The race is not to the swift

[Northbrook]

Elsewhere on this "Physical & Life Sciences" sub-forum, I recently told a joke of the genre "Rich/successful/powerful man/woman shows himself/herself to be an idiot." Or, in the words of the Old Testament, "The race is not to the swift" (Eccles 9:11). With all of you being intelligent enough to have majored in science at university, I thought I'd tell this one, too. (It is a math joke.) Please indulge me. Thanks, Lambrini (Northbrook, IL)

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THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT
Retold by Lambrini

There were two graduates of Harvard Business School. One was an intelligent guy who had graduated at the top of their class, and one was a not-so-intelligent guy who had graduated at the bottom of their class. Yet the first man had only turned out to become the president of a small local bank, whereas the second man had turned out to become the CEO of a multinational corporation and a millionaire many times over. At their class reunion, the first man asked the second, "What is the secret of your success?" And the second man said, "Well, we make a product for two dollars, and we sell it for five dollars. And you'd be amazed, at how much money you can make, ON A THREE PERCENT MARKUP." Get it? Hahahahaha

 

[Sabertooth]

I missed something. I only see a 150% mark-up. Is he more successful because he is bad at math?

 

[Northbrook]

You are correct. The second man is supposed to be an idiot. A successful idiot.

 

[Northbrook]

No, the point is that the first man may have been more intelligent, but that the second man was more successful, in spite of being an idiot.

 

[pitabread]

As a finance professional, I have actually met and worked with people like the latter. Especially people who are really intelligent in one field like doctors and dentists, but can't do basic finance to save their life.

 

[dqhall]

Elsewhere on this "Physical & Life Sciences" sub-forum, I recently told a joke of the genre "Rich/successful/powerful man/woman shows himself/herself to be an idiot." Or, in the words of the Old Testament, "The race is not to the swift" (Eccles 9:11). With all of you being intelligent enough to have majored in science at university, I thought I'd tell this one, too. (It is a math joke.) Please indulge me. Thanks, Lambrini (Northbrook, IL)

**********
THE RACE IS NOT TO THE SWIFT
Retold by Lambrini

There were two graduates of Harvard Business School. One was an intelligent guy who had graduated at the top of their class, and one was a not-so-intelligent guy who had graduated at the bottom of their class. Yet the first man had only turned out to become the president of a small local bank, whereas the second man had turned out to become the CEO of a multinational corporation and a millionaire many times over. At their class reunion, the first man asked the second, "What is the secret of your success?" And the second man said, "Well, we make a product for two dollars, and we sell it for five dollars. And you'd be amazed, at how much money you can make, ON A THREE PERCENT MARKUP." Get it? Hahahahaha

He may have stated raw materials costs to make a thing without including his fixed costs. There are different ways to spin an accounting statement.

 

[Sabertooth]

He may have stated raw materials costs to make a thing without including his fixed costs. There are different ways to spin an accounting statement.

Even that was dumb on his part. He couldn't justify 3% on the information given.

 

[dqhall]

Even that was dumb on his part. He couldn't justify 3% on the information given.

If you read oil company reports, they may claim to be able to profitably extract oil when oil is at a $50 price, but still show a loss on their income statements. Things are not always as they seem. If you can make a one percent profit on an item and sell a billion of them, you might have more than a bank president, although some of them are millionaires too.