Are or Do

Paul Bloom says people are essentialists. Like Plato, believing that all things have an “essence” that define them. We “are” something. “I am angry” rather than “I am doing anger”. “They are a racist” rather than “they are doing racism”. 

We like the baseball that was hit by Babe Ruth, or the jersey that was worn by Kolisi, Smit, or Pienaar. The value (price?) of the jersey goes up if it wasn’t washed! Like there is a permanent spirit in the object. 

I had a coke can collection growing up that I inherited from my older brother, then expanded. I learnt that if you want a valuable can collection, you had to maintain the integrity of the can, unopened, and in its original state. Wasn’t going to happen... so my collection was just for me. 

We start believing that we can be weighed and measured by our essence. That some people are fundamentally better, with more merit, than others. The toxic view that you can gather data points on people till you can discard them because they are not brilliant outliers. The idea that once you have enough information on a person, you can pass judgement on them and decide if they are good enough. 

My view of privilege is that it is part of endurance. It is building up your ability to endure and strengthen your capacity to absorb challenges. Part of that has nothing to do with you and your essence. 

In stilling your money waves, you have to be aware of the impact you have on others, the benefit you receive from others, and the obligations that you have. Part of stilling waves is realising the waves don’t only affect you.

Inspirational Humanity

We celebrate outliers. Record-breaking and extremes of human achievement. Those being celebrated have a combination of barriers to entry the vast majority cannot possibly overcome, and hopefully... a smidgen of humanity we can relate to. Traits we can learn from. We can recognise the pain etched sharply in the face of a lone cyclist being pursued relentlessly by the peloton. With what we are given, we can apply these lessons and make the most of it.

I like the tough love concept of accepting responsibility and avoiding blame. I also get that part of white, english-speaking, male privilege is that I get treated as an individual and have no one to blame. I am not part of any category of people that is massively disadvantaged. So I have to take responsibility, but only from a strong foundation. That is empowering. If I succeed, I am acknowledged... not my category. If I fail, it is my fault... not my category. I get seen. 

It is true that massive groups of people have disadvantages that swallow their inspirational humanity. We are grappling with how to overcome those structural barriers and see people. How do you see the humanity and potential within people who aren’t breaking records? How do we avoid and unwind the disadvantages of a category becoming so engrained, that the shadows and scars remain even when walls fall and doors open? 

Austrian Mathematician wins Gold

The Signal

Until you are the decision maker, there are lots of people who will be in positions to choose the options that are available to you. Good ideas are not sufficient without financing and a container. Someone must have the money. Someone must own the money vehicle. Until that person is you, you will have to convince people. Skills and knowledge will need to be conspicuous. A clear offer. Although there are other paths, one of the tools for conspicuous skill is formal education. Arguably, you are not paying for the education/information (that is largely free now), you are paying for (1) exclusivity (for them to reject other candidates), (2) network (for them to accept other candidates who will become colleagues/friends), and (3) the signal to the person with money who gets to impact your fate. You are buying privilege. Beyond the knowledge, exam and study technique become essential. Establishing a habit of breaking down barriers. The process of absorbing information in a limited time, and then performing in an artificially constructed signal factory. 

"The Signal"

William Powell Firth  (1858)

 

Hereditary Entitlement

Meritocracy came in as a response to hereditary wealth. Hereditary entitlement. You had a position or role in your caste or class, and that came from your parents or the money you inherited. Meritocracy was the wild idea that you should hire the best person for the job. Which is the most skillful or the most knowledgeable. You should push resources to where they will have the biggest impact. That provides a path for social mobility, and it allows people to move “up”. If you use that directionality. The problem with meritocracy is that the idea is handicapped by the impact of privilege. Part of our incentives is money, but part of it is we naturally want to invest in the skills and knowledge of our children. We quite reasonably want to give them a competitive advantage. One of the barriers to entry is education. If you give someone education, you implicitly strengthen their barriers and that compounds. So there is a lot of thinking to do about conspicuous meritocracy and the barriers that people have to overcome. If we really want to get resources to where the true merit is. 

Focussed on Up

Choose your Mountain

20-year-old Trev also had long hair. Grown during a two-year stint in the UK on a work-travel visa, in between school and university. It was the first time I had left South Africa (I had only ever even been to Cape Town once when I was two, which felt like the closest foreign place to Durban). My bravest previous adventures had been crossing the Vaal river to visit the family who said Fish with an accent. Young Trev was also a curious spirit, but those two years exposed him to how daunting a London you cannot afford is. Sitting on a bench in Kensington Gardens, he/I took the decision to accept the world hard. Money is made in containers. One of the most defendable containers is hard. Actuarial Science is not on the covers of flashy magazines, nor does it have sexy movie leads (“About Schmidt”). It does however require serious knuckling down, which creates a deep moat. A Competitive Advantage is not what you are good at. It is why others cannot do that. The mountain of professional exams is intimidating. I am grateful to young Trev that that did not scare him. It scares me. Money is made in National Containers. Salaried Containers. Professional Containers. Inherited Containers. Figure out the barriers to entry, and how to overcome them. Hard but possible is good for you.

