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>> You can absolutely know and understand all of those things without understanding the product, mostly by asking the people who do understand the product. You

>> You can absolutely know and understand all of those things without understanding the product, mostly by asking the people who do understand the product. You can't figure who to trust (even if you don't realize it, it's analogous to Gell-Mann Amnesia), you can't put the pieces together in your head. >> Otherwise you're arguing against the concept of delegation, and there are several mountains of counterexamples were you to try. Delegating works to get work done, not to understand things. There is almost zero history of institutionalizing good investment decision making (Sequoia might be a one generation counter). Guys like Buffett sit in a room all by themselves. Almost every example of investment outperformance through time is a singular brain or very small team. If delegating worked, this wouldn't (and couldn't) be the case.

Zetice 4y ago
You can absolutely delegate understanding. If you don't, you are screwed as a leader. In fact, one of the things you have to give up as a leader is being the smartest person in the room. I'll even go so far as to say if you can't understand something through someone else's expertise, you will not get very far in life.
- danielmarkbruce 4y ago
  Nope, history shows the opposite when it comes to investment decision making.
  - Zetice 4y ago
    Er, no it doesn't. How much about each of Goldman's investments do you think David M. Solomon knows in depth? They make thousands of deals each year, it would be insane and unsustainable for him to have deep knowledge about each, so he delegates. If you're talking about fundamental analysis, you'd also be wrong, as my copy of A Random Walk Down Wall Street makes pretty clear. "Know a bunch of stuff about a company" is not a good investment strategy, or at least does not keep pace with well diversified index funds.
    - danielmarkbruce 4y ago
      History of investing. Goldman is almost all services with a touch of principal investing. Random walk is a book written by an academic.
      - Zetice 4y ago
        These aren't sentences, care to try again?

Zetice 4y ago

You can absolutely delegate understanding. If you don't, you are screwed as a leader. In fact, one of the things you have to give up as a leader is being the smartest person in the room. I'll even go so far as to say if you can't understand something through someone else's expertise, you will not get very far in life.

danielmarkbruce 4y ago
Nope, history shows the opposite when it comes to investment decision making.
- Zetice 4y ago
  Er, no it doesn't. How much about each of Goldman's investments do you think David M. Solomon knows in depth? They make thousands of deals each year, it would be insane and unsustainable for him to have deep knowledge about each, so he delegates. If you're talking about fundamental analysis, you'd also be wrong, as my copy of A Random Walk Down Wall Street makes pretty clear. "Know a bunch of stuff about a company" is not a good investment strategy, or at least does not keep pace with well diversified index funds.
  - danielmarkbruce 4y ago
    History of investing. Goldman is almost all services with a touch of principal investing. Random walk is a book written by an academic.
    - Zetice 4y ago
      These aren't sentences, care to try again?