Hey friends!
This week, we're looking at an idea from Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger that served as a potent reminder to me of the importance of humility, and a recognition that no one knows it all.
Also, if you want to do some focused work with me, I'm hosting two "Flowhall" sessions on a new app called Centered on July 26th and 28th from 9:30-11:30am BST.
It's like a digital coffee shop. You work alongside others with some beats in the background and get a nice motivation boost. It's cool and a bit nerdy, so right up my alley.
Just reply to this email if you'd like an invite to try it out!
Now onto this week's idea.
The Shoe Button Complex
Nobody likes a know-it-all, but haven’t we all pretended to have an opinion on something we don’t really know much about?
Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger have a name for this: The Shoe Button Complex.
It’s when someone who has achieved a level of success in one area of life then feels they are a master of the universe.
Here’s Warren’s business partner Charlie Munger explaining it in more detail:
“His father commuted daily with the same group of men,” Munger said. “One of them had managed to corner the market in shoe buttons—a really small market, but he had it all. He pontificated on every subject, all subjects imaginable. Cornering the market on shoe buttons made him an expert on everything. Warren and I have always sensed it would be a big mistake to behave that way.”
In today’s world, The Shoe Button Complex has evolved. People feel like they need to have an expert opinion on everything, whether it’s the latest political scandal or the hot-button social issue.
I’m certainly guilty of it.
Have you ever read just a headline of an article and then pretended to know what actually happened during a conversation later on? I sure have.
What’s going on here?
I can’t be sure, but my feeling is that we’ve experienced a cultural shift, driven in part by the Internet, especially social media.
In the past, you might have had an excuse for not knowing something. There wasn’t a Google or a Twitter available 24/7.
But these days, there seems to be a subtle pressure to not only know what’s going on in the world but to have a concrete opinion on it. Even more, your opinion better be the “right” one.
I don’t know what’s causing this or what the solution is, but I know I’m going to experiment with three of the most powerful words in the English dictionary: I don’t know.
The world is complex and what we think we know today might turn out to be untrue tomorrow.
Let’s appreciate the mystery of life, stay humble about our individual understanding, and start questioning answers rather than answering questions.
Words of Wisdom
"The only thing I know is that I know nothing."
— Socrates