Don't Eat Fortune's Cookie (Resumen de la conferencia de Michael Lewis)
Comentario crítico
• Lewis ha escrito muchos otros libros, todos tan entretenidos como el primero: "The Big Short", "Moneyball" (con versión cinematográfica incluida), "The Blind Side", "Boomerang", etc.
• La ficción empresarial tiene poco arraigo en España. Es una pena que haya tan pocos libros de ficción en el catálogo empresarial español. Como botón de muestra, menciono "Con copia oculta", de Marisa Cruzado y otros autores. Sin embargo, tienen bastante arraigo en el mundo anglosajón. Por ejemplo, "Barbarians at the Gate" o el reciente "Too big to fail" son ejemplos exitosos. El autor de referencia, no obstante, sigue siendo Michael Lewis.
• La conferencia que resumo a continuación bien merece ser vista. La brevísima charla que ofrece a los graduados en la Universidad de Princeton es mucho mejor que el resumen que tienen a su disposición en Know Square. Dura 14 minutos. Hagan el esfuerzo y compártanla con las amistades.
• El mensaje es muy claro: nuestro éxito tiene un componente de suerte, mayor o menor, que tendemos a descartar. Pensamos que somos únicos responsables de nuestro éxito. Ni siquiera el mundo quiere saber de esa cuota de suerte que hemos tenido. Éxito y suerte son mentalmente opuestos. Sólo mentalmente. Hasta el gran Julio César estuvo a punto de suicidarse cuando, en Hispania, dio por perdida la batalla de Munda que finalmente se saldó en victoria. Piensen en lo fina que era la línea entre la victoria y la derrota. No es de extrañar que a los generales victoriosos romanos les obligasen a ir en la carroza acompañados de un siervo que les recordase que eran falibles ("memento mori").
• Nos rodean los casos de éxito arrolladores (Facebook, Google, Mercadona, etc.), sin que haya una sola mención a la suerte que tuvieron. Así que, en aras de nuestra felicidad, nos conviene pretender que la suerte ha tenido algo que ver en nuestra vida. Se lo debemos a los que no la han tenido. Todo un mensaje de humildad para los que triunfan.
Vídeo de la conferencia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiQ_T5C3hIM&list=UUcBYSgQTxc126-lj_gdrO8Q&index=1&feature=plcp
Prensa sobre la charla
Resumen de la charla
"They ate it but gusto, lip-smacking, mouth open, drool pulling of the corners of their mouths…"
I had no economic value to the outside world. I was major in art history. Even then, it was regarded as an act of insanity.
Somehow, I wound up rich and famous. Sort of.
Let me explain how mysterious careers can be before you experience it yourself.
I left Princeton without publishing a word. Professor William Charles helped me with the thesis on how Donatello used Greek and Roman sources. I always wanted to tell someone that, I know it is beside the point.
I wanted to write books. When I went to my thesis defense, I waited for Prof. Charles to tell me how well written was my thesis. But he didn’t mention. Instead, he said: "Put it this way: Never try to make a living of it.
So I went to graduate school. One night I was invited to a dinner, and I sat beside the woman of a bigshot investment banker working at Salomon Brothers. The woman forced her husband to get me a job. Salomon happened to be where Wall Street was being reinvented into the Wall Street we come to know and love today. I become a house derivatives expert, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars to give advice to investors. At last I had something to write about: Salomon. They were paying hundreds of thousands to recent Princeton graduates to pretend they knew about investments.
I quit this job that promised millions of dollars to write a book for an advance of 40,000 dollars. My father suggested I stayed at Salomon, make a fortune and then write a book. But what moved me was passion. I was 26 years old.
With 28 years old, I sold 1 million copies of "Liar’s Poker". Everyone was saying I was a born-writer. What were the odds of landing in one of the best Wall Street firms? What were the odds of having such sensitive parents? My case illustrates how success is rationalized. As they age and succeed, people feel that success is inevitable. They do not want to accept the role of luck in their lives. Even the world does not want to acknowledge it.
It happens in Baseball too. That was my topic in my book "Moneyball". Why do the most expensive teams not necessarily win with supposedly the best players? Experts did not pay sufficient attention to the role of luck. If a professional athlete can be mis-valued, who can’t be? If a meritocracy of professional sports can’t distinguish between lucky and good, who can? The less practical message of "Moneyball" is: "do not be deceived by life’s outcomes". There is a huge amount of luck attached to them. If you have success, recognize you also had luck. And with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt to the unlucky.
Researchers in California demonstrated that the randomly selected leaders would grab the extra prize (cookie) for themselves, as if they really deserved it. "They ate it but gusto, lip-smacking, mouth open, drool pulling of the corners of their mouths…"
This experiment helps to explain Wall Street bonuses and many other behaviours. We are blind to luck.
You are lucky: lucky for your parents, lucky that Princeton exists, and lucky of meeting people who will make you even luckier… All of you have been faced with the extra cookie. In time you will find it easy to assume you deserve the extra cookie. You may deserve it, but you will be happier if you at least pretend you don’t.
Thank you and good luck.
Notas Como Speaker
• Comienzo irónico, sarcástico, humorístico, brillante, y luego va emitiendo el mensaje más profundo. De esta forma tan eficaz y natural, logró enganchar a la audiencia y metérsela en el bolsillo con el mensaje que quiere trasladar. Llega a lo más hondo de la gente.
• Extraordinario en el fondo y en la forma. Transmite sinceridad.
Transparency Vow
El autor de este resumen no conoce al ponente ni tiene relación con Princeton University.
FECHA CONFERENCIA – 05 de junio de 2012
SOBRE – Resumen-crítica de la conferencia de graduación de Michael Lewis
PONENTE – Michael Lewis, escritor de ficción empresarial
ORGANIZADOR – Princeton University
DÓNDE – Princeton University, Iglesia
ASISTENTES – Por determinar, mínimo 300