Crisis Opportunity
“the Chinese word for “crisis” is composed of elements that signify “danger” and “opportunity.”"
Many investors like to use this bit of ancient chinese “wisdom” as an investment philospohy. When the markets are down and everyone is peeing in their pants and selling off, you should see this “crisis” as an opportunity to snatch up undervalued securities. The first time I heard this, I was in a seminar listening to an unnamed non-chinese venture capitalist talk about how he survived the bubble and I thought to myself, “Wow, Confucius must have had an awesome portfolio. Not only is this VC a shrewd business man, but he’s also really cultured! I want to be a VC when I grow up!!” Then a couple months later, I heard it again, but this time coming from a angel investor here in SD. Again he was not chinese and this time around, it wasn’t quite so inspiring so I decided to look this up and see if it really is what everyone thinks it is. Evidently, this is a case of people looking for meaning where none exists.
“The ji of wei ji, in fact, means something like “incipient moment; crucial point (when something begins or changes).” Thus, a w?ij? is indeed a genuine crisis, a dangerous moment, a time when things start to go awry. A w?ij? indicates a perilous situation when one should be especially wary. It is not a juncture when one goes looking for advantages and benefits. In a crisis, one wants above all to save one’s skin and neck! Any would-be guru who advocates opportunism in the face of crisis should be run out of town on a rail, for his / her advice will only compound the danger of the crisis.”
Sorry guys, its time to look for a new anecdote to start your speeches off with.