Canthook

Malcolm Forbes used to tell the story about the college graduate whose first job was as a stockbroker. He started on the weekend of the company's annual summer extravaganza, so as soon as the markets closed, one of the partners took him out to the yacht club in the Hamptons.

He showed the new guy all around, telling him what great things were in store for him. They showed him Bill's yacht, and Andy's yacht, and Merle's yacht, and over there, that huge thing was John's yacht, John being the president of the firm, and right next to it was an even larger one, and they told him is was Bernard's yacht, Bernard being the chairman of the firm.

"I'm a little confused, sir," said the new guy. "You've got a yacht?"

The partner pointed to one that was fairly small, compared to the others, but especially stylish. "I have only been a partner for a few years, so mine is fairly small, but I'm looking to move up next year," he said.

"OK," the new kid said, "But where are all the customers' yachts?"

Steve Doesn't Tell That Story

Forbes magazine was started by B. C. Forbes. It did fairly well, because it had good writing and good advice, and as it got more and more successful, they started having parties for their advertisers.

Malcolm Forbes was B. C.'s son. He expanded the parties, until Forbes really got to be a parties company, instead of a publishing company. In order to get invited to the parties, people would buy advertising in the magazine. Anyone who was anyone went to those parties, so everyone ended up buying advertising, and one reader in seven of Forbes magazine was a millionaire. That made the advertising even more valuable. Forbes magazine flourished. Malcolm hired a top-notch editor, James Michaels, in 1961 and by the 1980s, they probably had the best edited magazine in the country, bar none - and they faced some stiff competition from some city magazines.

Malcolm Forbes retired and then died, and Steve Forbes took over. They still have the parties, but without Malcolm's social skills, his sense of humor and grace, things were different. Steve has followed conventional publishing wisdom, and these days, Forbes circulation has shot up even higher than ever. You can buy a subscription for very little. James Michaels retired in 1998 and died in 2007, and nobody has some along with his magical touch. Instead of being a fiery gem, a meaningful specific, Forbes has become a wandering generality, a ho-hum magazine for outsiders, and the magic is gone.

The Mana Gets Used Up

Many companies, many industries, many activities have a life similar to people. We grow up, learn, develop our muscles, hit our stride, become really productive, start to slow down, go past our prime, start to visibly deteriorate, and eventually, we die. Larry Niven explains it in his The Magic Goes Away series by explaining that magic is powered by mana, a finite natural resource.

Sometimes, the mana takes a long time to disappear. Newspapers broke out of their infancy in the 1880s with the invention of linecasting machines (such as the Monotype and the Linotype). That dramatically cut down on the cost of setting type. However, typesetting got even cheaper in the early 1900s with the invention of radio - which replaced the linotype with a microphone, the printing press with a broadcasting tower. Radio Corporation, founded in 1919, was the darling of Wall Street - and many daily newspapers started radio stations because they could see their effective monopoly on local advertising start to wither.

Philo T. Farnsworth invented the television and demonstrated it to the public in 1928. RCA tried to copy Farnsworth's invention, and as soon as WWII was over and equipment could be obtained, many daily newspapers decided to start television stations as well. Radio and television, however, are serial media, capable of advertising only one thing at a time. The random access medium of newspapers made classified advertising possible, and that, more than any other factor, kept the broadcast media at bay, despite their markedly lower costs.

When the internet came along, though, that was another random-access medium, and the fate of newspapers was sealed. The newspaper mana has died and newspapers are starting to fall like flies.

Your Personal Mana

I've said it many times before, and I'll say it again: when we are young, our parents and our teachers tell us the greatest lie: You Can Be Anything You Want To Be. Willie Shoemaker could never have made it as a linebacker, and William "Refrigerator" Perry could not have been a thoroughbred jockey. Paris Hilton would have made a terrible brain surgeon, and William Shockley, who invented the transistor, would have been a wretched failure had he tried out for the Swedish Bikini Team. You can try to be anything, but chances are, you have a limited range of actual opportunities.

I, for instance, wanted to be normal. I tried quite a few occupations, but it seems that I was best suited to being a sex god and eccentric multi-millionaire heir. If only I'd actually inherited a significant sum of money, I could have been much more eccentric.

Listen To The Mockingbird

Listening to the twits tweet on Twitter, I keep hearing the greatest lie. I've become incredibly wealthy on the internet, and you can, too.

