Monday, July 22, 2013

Continuous reorganization, activity...

This excerpt from Peter Bevelin’s book Seeking Wisdom reminded me of the Sears/Eddie Lampert article from last week:
Continuous reorganization may be dangerous. The Roman satirist Petronius Arbiter said in the 1st Century: "We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and what a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization." 
Keep in mind 
• The 19th Century American writer Henry David Thoreau said: "It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?" Don't confuse activity with results. There is no reason to do a good job with something you shouldn't do in the first place. 
• Charles Munger says, "We've got great flexibility and a certain discipline in terms of not doing some foolish thing just to be active - discipline in avoiding just doing any damn thing just because you can't stand inactivity." 
• What do you want to accomplish? As Warren Buffett says, "There's no use running if you're on the wrong road."