The Data Didn’t Back Me Up
One of the things we’ve done as these whatever-they-are have metastasized is become more meticulous about tagging them so we can use them later if they are germane to something meaningful. That’s especially important since the titles are often intentionally obfuscating or misleading (sorry, I got my start as a quasi-copywriter).
One of the nomenclatures we use in doing so is Capital, Opportunities, and People, which are the three pillars of Permanent Equity’s business and also the three organizing principles of any collection of Unqualified Opinions that our publishing house Boring Books chooses to foist unto the world. (You can find the next collection of these whatever-they-ares in the bookstore at Main Street Summit in the fall – prices to which recently went up but I might be able to get you a discount code.)
So as I was thinking about how I might wrap up this season 7 (it’s Memorial Day weekend – you know I’m done because I’m lazy and love the beach), I thought I might foist a little COUNTIF at our nomenclature spreadsheet and see how often I had written about Capital vis a vis Opportunities vis a vis People.
My hope and hypothesis was that I had written about People way more than the other two topics and so I might wrap up by writing a saccharine tug-at-the-heartstrings season finale about how People matter so much more than Capital and Opportunities.
Unfortunately, the data didn’t back me up.
If you COUNTIF it all up, I’ve written about People about the same amount I’ve written about Capital and Opportunities. On the one hand, that probably says more about me than I care to admit. On the other, I’ll go to the mat arguing that the statistic makes sense. At the risk of sounding like a psychopath, all three topics are fascinating if only because they all tie back to tradeoffs, context, nuance, and optimization.
But it also sucks when the data doesn’t underwrite your narrative.
Have a great summer. I’ll see you at the beach.
– Tim
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