A quote from Daniel Simons during the great interview that my friend Miguel did with him (HERE). They were discussing the difficulty of seeing and paying attention to other things around you when you’re so focused on doing something else.
“Let’s say you’re reviewing a prospectus and they’re throwing lots and lots of data at you. You’ll get this impression that you really understand the company really well, but you’re not thinking about what data is missing from that prospectus. So you don’t notice the risks that are not highlighted in that prospectus. That’s a real danger.”
………………..
I had a checklist item that went at follows:
- Is my information Accurate AND Complete?
o Do I really know what I think I know?
o Do I really know what I don’t know?
§ “We work really hard never to get confused with what we know from what we think or hope or wish.” –Seth Klarman
I’m now also going to add the Simons quote below the Klarman quote on the checklist.