“A weak-link problem is where success depends upon the quality of the worst component, whereas a strong-link problem is where it depends upon the quality of the best.“
Understanding which is which is a useful thinking tool.
Those interested in the sector this is a good Atlantic piece on the rising cost of vet care in the US (spoiler alert: private equity and corporate ownership).
AVMA actually has a handy tracker of vet visits and revenues.
Admitting that “I don’t know” at least once a day will make you a better person.
Changing your mind about important things is not a consequence of stupidity, but a sign of intelligence.
Where you live—what city, what country—has more impact on your well being than any other factor. Where you live is one of the few things in your life you can choose and change.
The probability of deal success is currently very low. In a small part, this is due to interest rates but also an aggressive DOJ/FTC (see JetBlue/Spirit).
Everything you wanted to know about the publishing business from that time Random House tried to buy Simon & Schuster and the DOJ sued making “the head of every major publishing house and literary agency got up on the stand to speak about the publishing industry and give numbers …”.
“I think I can sum up what I’ve learned like this: The Big Five publishing houses spend most of their money on book advances for big celebrities like Britney Spears and franchise authors like James Patterson and this is the bulk of their business. They also sell a lot of Bibles, repeat best sellers like Lord of the Rings, and children’s books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. These two market categories (celebrity books and repeat bestsellers from the backlist) make up the entirety of the publishing industry and even fund their vanity project: publishing all the rest of the books we think about when we think about book publishing (which make no money at all and typically sell less than 1,000 copies).“
