Tao Jones Averages
Below are notes I've taken while reading the book. This is not a comprehensive summary but thoughts and ideas I've found valuable. I recommend reading these notes after you've read the book first to compare our thoughts. I can't stop you if you don't want to so I guess you can use the below as an idea of what you may get out of the book yourself if you read it... though if it ain't clear it's cause you didn't listen to me.
Page 48 - Left brain focused people scored better on IQ tests but had difficulty adjusting to the real world. Strained marriages, high frustrations, job results below expectations were all part of the problem. They tended to "analyze" rather than "sense" and competed rather than use teamwork
HBS study found Baker Scholars, the top 5% of graduating class, earned average salary below the norm for their class
Whole brained approach: i) Preparation: "doing homework", researching and planning with left-hemisphere ii) incubate: sleep on it, take a walk and reflect with right hemisphere as left brain idles and emits alpha waves iii) Illuminate with left verbalizing intuitive understanding to right. iv) verify: left brain confirms validity of discovery. This is Graham Wallas' whole brained approach. left, right, both and left
Page 71 - early identification of issues can be summarized by the effect of time. If identified early, it will be an opportunity decision but as time persists it will become a problem decision until at every end it becomes a crisis decision. This is like when doctors find cancer late. This is because of left-brain dominance. right side is used to sense and see and feel for the subtle clues to notice things missed by the left. But left dominated professionals like investors and doctors will miss the subtleties that bring out the creativity
Page 87 - Importance of detecting trends before events can be quantified: The more accurately we can get the picture from minimal information, the better equipped we will be. This will allow for faster detection of trends
Page 103 - Jim Rogers took 10-20 major positions over the 10 years at the fund with Soros. They were all investing plays focused on playing changes in major trends
Page 107 - Roy Neuberger: rarely can securities be valued correctly at over 15x earnings. because rarely is there any clear prospect that a company's earnings will grow sufficiently in the future to make it worth that price
Page 109 - Like poker. Think about what the hidden down cards are. Everyone knows the flop. Also try to anticipate what the other is holding by their actions
Page 116 - Investment success does not belong to those with the "magic formula" but to those with the courage of their own wisdom
Page 120 - Yang: specialized mind, usually male. Yin: generalized thinking, usually woman. So, combining these two aspects is what creates the attraction. People tend to marry their opposite. And this creates harmony. This will also be required in investing as well.
Page 123 - Dr. Henry Mintzberg of McGill investigated how top management operated. Executive decision makers were found to dislike written communication and long step-by-step tasks. They thrived on disorder, ambiguity and frequent interruptions. They clearly were right-brained with appreciation for "sensing". It seems it is more a work of society disguising management as a science instead of the artform that makes it intuitive and emotional (what is actually is)
Page 138 - Don't rush. sleep on your decision. Take a wait and see attitude. Also, don't be afraid to act on relatively few major insights like Rogers. But the insights better be material and be backed with logic. “the resistance to premature closure, as it is dubbed, is the phenomenon in which an individual does not rush into develop a POV but rather is content to wait and see"
Page 131 - the Herrmann indicator test. Experiment with taking this in the future for personna type.