Category: Quotes

Quote of the Week: A Business Owner’s Reaction to a Typical Banker


Angry_BossFrom an actual email:

"Frankly, I left our meeting here on Monday with the conviction that you attended under duress but would otherwise rather have been doing pretty much anything else.  PNC is a month behind every other bank, and we used up considerable goodwill with these entities to secure you and Alberto a seat at the table.  No other bank has been treated so deferentially, which PNC earned by being our lender in the past three years.  However, watching you play with your phone in your lap during our meeting and appearing otherwise bored suggested to me that there was a huge disconnect between what we have been attempting to do for PNC and how it is being perceived."

                                                                                                    Business Owner

Quote of the Day: Salinger on Class Division


"It's really hard to be roommates with people if your suitcases are much better than theirs."

                                                                        J.D. Salinger

Quote of the Week: Again on Ivy Leaguers’ Writing Skills


20131205204227!Harvard_shield-BusinessFrom an actual e-mail of a corporate COO, an HBS alumnus, blind-copied to several bankers, who lost their bids for the company's business, as well as to a few other addressees:

"As you know, we analyzed several competing offers.  One has been accepted and a good faith deposit paid.  All banks were quite detailed and specific in their term sheets.  In order to make both a proper and fair comparison, any uncertain items had to be discounted.  While it might have been useful to fully clarify all conditions and parameters, we made a decision not to allow banks to tweak their offers.  We felt strongly about not creating a Middle Eastern bizarre mentality and having every bank but one ultimately feeling used or abused."

The Frustrated CFO's comment:  Never mind the awkward phrasing and sentence structure.  How about that biased ethnic remark?  Except that it's not.  Well, at least it wasn't meant as such.  I actually asked and was told that somebody used the phrase on the news and that what the COO thought he's heard.  I had to explain that it was a "Middle Eastern bazaar" people referred to as a metaphor for haggling.  I talked him out of making a mess with a retraction.  "Bizarre bazaar… whatever," I said.        

Quotes of the Week: Everyone Is Disparaged at Home


Delphic-Sibyl-Detail"And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not  his sisters here with us?  And they were offended at him.

But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.

And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. 

And he marvelled because of their unbelief,  And he went round about the villages, teaching."

                                                    Mark 6:2 – 6

The Frustrated CFO comment:

Philosophical and belletristic powers of biblical stories lie in their proverbial precision and universality.  It's no surprise that people frequently use phrases that became ingrained into our common cultural consciousness without even knowing that they are quoting the Bible.  

In this particular case, many use a simplified version (No man is a prophet in his own land); others put it into their own words ("He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher… or, as his wife would have it, an idiot" [Douglas Adams]) – but the truth remains: People who know us privately, who observe us growing up or growing old, who see us in our house robes and undies, who bring us tissues and teas when we are sick, cannot appreciate us for our achievements, even if they enjoy their fruits.

Great men and women are frequently treated carelessly by their siblings, long-time friends, old neighbors, spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends.  I frequently hear stories told by various business owners and executives about their children who have no idea what their parents do, don't care to find out, and treat them as if they were some silly schmucks.  Scary people who control fates and well-being of numerous entities and their employees around the world are made fun of at home.  My own daughter rarely shows any respect to me, but will admire and listen to other people.

It takes someone as objective as I am to acknowledge an extraordinary person in someone very close.  Alas, it's an impossibly rare exception to the common rule: one will not get honored in his/her own house.