I was gonna make this a Friday Thought for Today, but:

1.  It is way too long (as you know I try to keep the daily quotes short and sweet)
2. It is pretty “obtuse”, is, I guess, the word. And I’m thinking many people won’t get it/see the point, but I love it, and have for well over 50 years.

You see, it was my Dad’s favorite joke. And, while my Dad was not particularly funny, he did have a pretty warped sense of humor. (thanks, Dad! 🙂 His jokes often had deeper meanings (not sure if that was intentional or not—hopefully, it was ;).  Like, one of his jokes:

A homeless guy is sitting on the steps to the subway selling pencils.  A business guy stops and says, “Ok, I’ll take one. How much”.  And the homeless guy says, “a million bucks”.  And the business guy looks at him and says, “A MILLION BUCKS?  FOR A PENCIL???”  And the homeless guy replies, “Yeah, but I only gotta sell ONE!”  (Now, in this age of crazy political correctness, I am sure that joke is now considered wrong in many ways, but…back in the day… 😀)

But that is not the joke I wanted to use for the thought of the day.  (Actually, I think I may already have—it’s kind of short enough).

Here is the joke:

I have shortened it because it was one of those jokes that went on for 10 minutes so that, in the end, you are kind of pissed off that you took so much of your time for a lousy punch line  (I TOLD you my Dad had a warped sense of humor), but back in the day, it went on forever.

But the gist of it is:

A young boy asks his mother and his father, “what is the meaning of life?”

They tell him, “Wow, that is way beyond us” and steer him to his grandparents, his uncle, his rabbi, his high school teacher, and on and on.

And as he grows, he asks many people he meets, “What is the meaning of life?”, but nobody has a good answer.

He grows up/goes to college. Asks his professors and deans.

He goes into business/becomes successful. Asks all his successful friends, not nobody knows.

Becomes wildly successful. Gets to ask Congressmen and Senators and the President and leaders from all over the world. But still…no succinct answer.

Finally, he is an old man. Some long-time acquaintance tells him, “I have good news and bad news. I have heard about some swami on a mountaintop near Tibet who knows the meaning of life. BUT…it is a long, arduous journey and he really speaks to anyone anymore, so I don’t think you’d be able to make it, and even if you did, doubt you’d get to ask him”.

Undeterred, clearly recognizing his life’s last mission, he heads out towards Tibet. He flies over, takes a car, takes a small bus, and then has to use his cane to walk for days to the temple where this “man who knows” lives.

He finally makes it and asks for an audience, but is told he will have to wait.

“I will wait” he replies and settles in for days, then for weeks and for months until someone comes out and says “he will see you now”.

He walks into the house where the man lives. Nothing fancy. Simple (of course). An old man, nearly naked, in rags, sits on the floor and looks at him, almost as if he’d been expecting this visit, almost like he knew him for centuries.  “How can I help you, brother?”

The man can’t help himself and breaks down in tears.  Finally, he composes himself.  “I have searched my entire life for you. For nearly 100 years I’ve waited for this very moment, oh wise one.  And I have but one simple question for you. He looks up through tears eyes and asks,  “WHAT is the meaning of life?”

The old man looks at him knowingly. Smiles a soft smile and nods. Closes his eyes for a very long time before speaking:  “I will tell you the meaning of life”.

And then, after another very long silence, he speaks in a quiet but confident voice:

“Wild birds can’t fly with wet wings at night”.

The man looks at him, trying to listen fully, to think deeply, to be in this moment, and to absorb the ultimate wisdom that he just heard.  But he can’t.

Can this be the meaning of life??? Wild birds can’t fly with wet wings at night?

He slowly, sadly shakes his head in confusion. Raises his eyes to meet the eyes of this all-knowing man.

“Wild birds can’t fly with wet wings at night? What does that even mean?

WILD BIRDS CAN’T FLY WITH WET WINGS AT NIGHT????”

The swami looks at him with surprise.

“YOU MEAN THEY CAN???!!???”

——————————————————————————————————————

Told ya it was a bad joke.

But I do believe it has a powerful meaning. Don’t hate 😉

Miss ya, Dad.

