the traits.
I tend to think it is a bit of both, but probably more of the latter. In the private sector, for the most part, surviving and successful companies have to hire and promote based on merit. The modern management processes have evolved with things like employee engagement, etc. Talent is expensive to recruit and retain, and we know that people leave because of bad management more than any other reason. Dark personality people don't do well rising to the top in this environment. Those that do end up with short stints.
However, in the public sector few get fired for performance reasons. It seems a more attractive environment for those with these more dark traits to flourish.
“When I was in the midst of writing my memoir, I was so immersed in that project that long dormant memories would suddenly surface in my dreams. I’d bolt awake at 3am and write everything down, worried that I would forget it before morning.”
Cool! The interplay of the conscious and subconscious is a fascinating subject.
Opportunities in this area…
Such a huge fan of RG’s work. Thanks for the summary.
What I left behind in the old country across the ocean, emigrating from a Socialist environment, I found it here on steroids, because of the love for money and power. Human nature is not changing just the time goes by and we call it history. This is why any dream of demolishing the forever-crude Capitalism and replace it with another socioeconomic theoretical contraption will prove to be just a bunch of smoke and mirror sessions. The rest is only survival, being - Dressed and Afraid...
Re 50, reminds me of Adam Carolla's advice regarding talking about past romantic partners with your present one: "More mystery, less history."
“Familiarity is the death of seduction…Without anxiety and a touch of fear, the erotic tension is dissolved.”
DEFINITELY NOT TRUE
“We are captivated by appearances…Instead of determining people’s character — their ability to work with others, to keep their promises, to remain strong in adverse circumstances — we choose to work with or hire people based on their glittering resume, their intelligence, and their charm. But even a positive trait such as intelligence is worthless if the person also happens to be of weak or dubious character…This is the source of endless tragedies in history, our pattern as a species.”
Our systems are replete with hollow bureaucrats
"people assign more than twice as much importance to moral character than competence."
I wish Ivy League admissions officers did more of that—except how can they know? They let in what appear to be a bunch of Mother Teresa's, most of whom upon graduation "sell out" for careers on Wall St..
How to reconcile #22 with #20? Yes, dont make the superior look foolish but ie. ascribe your winning idea to him/her? Someone smarter than me please elaborate?
What percent of politicians display dark triad characteristics?
With rare examples, being real human beings, for the rest we can call their names and flush the porcelain seat...