Actions have Consequences

Karma Yoga is one of the four paths to stilling the waves of the mind. Karma means action. The other three are Bhakti (love/devotion), Raja (meditation), and Jnana (knowledge or intellect). Part of reducing anxiety is understanding how you are wired, and plotting a very bespoke practice that works for you. My understanding of Karma is that actions have consequences. Even though the world is random, complicated, and ambiguous… even the yogis believe in some cause and effect. The waves knocking us around are a function of both current free will and past human action that set the circumstances. Sanchita Karma are the accumulated actions of the past. History matters. Paarabdha Karma are the past actions you unpack in your life. You can change the circumstances. Kiryamana Karma are consequences of your current actions you experience immediately. Each day matters. Aagami Karma are the seeds you plant that affect you or others later. Our actions impact others. Like Fundamental Investing, the idea of Karma is that what we do matters. We have free will. It is just hard, and contextual. We have to do the deep work.

Continual Process of Unpacking

Good Enough

Meritocracy isn’t supposed to be a defence of privilege. It is the idea that capital and power get allocated on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement rather than wealth or social class. Similarly Capitalism was historically a push back against Mercantilism. Mercantilism looked at Nations as competitive containers designed to win. The aim, it was thought, was to maximise exports and minimise imports. Sell lots. Buy little. Win. The policies led to aggressive militaries and colonial expansion. Enter Adam Smith and the idea of Win-Win. Gunboat diplomacy was the use of conspicuous naval power to use the threat of war should the “negotiation” terms not be in line with what the stronger power wants. Smith made the convincing case that trade and reduced barriers to entry benefit everyone. Similarly, with Meritocracy, we only half heartedly want it. Limited, networked, job and client opportunities mean people are still suspicious of reducing barriers to entry. Meritocracy is now used as a defence of privilege as if conspicuous gunboat signals mean the advantages are deserved. The reason people don’t want real meritocracy is because they walk around thinking they are impostors. We all worry “I am not good enough”, if a great people sorting sees our flaws. 

"Seaport at Sunrise" Claude Lorrain (1639)

Get Out

In a knowledge economy, the key asset is the people. There is no real intellectual property (IP), because people aren’t allowed to be property. They get to leave if they want to. There can be the illusion of IP with processes and stories that people buy into. There can be a tipping point of people that other people rely on. Internal groups might not leave, unless they leave together. It makes sense that lots of companies will therefore operate on the basis of a club mentality, where loyalty is more important than real merit. There are strong barriers to us unwinding privilege and prejudice because to do that properly, you have to invest in people who might not stay. Closed communities aren’t interested in individual meritocracy. They want the community to do well, irrespective of the community’s merit. In the same way as we personally want to do as well as we can. We don’t refer potential opportunities away from ourselves and towards people we think are better than us. The real way to reduce privilege is to reduce barriers to entry, and barriers to exit. Make it easier for people on the inside to get out, and people on the outside to get in.

Making your Jam

I buy many of the stronger arguments about eating less meat, and so am slowly changing my habits. I also buy the argument that we have a quota of self-discipline. There are no brownie points for martyrs and ideologues. Actions are what matter, so deep pragmatism is the most effective path. By definition. My approach has been to gently expand my vocabulary (the foods my tongue recognises) and sentences (the foods I can cook). Addition is the best form of breaking of control. If I look forward to vegetarian dishes, I don’t feel hard done by, by the missing meat. I now love making soup and jams… and experimenting. My meat consumption has gone down. Similarly, I think the way to unwind our identity problems (Nations, Companies, Prejudice) is competition. Start seeing yourself in more places till those places become a part of you. We are a collection of our habits, and our habits build from the words and sentences we attach meaning to and build meaning from.

Marlboro Man

There is no point in being angry at God if you are an atheist. There is no one to direct the anger at. I am anationalist and an acorporatist. Not in the sense that I don’t believe in Nations and Corporations. Just that I don’t believe they are people. There are people that believe in them, and they have power to impact actions. But they are stories. Stories that influence the choices of others and create vested interests worth protecting. The tobacco industry loves high taxes and zero advertising. This stops new entrants and protects the lingering story of the old titans. Similarly the Asset Management industry wouldn’t be happy if the cost of investing fell to zero. To manage money for others requires Capital, a buffer for insecure income, and financing a stream of expenses. Needing money to make money protects those who already have money. They want the associated expenses as a barrier to entry. A way to prevent staff from getting ideas. Senior analysts don’t break away to do their own thing because they have fired enough junior analysts to know the lightning that started their careers has to hit twice. They know the emperor is wearing no clothes. They also know that winners tend to keep winning. Starting is hard. If we want real change, we need to empower starters.