Click on the @name of some of those spreading the lie, and you'll see that they have very few followers. If you advertised in the Intelligencer-Journal, that would reach 44,000 households, and that's considered a small daily. Most of those twits have 5,000 followers or less. At any given time, they will have perhaps 100 or 200 people on Twitter who can see their tweets. Odds are, their tweets will be seen by 40 people at most.

Can you become a multi-millionaire in business with 40 customers? Not unless you're selling yachts to highly successful stockbrokers! The whole thing sounds like AmWay in their early days. The message isn't "I've become incredibly wealthy on the internet, and you can do that, too" but "I'm a baldfaced liar wasting my time annoying people on the internet - and you can do that, too!"

Pay Attention To Your Mana

It took me a long time to realize how valuable a resource your personal integrity is. It's natural to assume that, if you goof up, a white lie will cover it up. In fact, it turns out that - as your stockbroker should have told you - your first loss is your best loss. Admitting to a mistake not only minimizes your loss, but it can make you look like someone worth trusting.

I blew it, the guy said. I made the wrong decision, and it is costing this company $500,000, and I'm sorry. Not only that, but I'm sorry to be leaving the firm, because I really liked working here. "What do you mean, leaving the firm?" his boss asked. I assume you're going to fire me. "Are you kidding? I just spent $500,000 educating you. I can't afford to fire you now. But don't let it happen again, OK?"

Or you can take a look at the Obama speech given in Egypt. He came right out and said that we're Israel's greatest ally, and nothing but nothing is going to change that. Live with it. But at the same time, while you have to recognize that Israel has a right to exist, Israel has to recognize that Palestine has a right to exist, too, and they can't keep expanding their borders. By being brutally open about our limitations, Obama cleared the air, gave those in the Mideast a reason to trust him, and set the stage for real progress towards a settlement of differences in the mideast and an end to Al-Queda attacks on the US.

More Mana

You probably remember, that when you were two, you were told to close your eyes when you make a wish, and not tell anyone even after you blow out all the candles or you end up with the bigger end of the drumstick.

That still works. If you share your wishes and dreams with the wrong person, they never come true. It's as if they were in a balloon, and you'd just punctured it.

Or you might want to think about the posters I used to see, when I was growing up. Loose Lips Sink Ships.

More Than One Way

It works more than one way. I've found that when I have a story I want to write, I dare not discuss it with someone, or I can't write the story. The words simply won't come. It's not a vengeful muse. It's not the dreaded "writer's block". What has happened is that I use my good words orally, and when I go to write them down, all that come to mind are tired old phrases - but they only seem tired and old because I've used them myself, orally.

Or I'll have a wonderful idea for an invention. I mention it to someone. If it's a bad idea, they kill my enthusiasm for the idea, and I never pursue it any further between my ears, and never refine it to the point where it's a good idea. Alternatively, if it's a great idea, they share my enthusiasm, and eventually can't help telling someone, who eventually can't help telling someone. You do know, of course, that there are only six degrees of separation between any two people on this planet? Your idea only has to be passed on three or four times before it's sure to hit someone who has the capital, the time, the connections, and the inclination to make a success of your idea before you do anything about it.

Are The Experts Really Experts?

The "experts" tell you to write down your goals, and share them - but the "experts" usually aren't experts. If you ask someone who's 103 years old how to get old, they surely will give you an answer, but no matter what they tell you, you can find plenty of others who did what they suggest, and died young anyway. The fact is, they don't know the answer. The secret of getting old is to not die - and there are a million ways to die. Similarly, the secret to success is not to fail - and there are a million ways to fail.

Certainly, you can write down your goals. Make sure they are really goals - things you can make happen, things with a deadline, things that will move you towards realizing your wishes. At the same time, though, you want to keep them a deep dark secret, instead of giving them away. Keep your creative juices tightly capped, and keep the burner on under them, so they can hardly keep from bursting to the surface. That's what we call passion - and if there's one thing that seems to be rather common in successful people, it's that they have a passion for what they do.

Other Bloggers On Related Topics:
integrity - James Michaels - Larry Niven - Linotype - Loose Lips Sink Ships - Malcolm Forbes - mana - Obama - Palestine - Paris Hilton - passion - Philo T. Farnsworth - Refrigerator Perry - scam - six degrees of separation - spam - Steve Forbes - Twitter - William Shockley - Willie Shoemaker