195
CHAPTER
23
“A” Is for Ask for Help
Two men working as a team will produce more than three men
working as individuals.
—Charles P. McCormickAsk for help. Some of us, particularly of the male persuasion,
shudder at the mere mention of this. (There is an old joke about
why it takes so long for the sperm to fertilize an egg; the answer
is because none of them will stop and ask for directions.) Invest-
ment professionals are trained, like good poker players, to keep
their cards close to the vest. As Gordon Gekko said in the movie
Wall Street, information is power. It’s the competitive edge that we
all crave.
A few times in my professional career I have been in possession
of legitimate illegitimate information. One of these occasions was
years ago, while I was meeting with a media analyst about Time
Inc., back before it merged into Warner and then into AOL.
(Younger portfolio managers note: Yes, this was after the Civil War.)
I sat taking notes and the analyst droned on about the Washington
Post, Times Mirror, and finally Time Inc. I remember the meeting
as being especially unremarkable until this analyst said, “Now that
Time Inc. has divested itself of Temple Inland, the forest products
division... .” My ears pricked up like the family dog when it sees14-25 ware 195 1/19/01, 1:16 PM