Beth Kowitt’s Post

Does anyone remember the film "Too Big to Fail"? Something which struck me was that as the Enron "boys" got more successful they engaged in more high risk sports. Dropping out of helicopters to ski, e.g. Perhaps it is to compensate for earlier years when they were the nerds who weren't invited to play with the cool kids.

A tale as old as time. There's a remarkable chapter/scene in Bethany McLean's "Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room" where the author(s) discuss the propensity of the these men in upper level management at Enron to create work outings that were inherently dangerous and involved extensive liability waivers and all sorts of potential for bodily harm.

There is a common theme among your posts condemning the personal choices of others, and seemingly always to push a non-business related opinion. Bloomberg was once the place where business people went to learn more about business and finance. No longer. Now it’s the place to come for gossip. I won’t even mention the sexism of you using the term “frat boys” as a catch all for behaviors you judge and personally disagree with. Last month your op ed literally suggested doing away with the US constitution, so I guess this is better by comparison. But regardless. This is not business news. If you want to learn about finance and business, Bloomberg is no longer the place, follow me instead.

God forbid these people have hobbies and interests outside of work. The horror!

They’re all massively successful founders. If they didn’t like risk, they wouldn’t have started or grown their companies to the massive size they are. Now that their companies have matured, they shift the need (to take risk) elsewhere.

Is that a real journalism piece or is it satire? 🤔

While it’s true that any combat sports come with risks. It’s also true that business and combat sports share something in common in their DNA; The Art of War. The Art of War is something leaders in tech must master. Meta’s stock crashed in 2021 because investors and journalists thought Mark made a mistake by entering VR/AR too early. “Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.” Sun Tzu, The Art of War People are realizing now that mark wasn’t delusional on the entrance into VR. He was early to the battlefield. Apple’s Vision Pro was late to reach the market by 3 years while Meta’s Quest has been in development. Meta’s integrated software works amazing on low cost tech, and beats the Vision Pro in almost every category of use cases. Meta also launched Threads when Twitter was most vulnerable. “Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War Mark and Elon were clowned on social media for their potential fight in the ring. Don’t be fooled, they are currently both in the ring looking for every angle to submit their enemy.

If you turn off what is fun, exciting, or interesting to these people, they will just end up like everyone else. Risk, matters. How many times has Sir Richard Branson narrowly escaped death?

Love this. I also wonder if there's something else that happens when certain people acquire this much power and sway - like maybe part of you wants to get rid of the pressure and blow it all up. Or even to control your own demise, in a way. Force the moment to it's crisis so no one else can.