They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now. You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you. You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you. Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward. You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you are doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. One night stands and random hook ups start to look cheap. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender! What you may not realize is that everyone reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out. Send this to your twenty something friends.... maybe it will help someone feel like they aren't alone in their state of confusion..... GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US!!!!!
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1ks81y.

Charlie Munger's Address: Deserved Trust

Charlie Munger delivered the 2007 Law School Commencement address at the University of Southern California on May 13th. Munger is a guru in the original sense of the Sanskrit word, a person who conveys wisdom. The transcript of the talk is worth reading very very slowly. The highlights of his speech were as follow (hope you will find it interesting):

He begins the talk with "Safest way to get what you want is to deserve what you want. The highest form a civilization can reach is a seamless web of deserved trust." Not much procedure, just totally reliable people correctly trusting one another. That's the way an operating room works at the Mayo Clinic.

Takeaways from his speech are worth discussing:

Firstly, you get most satisfied not when you get your dreams fulfilled but when you achieve a dream that you deserve. Secondly, when you are working in a team, it is the trust that you have in your team members that keeps you moving and attain success collectively. A car can't run with one tyre flat. All need to work together for the same ultimate aim. Nor can the car be driven if all the tyres are desynchronized. That's makes the Mayo Clinic example a notable example. Can an operation be successful when all the pertinent doctors start doing it their own way? I guess not otherwise that would turn scary to observe them having their own will.

The thing that makes the above example even more interesting is when you apply it to everyday life. When you are working on your academic assignments or client projects in a group, you always have a tendency to strive for limelight. Primarily because you are being judged on your contribution to the accomplishment. But what beats me is the fact that how can you segregate and rate the involvement of a single person in the team when it was a team's success.

Also thinking in ideal sense, I wonder how will be such a company to work with or think of, both in function and delivery of results, where people work with trust in colleagues, in company, in customers and in the work that they do. Wouldn't that turn into a real success story? (...some food for thought). Don't the values and charter of a company work towards that direction and serve the purpose? But how many of us have imbibed that into our minds when we started working in the organisation at whatever level and capacity; may that be your college, internship, job etc.? When was the last time you worked in a team and had full confidence in the other members in all ways, viz. intentions, capabilities etc.?


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with regards,

1ks81y.