Midwest BS
Someone from one of the coasts called me out recently for my “midwest bullshit.” This made me chuckle, since I’m from New York. But now there’s a corollary to the f-bomb axiom: allegations of “midwest bullshit” will also get you written about. Because who doesn’t love unexpected profanity?
The backstory is that this person was unhappy that something we discovered during diligence on a deal caused us to ask for more risk-mitigating structure than was in our LOI. Their view was that we were retrading. Ours was that we had new information. I won’t bore you with the details, but being from the Midwest (even if I’m a New Yorker by birth) doesn’t make anyone at Permanent Equity a pushover.
Something I’m catching onto as I see more and more things in life and work is that the strongest points of friction pop up when you really hit a nerve. In other words, the other side kicks back hardest when you maybe point out something they deep down know is true, but hope stays hidden, particularly when they have an informational advantage. Otherwise, people are mostly reasonable.
So if you hit a nerve and experience the kickback, walk. It probably means you’re onto something that can’t be papered over. And if that’s “midwest bullshit,” no wonder I moved here. I’m glad I did.
– Tim
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