5 Mind-Blowing Ideas In 5 Minutes (#21)

Nostalgia, business longevity, and more

Hello there,

Sorry, I missed writing a newsletter last Sunday.

I know the absence of an intellectually invigorating and technically tantalizing email was felt acutely by thousands of subscribers.

Jk, nobody gave a shit. Some even messaged me saying I should skip sending these emails slightly more often, after which I immediately unfollowed them on LinkedIn.

Anyway, a man must do what he must do. So I’m back with 5 thought-provoking ideas that’ll leave you with lots to think about as you head to the bathroom this Sunday morning.

1. On Nostalgia: We often look back at certain years of our lives with fondness. Like our 20s when we were free without liabilities, had so much fun, had no stress about building a corpus, etc. But that’s not an accurate picture, and that happens because we forget the worries that existed in those days. We forget how stressed we’d be about finding a job, about the terrible shape of the economy, the insecurity of not being able to ever find a partner. The reason we have a rosy recollection of the past is that none of our worst fears materialized- we got by without getting our asses fired, found a life partner, and the economy didn’t implode. Since we know today that none of those bad things happened, we forget the intense fears we nursed, and only remember the good stuff (and wonder why life isn’t so good right now!). That’s why I recommend maintaining a journal and penning down your raw, true thoughts so it acts as a source of personal history in the future.

   
   
   
   

2. Tips For Business Survival: Prof Ashwath Damodaran met a dude in Tirupati who said he was a 41st generation entrepreneur running the family business- which means it’s been going on for at least 800 years! So what can these multi-century businesses tell us about what produces longevity? Staying small, staying focused, and perhaps having something to do with religion. That last one doesn’t have a clear explanation, but I think it makes sense because it provides a larger purpose beyond just profits and turns the biz into something sacred. But the other 2 points are bang on, and the prof points out how the seeds of expansion sow the seeds of eventual collapse for most businesses as they overextend- just like empires. But management consultants and bankers will try to convince you otherwise and get you into “new service lines” and M&As because it’s great business for them.
   
   
   
   

3. Wealth Managers Going Off Script: Indian wealth managers are doing things that they never did before: like helping their ultra-rich clients buy exclusive watches, booking concert tickets, and arranging lunch meetings with Roger Federer (that escalated fast). They’re partnering with luxury lifestyle management firms to cater to these requests (which have nothing to do with wealth management). Why are they doing it? It’s because people in the services businesses do whatever the hell they can to keep their clients happy. But an interesting thing this highlights is the higher-than-usual value of trust & relationships in India: that you’d do business with a person you trust, even if she has absolutely nothing to do with the products/services you’re asking for.
   
   
   
   

4. Cultural Implications of AI: Long-time readers would know that I advocate an adversarial approach to new technology. Just when we were struggling to understand how we must deal with smartphones & social media, we have this new AI wave that can hook us even harder to virtual worlds full of personalizations that deliver endless pleasure. Digital addictions will surely spiral out of control, and society will continue to adapt. What we can also expect is that groups that have higher in-person interactions (so the new gen doesn’t get caught up in virtual worlds as their only source of pleasure), social support systems, and in which the elders help younger ones find mates, will do much better than others (basically I’m bullish on Gujjus).
   
   
   

   

   Life before Ozempic

   
   
   

5. Why Some People May Hate Ozempic: In case you haven’t heard, Ozempic is touted to be the wonder drug that’s helping people lose weight. It feels like magic tbh. If this drug ends up being a net positive (i.e. the possible harms aren’t big enough to get it banned), it may have radical implications for society. One of the cultural reactions is that fit & healthy people may dislike the drug (and perhaps the people who use it). Why? Because fitness is something you earn by putting in shit-tonnes of effort, and since few people can manage to do that, it has a high signaling value. Evolutionarily, we’re programmed to find fit people attractive because it shows they have the right qualities (determination, sincerity, stamina, etc) to do the right things in life. But when everyone can look fit by just popping a few pills (and not sacrificing their daily Dominos-and-Doritos diet), the signal loses its value, and those who worked their butts off to acquire it will naturally feel pissed.

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That’s it for the day, friend. If you enjoyed this one, be sure to also read these articles:

• Important lessons from 18th-Century India

• The Future Of Sex [Popular, obviously]

• Incredible Insights from Indian F&B Brands