Too Much Counting, Not Enough Trust

“Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas; they are in your own backyard, if you but dig for them.”

Schumpeter. In his Theory of Economic Development, written nearly a century ago, Schumpeter dismissed material and monetary gain as the prime mover of the entrepreneur, finding motivations like these to be far more powerful: (1) The joy of creating, of getting things done, of simply exercising one’s energy and ingenuity, and (2) The will to conquer

Building a great organization demands finding the right words to communicate the best ideas and the highest ideals, words that convey purpose and passion and vision.

Siegel clearly established that, over two centuries of history, the real return on U.S. stocks has centered around 7 percent per year (about 10 percent in nominal terms, before the erosion of inflation, which has averaged about 3 percent).

no matter what career you choose, do your best to hold high its traditional professional values, now swiftly eroding, in which serving the client is always the highest priority. And don’t ignore the greater good of your community, your nation, and your world.

The merger agreement was signed on June 6, 1966.

My inherent resistance to shortcuts was greatly amplified by a hard experience as a police-beat reporter for the old Philadelphia Bulletin. In 1950, while working at a summer job, I got a call from the news desk to cover a house fire that was two trolley rides away from my location in a firehouse. (I had no car.) It was about midnight; I was tired

What I call the speculative return—the annualized impact of any increase or decrease in the price-earnings (P/E) ratio or P/E multiple—happened to be zero during this period, with investors paying a little over $15 for each dollar of earnings (P/E = 15) at the beginning of the period, and about the same at the end. Of course, changes in the P/E can