Considered Opinions

Always Confident – Occasionally Informed

I first met Senior^[i]Not his real name, of course in the late 1960s, shortly after he had taken his first Company public. Later, he became very helpful in my first start-up venture, and we stayed in touch over the years that followed. A decade or so later, he called one day to ask my advice on another venture that he was about to undertake. Access-control using RF identification was in its early stages, and his prior experience was a perfect match.

I was working with NIR at the time, so being anxious to help, but without much careful thought, I tried to persuade him to use light^[ii]In the broader sense, understanding that IR is not visible instead of an electrostatic field for the data transmission. He was right, of course, to reject my suggestions, so I missed out on an opportunity to learn more from him,^[iii]To this day, I don’t have a thorough grasp of field theory, and I have only myself to blame for that. and he went on to build a very successful Company that was later acquired for well into eight figures. 

I put forth this little story as a prelude to make the point that, in my youth, I was also guilty of some of the behaviors that I will describe next.

Senior had three sons, and all three had worked for me on the farm from time to time as teenagers. They were all good kids who worked hard and went on to be successful in their own endeavors.

One in particular –  Junior #3 – was unusually ambitious and energetic. I will refrain from the word obnoxious, but he needed to be in the middle of every conversation, always talking, rarely listening, representing himself as the authority on things he knew nothing about. He came to be known as the guy who always had a “better idea” about how things should be done, irrespective of whether or not he understood how the tried & true methods worked. When he encountered something he didn’t understand, his first instinct was to change it. We didn’t let him change anything, of course, and that really annoyed him.

At sixteen or eighteen years old, knowing little of the world around him and seemingly unable to listen made him a slow learner.^[iv]My mom would have classified him as “a know-it-all” – she had a way with words, after all. While he was unable to learn from others, that didn’t keep his omnipresence from annoying everyone around him.

When Senior would occasionally refer to Junior#3 as “Always Confident – Occasionally Informed”^[v]Much like my mother, he also had a way with words., we all laughed, and he would push out his chest and storm off in defiance. He probably grew up at some point, but for as long as I knew him after that, he just kept being occasionally informed.

I never had the opportunity to share this story with Senior or with Junior #3, but I occasionally pass it on to someone who happens to be full of himself or herself.

By: Jim
Written: December 7, 2023
Published: December 7, 2023
Revised: 
Reader feedback always appreciated^[vi]. . thoughtful commentary perhaps more so than shallow thoughts