Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Nice quote. Here it is in full:
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.
I’m not about to suggest that I’m great or that Apollo clients are mediocre. I will admit, however, that it’s flattering when clients use my quotes. It isn’t ego. It’s that we’ve effectively communicated an important message.
I can’t help but smile whenever a client says, “…and I’m one year closer to death.” Yeah, I know, it’s morbid but it gets the point across so much more effectively than, “…and the planning horizon is decreased by one yearly interval.”
One of the most important points I try to make is that doing something that’s “less bad” (another HH-ism) is often more important than doing what’s optimal. I’ve often quoted my tennis instructor friend. “You don’t win the match by serving the most aces. You win by putting the ball into the net less often than your opponent.”
In this spirit of flattery and avoiding mistakes I particularly enjoyed this blog post by Nick Maggiulli and hope that you find it as entertaining and valuable as I did.
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