Page 10 - How To Get Rich

kept on his desk in the Oval Office?THE BUCK STOPS HERE. I keep a
similar quote on my desk. It reads:THE BUCK STARTS HERE .

Don’t Equivocate

If you equivocate, it’s an indication that you’re unsure of yourself and
what you’re doing. It’s also what politicians do all the time, and I find it
inappropriate, insulting, and condescending.
I try not to do it. Fortunately, I don’t have to try too hard at this one,
because I’ve been known to be on the blunt (and fast) side at times, which
is good.
I once asked an executive in my organization to give me a synopsis of

a new development we were considering. He’d been to the city in question,
had spent some time there, and had done some careful investigating. He
went on to describe the merits of the site, the pitfalls, the good things, the
bad things, the pros, the cons—on and on in great detail. He must’ve
talked for ten minutes straight. Judging from what he was telling me, there
were just as many reasons to drop the project as there were reasons to

jump right in and get going. It was like a tied game with no overtime.
I asked him more questions, and we ended up exactly where we were
before. He was on both sides of the fence at once and didn’t seem to want
to take a stand either way. This guy had a lot of experience and a good
track record, so finally I asked him what he thought of the project in ten
words or less.
It stinks, he said.

He had eight words left, but he didn’t need them.

Ask Yourself Two Questions
1. Is there anyone else who can do this better than I can?
That’s just another way of saying: Know yourself, and know your

competition. If your competition is better than you are, you need to offer
some quality they lack.
2. What am I pretending not to see?
We can all get swept up in the euphoria of a creative moment, or what
former president Richard Nixon’s speechwriters used to call the lift of a
dream. Before the dream lifts you into the clouds, make sure you’ve
looked hard at the facts on the ground.