Rules To Live By

Corporate Finance- a case studies approach to financial tools, financial policies, and valuationPaul Asquith　Lawrence A. Weiss

---

Finally, your authors offer you some nonfinancial advice. Whenever we teach a class, after the last day's review we tend to give some thoughts on life. Listed below are a few of the ones we feel are the most important:

First, do the things you enjoy. You will only be good at something you like to do. Don't do something because you think you should do it. Don't go take a job at Goldman Sachs because it is Goldman Sachs. Pick the job you want to do. Life is not about maximizing dollars. It is about maximizing utility. you need a certain amount of money, and hopefully any job you choose will provide the basics. Both your authors have had opportunities to make much more money in industry than as academics. So why we stayed in academics? It is who we are and what we do. Neither of us made our career decisions based on money, and neither of us regrets our choices (We both would argue that being an academic-being paid to learn and teach in a wounderful setting- is perheps the greatest job ever). If you are really good at what you do (which only happens if you choose a career doing something you like to do), you'll make enough money at it. Walt Disney once said,"I don't make movies to make money, I make money to make movies."

一，做你喜欢的事情。如果你真得擅长你所做的事情，你就会挣到足够的钱。

Second, if you can't explain something simply, realize it means you don't understand it well. If you understand something well you can usually explain it simply. It's a rule we use for teaching (and hopefully this book demonstrates it). And this is true not just for you but for others as well. When people say, "I'd explain it to you, but it is too complicated, " in the vast majority of cases it means they don't understand it well enough. Einstein once said, "You don't understand something until you can explain it to your grandmother."

二，如果你无法简洁地解释一些事，你要意识到你没有真正地理解这件事。

Third, when writing a speech or making a presentation, do it as if you are speaking to your significant other. Forget preparing for a specific audience. Your sigificant other is reasonable and intelligent but won't necessarily know the jargon of your profession (and most professionals can't explain things without resorting to the jargon of their profession). Write your speech for your significant other, and you'll never lose your audience. Showing your work to them is a great way to measure it is understandable or not.

三，写文章或做演示时，按照就像给你的另一半讲解的方式来做。抛弃行业术语，用清晰简洁的方式来表达。

Fourth, act ethically. It is easy to rationalize one's actions, especially if they are approved by attorneys, accountants, or corporate boards. Unfortunately, advisors often play the role of enablers, helping managers figure outh how to use rules and regulations to justify what are clearly wrongful actions. The fact that others are doing it, ore that it is technically allowed, does not make it right. It is critical to maintain a certain sense of humility and to understand human nature, competitive pressures, and how a lack of clear guidelines can lead to potentially wrong choices. Each individual remains his or her only gatekeeper.

四，按道德做事。每个人都是自己的守门人。

Fifth, life can be hard. Unfortunately, at some point, almost everyone will suffer. People suffer because of injuries, disease, natural disasters, family tragedies, financial hardship, or simply old age. Out of the blue(出乎意料), someone has an injury, a freak accident, or is hit by  disease. No one will get through life without suffering. However, what amazes us is that since we all know that we are going to suffer and that we are all going to suffer because of what the world does to us, why on top of that we also cause suffering to each other. Try not to.

五，生活是困难的。生活中有成千上百种方式让我们感到痛苦，就不要彼此折磨了。