The thing about the FedEx guy and his story is that, at least as the story goes, he had a 100% chance of failure if he did nothing, and a possible chance of hug

The thing about the FedEx guy and his story is that, at least as the story goes, he had a 100% chance of failure if he did nothing, and a possible chance of huge success if he gambled. Betting his last funds was all upside for him, so he made a cold-blooded decision to maximise his expected outcomes, and it paid off. The restaurant guy...not so much. He took significant assets (his pension, home equity, health, his relationship with his wife), and gambled them all on high downsides and very limited upsides. > Maybe the only lesson is that he wasn't ruthless enough? Ruthlessness is not a substitute for making very bad decisions.