Posted on Today/Linked-in by Anthony Scaramucci.... When asked about the best advice I ever got, I can’t help but refer back to an excerpt from my book Goodbye Gordon Gekko: How to Find Your Fortune without Losing Your Soul (Wiley, May 2010), because it recounts all of the great advice I have collected throughout my career. One Sunday on a business trip in Hong Kong back in 1998, a former boss and mentor took me to meet an “old man.” From the book: The “old man” was Li Ka-shing, the great property tycoon known across Asia and the world for his investment savvy, entrepreneurship and leadership skills…A long-term, patient investor, he is often referred to as the Warren Buffet of the East. “If it isn’t too much of an imposition, I would like to ask you a question. I’m turning 35 this year and you are about to turn 70. What can you tell me about your life that I can take with me for the rest of my life?” After telling me a short version of his life story, he then gave me the best advice: Anthony, leave money on the table for your partners. Not only will you be very rich, you will be very happy. If you allow your partners to benefit from the deal, they always come back and want to do business with you. There will never be a shortage of opportunity. It is the man who goes to the table to ask and squeeze for the last nickel who is never happy. Do you know why? It is because that person leaves the table, typically getting the nickel, but then hates himself for not asking for the two nickels. As a result, he is never happy.\ I immediately thought about all of the people I knew from Wall Street who were very rich, but also miserable. While I may be driven to the point of driving those around me crazy, I have never let success stand in the way of my happiness. And, as I’ve put this advice into practice in the years since that meeting, I have also realized the value of many other forms of capital. Again, as described in Goodbye Gordon Gekko: Capital is not only cash, stocks, and real estate. Capital is any asset that you can store and rely upon, and it comes in many forms. There is capital in economic terms, which consists of investment assets, cash, and things like equipment on a company’s balance sheet. There is also human capital, which is made up of those who work with you. When you establish healthy win-win relationships with people, your capital account grows and can earn you a lot of dough. But accumulating enough of any of those can only happen if you trust that your actions are worthwhile no matter what the return.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 01:57:29 +0000
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