People ToolsA Blog By Alan C. Fox
Header Image - Alan C. Fox
Alan C. FoxAuthor. Entrepreneur. Game-changer.
AboutBooks

Living by Principle

by Alan C. Fox 0 Comments

 

GameofLife-PeopleToolsAt breakfast yesterday my granddaughter asked me to teach her about investments and how to handle money.  This is an excellent question for anyone, especially a new college graduate headed to medical school.

I thought of Warren Buffet, who is the most successful investor of the twentieth century.  How successful?  According to Wikipedia, in 2008 (at age seventy-eight), “Buffett became the richest person in the world, with a total net worth estimated at $62 billion.”

How did he do it?  The answer is simple.  Buffet has lived his business life following a series of his own principles.  Of course, this is far easier to declare than to accomplish, but in the case of Buffet the result of the “doing” speaks for itself.

One example of following his principles is that Buffet refuses to invest in an industry he does not understand.  This meant that in the 1990’s, when the price of tech stocks went through the clouds, he did not invest in those companies because he did not understand tech.  Many commentators wrote at the time that since he failed to participate in the “boom”, Buffet had become a “bust.”  After the tech stock price crash of the late 1990’s you might easily guess who is crying now.

Living by principles doesn’t just apply to money and the stock market.  It’s also important to have principles to live by.  For example:

  1. Are you in charge of your life or are you a victim?  In other words, when life serves you lemons do you make lemonade, or do you complain about your situation?
  2. In what areas do you think short-term, and in what areas do you think long term?  With regard to accumulating wealth, long-term works.  With respect to establishing deep, lasting relationships telling the truth works.
  3. What are your principles about education?  I’m not only referring to formal education.  Do you want to learn more each day, or are you satisfied to live with what you already know?  My father is one-hundred years old, and shared with me this morning an idea he has about a new kind of collar for a man’s shirt.  My dad is always learning, always thinking.
  4. Where are you on the scale of having compassion for others?  Compassion for yourself?
  5. In what situations will you live by your principles, and in what situations will you compromise in order to do what is most expedient at the moment?  When you receive too much change at the grocery store will you keep it, or will you return it?
  6. How much will you give your children?  Buffet says, “I want to give my kids just enough so that they would feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they would feel like doing nothing.”

Principles-PeopleToolsIn thinking about living by principles, I am mindful of the story about the Buddhist monastery which was invaded by robbers.  Finding nothing of value, the leader of the robbers put his knife to the throat of the head monk and said, “Where is the gold?”

The monk merely smiled up at him.

Again, the robber demanded to know the location of the gold.  The monk continued to smile at him.  Finally the thief said, “Don’t you know that I have the power to kill you?”

The monk said, “Don’t you know that I have the power to let you kill me?”

I’m not sure I would go that far in living by my principles, although a man who did is Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered on December 29, 1170.

Do you live by your principles?

Alan

(For more information from Warren Buffet, see The Essays of Warren Buffet:  Lessons for Corporate America, 2013, 3rd edition, Selected, Arranged, and Introduced by Lawrence A. Cunningham.)

3 views

You Don’t Always Have to Answer the Telephone

by Alan C. Fox 1 Comment

 

QualityTime-PeopleToolsWhen I was growing up we had one telephone in our home. My brother and I were instructed always to answer it after the second ring.  One afternoon the telephone rang at an inconvenient time.  My mother said, “You don’t have to answer it.”

“But Mom . . . “

Maybe she was tired.  Maybe she knew who was calling and didn’t want to talk to them.  For whatever reason, Mom said, “Alan, you don’t always have to answer the telephone.”

I thought about this for years, and I now realize that my Mom’s permission was a turning point in my life.  I have always been curious.  If I don’t answer the telephone I might miss an important call.

But in any relationship it’s crucial to pay attention to your partner.  Not partial attention.  Full attention. And that means that sometimes, you should not answer your phone!

Today almost everyone carries a cell phone.  My dad was honored recently at a concert at the University of Arizona.  In the middle of a cello solo Dad’s cell phone rang.  He answered it.  I heard him say, loudly, into the glow in his hand, “Not now!”

When his phone rang again I suggested that he turn it off.

The question is this:  Who is in charge of your life?  Your parents?  Your friends?  Everyone who has your telephone number?  Or you.  Do you have to answer your phone just because someone has dialed your number?

I turn off my cell phone at meals, at movies, and after nine pm.  I also turn it off when I’m in the middle of a serious conversation.

Tom, a business associate, recently shared with me the reason he is no longer married to Rhonda, his high school sweetheart.

“Alan,” he said, “she was always on the phone.  One time we were on our way to a wedding, and Rhonda got a call less than a minute after we left the house.  She was on her phone during the entire drive and for ten minutes in the parking lot after we arrived.  She finally said “Goodbye” as we were standing in front of the church, and we ended up seating ourselves in the back row just as the ceremony started.  It was embarrassing.  And this happened all of the time.  Whoever was on the other end of that telephone line was the center of Rhonda’s attention.  I felt ignored.”

I have a clear sense of priorities.  When my father, one hundred years old, calls me, I answer.  When my wife calls, I almost always answer.  If one of my children calls me during the business day I either take their call or arrange to call them back.  I refuse to elevate business to a higher priority in life than my family or close friends.

Phone-offHook-PeopleToolsThe quality of every relationship is directly related not only to the amount of time you spend spent with each other, but, more importantly, to the quality of that time.  When you are on a date I don’t think that you or your date would want your mother, or anyone else, to sit in the back seat.  When we’re together I don’t want to be relegated to the back seat of your life, while someone else has grabbed your full attention.

Give yourself a break from being plugged-in.  You do not have to be available twenty-four seven.  Take to heart the aphorism, “Good news will wait.  Bad news will find you soon enough.”  And if your phone rings, you don’t have to answer it.  My mother gave you permission.

Alan

252 views