“I’ve learned 2 things:
One, fear nothing. Two, be optimistic. Take the long view – when you do that, you can cope with anything.”
DENG XIAOPING, 1964.
You might not know who Deng Xiaoping is, but if you were to look at his history, you’d find he was probably one of the great capitalist – not to mention political – visionaries and strategists of our time.
OF. OUR. TIME.
People talk about Warren Buffett, but Deng Xiaoping was on a whole other level.
In essence, this is the man who created the masterplan and blueprint to make China one of – if not the – richest countries in the World and he did it in a way that still allowed them to maintain [or at least the illusion of it] their communist beliefs and credentials.
OK, so his situation and political influence was different to Buffett’s, but then so were his obstacles to success … which is why I find it so powerful to hear someone talk about the value of taking the long, long view rather than being obsessed with hitting the next quarters targets.
Sure it’s easier when you know you and your cronies are still going to be in power in 100 years time, but when you see look at the mess the World has got itself in with their quest for short-cuts to profit – and the fact they have the shortest memories since the goldfish – maybe it’s time to accept speed of growth can also mean speed of collapse, especially if the people who make all the cash don’t have to be around when everyone else is losing it.
How funny that this ‘get rich’ attitude is so prevalent in the financial industry when in marketing, they adopt an attitude of “don’t fuck things up”, even though their job tenure is a similar 2 or 3 years.
Maybe both industries could learn from each other a little bit, though not as much as the World’s economists might learn from an old communist.