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blue bits. red rocks.
Monday 30 July 2012
Mitt, tell the full story of your business career

Here’s what you should say:

“Like most private equity guys, I was a white, male, something-cum-laude, Ivy League-type who spent my early career in management consulting and Harvard Business School before getting into the business, where I quickly made some serious money.

“Unlike my cousin Kleiner and his friends who work in Silicon Valley, I was not a venture capitalist who made my money starting companies or inventing things. Unlike Mayor Mike Bloomberg, I was not an entrepreneur who made my money building a company. Unlike folksy Warren Buffett, I was not a long-term investor who made my money from owning companies. And unlike my younger brother Hedge, I didn’t make my money because I was really, really smart. (Hedge was a physics professor before starting his fund and still plays chess at a high level but he’s too weird to be president.)

“No, I made most of my money from buying and selling a dozen or so companies with other people’s money; mostly uninteresting mid-sized companies that nobody particularly wanted; and I got to keep 20% of the difference between the purchase and sale price plus any cash I could take out while I owned them.

“And I now recognize that this short-term buying and selling made me about as knowledgeable about business as George Steinbrenner was about playing baseball. I was an expert at telling business people how to do what I’d never done myself. And to tell you the truth, back when I was in private equity most ‘real’ businessmen — the people running our largest companies and the entrepreneurs starting new businesses — had about as much respect for money guys like me as Dave Winfield had for George — close to zero.

40 notes

  1. ib0403 reblogged this from munificentheart and added:
    Sounds almost the same as IT consultants. Except managers pay them lots, figuring they know more because they get paid...
  2. varese reblogged this from azspot and added:
    Brilliant
  3. hairtrending reblogged this from azspot
  4. roseandbeast reblogged this from shorterexcerpts
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  10. eddyizm reblogged this from azspot and added:
    #Burn #mittromney
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