Walt Disney gained worldwide fame with the animated film ‘Steamboat Willie,’ but Disney’s first studio went bankrupt. By the mid-1930s, he had produced over 400 animations, most of which suffered heavy losses. In 1938, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made $8 million in just the first half—more than ten times the earnings of other films. Meanwhile, with this animation, the company paid overdue wages to its employees and recovered the losses it had sustained. An unusual event that changes everything is called a “tail event.” 40% of publicly listed companies in the U.S. stock market lose nearly all their market capitalization 10 years after going public. Business and investing, after all, are based on probabilities. No one knows what the “tail event” will be. Therefore, to succeed, you need to try small, steady, many times with little impact, even if you fail. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
Solomon’s wisdom, demonstrated when he ruled by proposing to divide a living infant with a sword in order to reveal the baby’s true mother and a false one, was notable because nothing truly happened when he suggested dividing the infant. The application of wisdom out of context in this scenario renders wisdom tragic. The difference between a wise man and an evil man can often come down to a piece of paper. Had the real mother’s reaction to Solomon’s judgment been ignored and executed immediately, history might have depicted Solomon as the most evil tyrant in the world. We would easily forget the distinction represented by that piece of paper. Wisdom is the intuition that accurately perceives the unseen context in a given situation. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”