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1/8 Thread: The boon and bane of writing well
Mark Sellers once gave a famous speech to a group of Harvard MBAs. It was titled, "So You Want To Be The Next Warren Buffett? How’s Your Writing?"
In his speech, he equated writing well to being able to think clearly.
Mark Sellers once gave a famous speech to a group of Harvard MBAs. It was titled, "So You Want To Be The Next Warren Buffett? How’s Your Writing?"
In his speech, he equated writing well to being able to think clearly.
2/8 It makes intuitive sense, and in general, I agree.
If you want to be the next "Buffett", you probably do need to write clearly, speak eloquently, be quantitatively oriented, and perhaps more importantly, be lucky.
If you want to be the next "Buffett", you probably do need to write clearly, speak eloquently, be quantitatively oriented, and perhaps more importantly, be lucky.
3/8 But I wonder whether it is harder for good writers to change their mind.
The whole thing sort of reminds me of competitive debates. During college, I got the opportunity to adjudicate competitive debates. I even went to World University Debating Championship.
The whole thing sort of reminds me of competitive debates. During college, I got the opportunity to adjudicate competitive debates. I even went to World University Debating Championship.
4/8 In British Parliamentary format, four teams are given a motion i.e. topic just ~15 minutes before the debate starts. Two teams speak for the motion, and two against the motion.
As an adjudicator, you have to rank four teams after the debate and then explain it to them.
As an adjudicator, you have to rank four teams after the debate and then explain it to them.
5/8 It was in competitive debate I truly understood that some people have an incredible gift in rhetoric that you can instantly give them any motion and any side (for/against) and they can still beat you in a debate in front of an audience.
6/8 The whole thing made me appreciate the power of rhetoric and be reluctant to equate truth to rhetoric.
Perhaps the same can be applied to writing as well. Some people are just gifted writers. They can play with words so well that people are tempted to equate that with truth.
Perhaps the same can be applied to writing as well. Some people are just gifted writers. They can play with words so well that people are tempted to equate that with truth.
7/8 If you write really well, it is perhaps not hard for you to make bull or bear case for any stock.
And since you write so well, you can always argue your way out of it unless you yourself are deeply interested/paranoid about knowing the truth.
And since you write so well, you can always argue your way out of it unless you yourself are deeply interested/paranoid about knowing the truth.
8/8 It is also why I feel any investing research without skin in the game is like monopoly money. It can be fun to read, but hard to assign much value to it.
If you want to read the entire Mark Sellers speech, go here: https://moiglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/mark-sellers_you-want-to-be-the-next-warren-buffett.pdf
If you want to read the entire Mark Sellers speech, go here: https://moiglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/mark-sellers_you-want-to-be-the-next-warren-buffett.pdf