-JB

Hey all, please read the below link because it is worth reading and important, I think.

https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-first-amazon-job-ad-reveals-obsession-with-speed-2019-7

I know that some folks at LP think that our “need for speed” is sometimes unreasonable. But I really don’t believe that. I think if you look at many of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time, Steve Jobs with Apple, Larry Ellison with Oracle, Jeff Bezos with Amazon, Elon Musk with Tesla (and many others, I’m sure), they all have many common denominators—1 of which is “unreasonable speed”.

Whether it’s answering the incoming phone call, or getting back to the customers, or solving a problem, or developing software that the biz needs to grow—the “reasonable” speed (what everyone else would do/consider “normal”) probably just won’t cut it. And, you will find, that the pace of doing things more quickly (but doing them right—remember John Wooden’s old quote, “be quick, but never hurry” still counts) then becomes more of the “norm” and becomes contagious. And that then becomes the speed of a successful business, like Apple and Amazon and Oracle and Tesla and (haha—not in the same company by any means, but…) LP.

An aside—two actually:

1.  If you ever watched a juggler, they may be tossing 5 or 6 apples (or chainsaws or axes) at once, and it seems CRAZY.  But, if you watch their hands, they are not moving quickly or chaotically. It’s the rhythm, the consistency, and the adjustment when necessary that makes it all work. And
2. “Too busy” is never a good excuse.  Doing things right once, the first time, takes no longer than doing it wrong the first time and takes way less time than doing it over. So be careful, be efficient. Measure twice, but cut once and you’ll find you actually have MORE time to do things.  As my Dad used to say, “you want something done, ask a busy person”. (Dads sure are smart : )

So, when we have tasks to do, things to fix, issues to communicate, speed matters. Don’t put off til tomorrow what you can do today. (I always say: Much better to have a DONE list than a TO DO list). And don’t accept timelines that are argued to be “normal”.  Normal does not cut it in the business world. Getting shit done (done right) quickly, and then moving onto the next project does.

PS—and “customer obsession” is key too. Bezos got a LOT of things right, and has been on the same track for 25 years. This letter was written when he was starting out and all these years later, he still KNOWS they are true.  Lessons we should all learn too if we want to pursue our mission to “humbly conquer the world from Erie, Pa 🙂

Onward…

-JB

Of all the folks who have been talking about Covid for the past 9 months (9 months—Wow! Who woulda thunk it?) my favorite has been Scott Gottlieb, the former FDA commissioner. I also like Doctors Birks and Fauci, but maybe because Gottlieb is no longer in Government, he has been able to be more measured, and I think more sober and accurate than anyone.

On ‘Face the Nation’ this morning, he said this: (my words, not his)

That the next 2-3 months will be the worst period of this pandemic.

That even though we now know more about the virus and are able to treat it better, the fact that it is surging all across the nation will make it hard/impossible for the Federal Govt to “backstop” the hard-hit areas (because there are now too many hard-hit areas vs in the spring when it was mostly in the Northeast and major cities).

He said, “Don’t get hit now. Be smart. Be careful. Don’t let Covid fatigue get you down. You’ve made it this far. Don’t let your guard down. Muscle through these next few months”.

Because help is on the way and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The 2 vaccines (plus several more from other big firms) are testing out VERY well/way better than expected, with 95% (vs. normal 50%) effectiveness. First indications seem like these will work and will work well.

They will be out in a month or so, and by the beginning of 2021, will have been given to front-line health care providers and the most at-risk elderly who are in health care institutions.

Later in 1Q 2021, the other at-home elderly people will also get their shots.

They will then work down the cohorts and by next fall, likely 30% of Americans will have either had the disease while another large portion of the population will have been given the vaccine, so that going into next year’s “flu” season, the risk should be almost eliminated and the rest of the young/healthy population can get inoculated then.

That’s truly good news and, while requiring more patience, it seems like the end of this mess will be here sooner than later (finally!) Can’t wait.

Stay safe and stay smart everyone!

Here’s a pic of me visiting Big Ern out in LA last week 🙂

-JB