75

""ill be lucky 10 maintain Ih~ SWIllS quo. MarkeU! chang~. Tmd~". nrfil
10 IJe willing W a<ijuS\ \0 \1\""", d,a"g,.". If you a .... defc,,~i,'c, yuu will
lI"d it dif1icull h> make (I,.. needetJ a,ljustnoen(.S.
• \'ou will ont.. o op""rtu"lli,,~. Defensive lrarlers are [lOIor Il~leners.
Since your intellectual capital IS spent on building defenses, you wiU
not be tuned in 10 Ihe opponunities buried in identifying a problem
and finding a crealive 8OlUlion .
• Wben rOil A RE ri ght, no one will be u rOil. If you hav~ consistently
(ak,-n a dl-fe,,~i"e positiun, no une will IJe " ' illing (u lis(en (u yuu whe"
you are adually righl abuut asiluatiu" or a proble"'. 1.ike (he boy whu
cried. "Wol/'" 100 oft"n _no one willl",li"ve you when a wolf <loes ap-
pear. So, being willing to Mmit Ihat you are wrong can actually make
your being right ea..ier for others to accept.
• \"011 fai l to mat ure . It is difficult for a tradcr to gJo'" in maturity and
Co"'pelence since you a .... cU 'IS\:I,"Uy defending the st.~tus quo. F."en if
yuu hire a (rader's euact" gu (u counr;.,ling, ur (;)ke coulst"s a"d sem ·
i''''''', yo" "ill !\n<l yoursl'lf neerling to fon.ify the apparent ~hinks In
yuur Irarling armor rather than ",rll'Signing II or m.. nrling it.
• You are ,nore vuln eraLI" U, .0"", allack, a nd th" vagarlu or th~
markets and life. If you read about the great baUles in hisiOlY, you
will find many stories of generals who 1051 their armies hecause they
fail,.,l", l'l'Cogni"" \I,eir weakn~""'-'s for fear of appeari,1.Il indeusive.
Rath.' r than admitting a w~akncss, tlocy justififtllhetr position to Ihe
IJoinl uf l..si"g eworyU,i"g. Re"'en'lJer (I~~t defens i.'eness inviws c"en
more all:J,;;ks, ",aking yuu e "~n "'ure vu lnerab le .

1'1": \'m:n 1'0 IHWIr\"n

Th~re was a v<'ry good reason why S,d always found ",aso"S for whal
he did . ile had oc'C" raised in a very critical hume c'''' iru"",,,''t. Regard ·
k-s.s of what he did (l8 a ch ild, his '''utJ,~r and father always fuund sum~~
Ihing wrong with it. Sirl wa.~ a v.. ry bright and ~omrelf!l\l c hilrl. Instead of
I'ral<ing him for his accomplish", .. n!.., his paren!.. found something in his
achievements to crilicize,
Sid awoke each morning with asense of impending doom, Wbal would
his l ,ar~nU! find wro!\ll with him looay? No maliN whal he tri~d, h~ could
"ul make i( (hruugh H'e day ha"ing pleased II,~", . F.,·en as a" adult, his
parenlS cuuld lOut S,up (heir erilicis",. WI'en visiting Hw"" he would uf·
len chang.. hl< entire outfit Iw" or th ...... timl'S unUI he Was absolutely cer·
tain it w"uld nut generate ~rili~~",n. Ilowever, he was always wrong ahout
Ihat.loo.