Old Stories Have Power

Throwing Name

For 5 years I raised money every November for Movember. In the first year, I raised more by growing a moustache than I had as part of a dedicated Youth Council in a full year’s effort. It blew my mind. Hours selling hot dogs, arranging charity dinners and “expanding Rands” versus a few emails and some fancy dress. I sharpened my self-mocking for money over the next few years and learnt a few lessons. (1) Don’t make the one time a year you contact someone, a time you are asking them for something, (2) Don’t always ask the same people, and (3) Be interested in and support the causes of other people. People like people who are consistent and interested, rather than only there when they need help. This is analogous to new tools like LinkedIn. Don’t take it seriously only when you need a job. It takes time to become a contributory member of a community. To be trusted. Relationships and Networks are the backbone of privilege. But now tools are there to democratise that, and change the game. If they are used authentically. If they are used as a conversation rather than a request. Be part of the conversation.

Easy Money

Shared Words

“Do you believe in God?” This question had an easy answer in Westville where I grew up. We had a shared vocabulary. Yes, the people who went to the Catholic Church by the Robots (Traffic Lights) at the top of Westville Road thought a little differently. But God was still an old white dude with a beard. Then schools opened up to other races and suddenly Youth Group on Friday wasn’t necessarily all my buddies cup of chai. Vocabs expanded. I moved on from Christianity, but if I ask friends I grew up with “Do you still believe in God?”, I have to be prepared for a deeper conversation. The God they likely believe in now, is not *identical* to the one I grew up with. Or at least the one *in my head*. The word doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. The same is true in other hard conversations. We don’t have a shared meaning for the word “Racist” and “Privileged”. We do seem to have progressed to where Racist is an insult. Something no one wants to be. An accusation worthy of defence. Increased cultural understanding and cooperation is a fundamental part of wealth creation. Social Capital is the backbone of any ability to generate an income or capital. No one is self-made. Self-empowerment starts with shared words and hard conversations.

Words are Created

Don't Ask Jason

Jason would be my first call if I needed help burying a body. He would ask no questions. This is not a public confession of intent, or guilt. It is just as suggestion. If you suspect me of murder, don’t ask Jason if I did it. Loyalty is hard wired into us as a way of defeating mortality. We learn through death. Which is why Max Planck said, “Science progresses one funeral at a time”. It is much harder to unlearn than to learn. Death is a communal feature rather than a glitch. The Curse of Knowledge is that knowing one thing can make it harder to know, or even see, another. What we know is Path Dependent. The set of decisions people face is limited (or increased) by decisions made in the past. Hereditary Privilege is a feature. We care that the next generation will have more options. Loyalty means we can see and protect the good, even in the face of bad. Even very bad. It is also a glitch if it restricts the options of others. Removing structural bias means universally raising the basic options we all have. Having foundational loyalty to all.

History Matters

Story of Self-Reliance

Self-reliance is incredibly empowering. It is a story in which I have been deep soaked. Lower your expectations and you can’t be disappointed. If something needs doing, just do it. Discover your ability to find joy with very little, and every little bit extra will be a delight. One of my privileges is that I don’t feel anybody owes me anything. This frees me up to give generously in the belief that good stuff will come back. To build my ability to stay in it for the long term. To build my ability to cope with the inevitable challenges involved in doing anything worthwhile. If this comes across as a little preachy, it is possibly because I learnt it in Church. Friday nights & twice on Sundays. My path led me away from religion, but our stories don’t change overnight. Bruce Lee said, “Absorb what is useful. Discard what is not. Add what is uniquely your own”. It is hard to understand other people. They didn’t do all their schooling in Westville (Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa). University in Cape Town. Work in Joburg & London. Gradually, spending time with people allows us to see their stories. How connected our self really is to non-overlapping stories that don’t make sense to us. I’m adding a pinch of salt to my story of self-reliance.

Pillow Fighting my Mom at the Westville Methodist Church

Heads or Tails

You can’t tell if a coin is biased with one spin. A coin biased to Heads can still fall on Tails. That is pretty compelling evidence that the coin is not anti-Tails. Even though it is. Spin a biased coin 7.8 Billion times and you will be able to tell very clearly that it is biased. 60 million times. Still clear. As the group gets bigger the compelling evidence in the defence of the coin will get weaker. The same is true of racism. An individual can try being “colour blind” and letting people “put the past behind them”, in order to treat people equally *from this point forward* “based on merit”. The first problem is treating people equally, who haven’t been treated equally, isn’t treating people equally. The second problem is we only see the strengths we are looking for. The words we don’t understand are just noise. The experiences we haven’t had don’t stretch us if they don’t connect, in some way, to the experience we have had. “I don’t see colour” is a form of racism. Racism with a compelling defence. Spin the coin a few more times and perhaps you’ll see the problem.

