3 ms·

What does that actually mean though?

• gnat 4y ago
  It's inspirational self-help rhetoric, it may not actually MEAN anything. But you could parse it as: "reputation" is your standing in the eyes of others, and if you define success as a good reputation then you cede control of your success to others. "Honour", "courage", and "integrity" are self-assessed, so if you define success as "acting with honour" then it's your definition of honour that matters. It's framed as an either-or, but you have a reputation whether you want one or not. It's what other people say about you when you're not in the room. If you want others to choose to work with/buy from/hang out with you, then you care about your reputation for that is what will determine whether they engage with you. Reputation doesn't automatically follow from the values you live (consistently good people can have weak reputations, consistently awful people can duplicitously craft good reputations). Two people can act with honour, courage, and integrity, yet have different reputations. I think Taleb's rhetoric clouds the point.
• alasdair_ 4y ago
  >What does that actually mean though? It means that Taleb got stupidly, ridiculously lucky with an option trade one time (in a way that he didn't expect or intend) and, as a result, he is rich and therefore people now pay attention to him on all kinds of subjects outside of his expertise.
  • YeBanKo 4y ago
    I read his Black swan and Skin in the game and he had some good ideas there, that stuck with me, so definitely recommend these books. But your summary is very accurate, so his books should be taken with a huge grain of salt.
• lliamander 4y ago
  It means don't ask "what makes people like me?" but rather "what is the right thing to do?" If you do the former, you are essentially handing over your free will over to thr judgements of others.