Musings Report #52 12-28-13 Arrogance, Confidence, Self-Interest & Humility

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Arrogance, Confidence, Self-Interest & Humility

During a recent family gathering, I made a negative comment about someone I saw as arrogant. My Mom (84 years of age) retorted, "You're always telling people what to do--isn't that the height of arrogance?"

Her critique set me back a bit, and made me think about the entire process of offering "solutions" to individuals or groups. Was unrequested advice inherently arrogant, or did the manner of the communication and the nature of the solution transform the act of offering unrequested advice?

Clearly, self-righteousness acts as a sort of Kryptonite to the process of suggesting solutions: nobody likes advice from a self-absorbed know-it-all. The self-righteous advisor is not only confident in his superiority, but in the applicability of his proffered solution: since it worked for me, it will also work for you.

An example that comes to mind is when the U.S. pushes some conventional American system onto other nations with very different contexts and cultures as a "one size fits all" solution.

So I think a firm grasp of the limits of one's own solutions--i.e. a grounded humility--is an important part of avoiding arrogance. Understanding the contingencies of every situation matters.

Self-interest also matters. If the "solution" just so happens to mesh with the interests of the advisor, then clearly the advice is suspect, as it may not actually serve the best interests of the recipient.

But holding back potentially helpful solutions could be worse than "arrogantly" offering advice.

If we see a good friend embroiled in a problem to which we see a clear solution based on our own experience, do we remain silent or do we accept the possibility that unrequested advice might be unwelcome but potentially useful to someone we care about? If humility and lack of confidence restrain us from helping those who could benefit from our experience, then aren't these qualities more negative than the perceived arrogance of advice?

Confidence also plays a part in this complex process. For example, how many people were offended by the solutions Steve Jobs put in place when he regained the reins at Apple? Did Jobs' immense confidence instill confidence in those he was leading out of insolvency?

Does having sufficient confidence to offer solutions negate the humility we prize in those offering solutions? Or does it boil down to the tone of the advice, i.e. if it is unhelpful but offered politely, we accept it better than advice that is helpful but crassly presented?

Are we swayed more by the confidence of the advisor than the content of the advice? Or does the value of the advice pivot on our confidence in the expertise and experience of the advisor?

I don't have any hard-and-fast answers to these questions, but asking them helps elucidate the many nuances in the process of offering solutions to others. As the proprietor of a blog that offers if not solutions then contexts for solutions, I am very wary of offering "one size fits all" solutions to anyone in any circumstance.

After all, the "cost" and risk of offering advice/solutions is essentially near-zero for the advisor but the cost/risk of taking the advice could be high. There is an implicit asymmetry to the process that should weigh heavily on the advisor.

I aired my concerns about offering solutions on the blog with longtime friend G.F.B., and he summarized what he saw as the blog's basic orientation: to offer things I find of interest and potential value to readers.

Clearly, this takes a certain confidence in my role as a filter; as for solutions, I like to think my bias is toward decentralized, intrinsically disorderly "solutions" with multiple feedbacks that are freely adaptable to a variety of circumstances. The temptation to offer "one size fits all" solutions is always present, and it takes awareness of our limits to avoid that temptation.

Summary of the Blog This Past Week

The Only Leverage We Have Is Extreme Frugality

Some Themes to Watch in 2014

A Christmas Musical Offering ("Hamakua Dream")

Why Economics Will Never Be a Legitimate Science

Why Advice From Highly Successful People Is Misleading (and thus potentially harmful)

A strong week in terms of a variety of interesting topics--I probably should have held these back until January, as readership falls in this holiday week. The econ piece is especially noteworthy, while the "avoid advice from the successful" is, well, good advice....

Best Thing That Happened To Me This Week

Recorded an original song "Hamakua Dream" with longtime friend and musical mentor C.C. Our recording philosophy--to keep the end result as close to live and as fresh as possible--makes our sessions easy and great fun. Imperfection is perfection....

Market Musings

Who knows when this incredible advance in stocks will wane or flame out? Some market watchers are resigned to SPX 2000 (it's currently 1,840) or even higher. Were that to occur, it would be a very clear sign of a blow-off top. On the other hand, the last 6-8 weeks already look like a blow-off top.

I would like to see a dip and a "buy the dip" that fails to recover the previous high. That would provide some initial evidence that this liquidity-carry trade rally is finally exhausting itself.

From Left Field

The worst advice in the world?--go to college and avoid manual skills and work: many opportunities are in "dirty work"....

The New New Great Game: Geography, Energy, the Dollar and Gold (35 pages, via U. Doran) -- well worth studying, if only to question commonly held assumptions...

Living In Online (photo essay) (via Maoxian) "I started seeing my country in a different way. Japan is one of economically advanced country. It is a society where people can live without eagerness to survive. People who live as floating in the ocean are not something rare in my country."

As Food Labels Get Closer Look, Ingredients Vanish -- a positive trend

Tom Roston’s Top 10 Documentaries of 2013 -- no idea what the next-best were.... maybe 11 - 20 were even better....

Kyle Bass on the Art of Short Selling -- any lesson that only costs you a couple hundred thou is cheap....

'We Are Creating Walmarts of Higher Education' -- the higher education cartel is like WalMart, only much less price-sensitive....

This North Carolina Campus Was Meant to Show Off the Future of Online Education, but It hasn't gone according to plan

I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice System -- white guy in a suit and tie goes out of his way to get arrested and then annoys the Powers That Be.... dangerous.

Tracking the Secret Lives of Great White Sharks (via Brenden L.)

Breathtaking Time-lapse Of Los Angeles -- some neat night photos of Hell-Aye....

French cafe offers discounts to polite customers (via Nicole D.) "Sign outside Côte d'Azur establishment lists price of coffee as €7 but 'Bonjour, un café, s'il vous plaît' costs only €1.40" -- I like this strategy very much... politeness should have a financial value.

Thanks for reading--

charles