by I’ve been reading this cat’s blog since he started recently and Guy has some interesting things to say on the topic of venture capital and entreprenuership. Here’s a snippet of wisdom from a recent post that I found validating:
If you think someone is an orifice, everyone else does too. When I met people that I didn’t like, I wondered if it was me or the person. Perhaps I had gotten her all wrong, and other people liked her, respected her, adored her, whatever. After much investigation, I formulated the Rule of Perfect Information About Orifices; that is, if you think someone is an orifice, pretty much everyone thinks she’s an orifice too. There is seldom disagreement about orifices. The same, however, is not true about good guys. If you think someone is a good guy, you should never assume most people agree with you.
Life is too short to deal with orifices. Continuing on the orifice track. I’m now fifty-one years old, so more than half my life is over. There’s not enough time left to accommodate orifices–frankly, there’s not enough time to take care of the people you like. Why should you waste time with people you don’t? So no matter how great a customer, partner, or vendor someone could, or should, be, don’t waste time with orifices. They not only waste your time, but they taint your soul for the time you spent with the people you like.
A few years back I worked for a couple of guys who had this theory, too. Most everyone at that company fit the mold of a non-orofice – until the drive to grow and flip the business overcame the original guiding principle. I never doubted this theorem, but I have to admit I wondered if I’d categorizied them correctly!
Judge others by their intentions and yourself by your results. If you want to be at peace with the world, here’s what you should do. When you judge others, look at what they intended to do. When you judge yourself, look at what you’ve actually accomplished. This attitude is bound to keep you humble. By contrast, if you judge others by their accomplishments (which are usually shortfalls) and yourself by your intentions (which are usually lofty), you will be an angry, despised little man.
