Good Judgment

The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

“Now, Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” -1 Kings 3: 4-9

“Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgment.” –Mark Twain

“Four things belong to a judge: To hear courteously; to answer wisely; to consider soberly; and to decide impartially.” –Socrates

I recently put together a week long, off-campus, Finance & Investing “Experience” for twenty of my high school students (I cheekily called it “Billionaire Bootcamp”). These were all students who wanted to learn more about finance, investing, real estate and entrepreneurship.

I’m extremely lucky to have graduated from the University of Chicago with a very close group of friends, all highly accomplished in various industries, including finance. I called on this friend group to come and speak to my students and they offered incredible, world-class advice.

One of them–Joe–in preparation to talk to my students, asked a billionaire that he works with, what single piece of advice he would give to those looking to make it big. Perhaps even to become a billionaire.

The billionaire’s answer?…

Good judgment.

If you have good judgment and make good decisions, then you’ve got a chance at a billion. More importantly, you will have a high quality and happy life.

Without good judgment?….You don’t stand a chance.