Charles Dow used to counsel that no individual should ever be promoted if they hadn’t made a large error at some point. Phil Fisher used to insist only in investing in those stocks that had management teams willing to make big mistakes. If they didn’t make mistakes, they wouldn’t also take the risks required for success. Is this the essence of success? How does a corporate management team, upon the fruition of such errors, survive being “stopped out” of their positions in today’s hair twitch paradigm? Is being expropriated from your career rather than your capital not the bigger risk today? And thus can it only be stocks with founder, family or veto shareholdings that make for truly great growth stocks today? Should not Tim Cook undertake an LBO with the Qataris?
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rssSteve Jobs Refused Transplant of Tim Cook’s Liver
The latest biography of the legendary tech-guru, Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution Of a Reckless Upstart Into a Visionary Leader, covers the different key phases of Steve Jobs’ life. Written by Brent Schlender and Fast Company executive editor Rick Tetzeli, the book also offers insights into Jobs’ closest friendships, epitomized by a heart-warming anecdote about his relationship with successor, Tim Cook.
Excerpts released from the book revealed that Cook, upset by his mentor’s struggle with cancer, offered him part of his liver in 2009. Although Jobs was terminally ill from a rare pancreatic cancer, he vehemently rejected the offer.
“He cut me off at the legs, almost before the words were out of my mouth,” Cook recalled. “‘No,’ he said. ‘I’ll never let you do that. I’ll never let you do that.'”
The incident, according to Cook, was a true testament to Jobs’ selfless nature. (more…)