Which is Heads, and which is Tails?

Longue Durée

I still consider myself monolingual even though I have a childlike grasp of a few other languages. I believe you learn languages through embodiment. For the last few months, I have been following the Fluent Forever method of training my ear, tongue, and facial muscles to do French. It is a physical process. Deep soaking. The reason History matters is that much of the way we respond to the world is deep soaked. We don’t just wake up and decide who to be. A new French word I have learnt is “longue durée”. Long Duration. Giving priority to long term historical structures over the short term time frame that is the domain of the chronicler or journalist. I can’t wake up and decide English isn’t my mother tongue. If you want to understand me, you need to get to know me. Personally. But I would be fooling no one if I said my history didn’t matter. If I want to change, that is where I am changing from.

"American Progress" by John Gast

White Knight

It is a privilege to be treated as an individual rather than a category. To be seen. Part of that comes from not having to be standardised to fit into a system (a job, a role, an income). Capital doesn’t care about you. In a good way. Capital compounds just like Privilege. Money makes money. Social Connections make Social Connections. In my 11 years of earning a salary, most of my colleagues were white and English speaking. Most South Africans working outside South Africa are White and English Speaking. But that isn’t how I was seen. I was Trevor. An individual. Yet, behind the majority of my colleagues (and clients) were family and friends that helped. Get the CV to the top of the pile. Skip the pile altogether. Pay for the university. Be a role model. Be a mentor. Josh Waitzkin talks about “Numbers to leave Numbers. Form to leave Form”. He is talking chess and martial arts at an elite level, but what he means is Structure disappears when knowledge is embodied. Racism may no longer be explicit like when we were learning how the horse moves, but it doesn’t disappear just because we start liking each other.

"Numbers to leave Numbers. Form to leave Form."

Josh Waitzkin on embodied knowledge

Wafer Thin

You can’t have a discussion about Meritocracy, without a discussion about Privilege. It is like buying shares in a business based on its share price movements alone, without looking at the balance sheet, income statement and cash flows. That is trading, not investing. Fundamentals matter. Wafer thin margins can make Mr Creosote look really profitable, until you see how much debt he has and take cover for the imminent explosion. Huge revenues can be more than swallowed by runaway costs. Valuable tangible assets may have to be sold at a fraction of their normal market price because of poor cash flow management. Meritocracy is just a number. Numbers are meaningless when they stand alone. They only have value in comparison. Privilege may be messy and qualitative unlike conspicuous merit. Sorry. You have to do the work. The work is deeper than prejudice. Even the prejudice you don’t know you have till someone shows you a mirror.

Stuff the Stuff

Connecting lifestyles to scorecards of success is both incorrect and dangerous. Capital can live forever if treated well. It can sustainably generate real returns, and feed life, or it can be spent. 0-5% real growth each year adds up, even if it doesn’t seem as impressive as a new car, a bigger house, or a fancy holiday. “The Stuff” we judge each other by. The stuff we form our prejudices around. It also traps us in a lifestyle connected to the privilege, or lack thereof, we are born into. Privilege includes skills and talents, as well as the social capital and network we use to get an income. The dance between privilege, merit, income, and lifestyle, traps us in dated and formulaic wobbles out of sync with the music of the time. Traps us in racism, classism, nationalism and projected fears. Real Creativity needs space to breathe. That space can only come if we rewrite the rule book. Rewrite rules that have been soaked so deep, we don’t even know they are made up. Stuff the stuff, we make the rules.

Free to Dance

History Matters

Hans Rosling points out that you should “never leave a number all by itself. Never believe that one number on its own can be meaningful. If you are offered one number, always ask for at least one more. Something to compare it with.” Incentives matter, and directing resources to where they are most effective matters, but meritocracy is meaningless when you don’t look at privilege. It is like asking how much profit was made without asking how much capital was used. Was the capital borrowed? An awful investment can still make a huge return with lots of leverage. Borrow a mountain of money and use it lazily, it can still make money if it was free to borrow. Saying “History is irrelevant”, we have to move forward, is not meritocracy. It is Hereditary Privilege. As Warren Buffett says, it is “unfair to select the finalists of the 100m olympics based on their parent’s times.” History always matters. Honest history. Releasing the past doesn’t release us. It traps us in goldfish ignorance. Where the only world we know is the contextless world we see right now.