The Black Swan - Or: Show Me The Cemetery

The Black Swan – Or: Show Me The Cemetery

On January 25, 2011, in Blog Series, Book Reviews, Books With Impact, Personal development in MLM, The Black Swan, Video, by Oliver

What is a Black Swan – and what does it have in common with a cemetery ?

Let me explain…

In a previous post, I asked you which which book impacted you the most in life and business.

I got some amazing answers from you that I am going to share in an upcoming post.

Thank you very much for your contributions !

I can already tell that my list of “to read”-books has been growing menacingly thanks to your recommendations.

Watch this video in order for you learn which book impacted me the most and why – the answer might be a little bit surprising for you:

This is what Wikipedia says about this book:

“The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable is a philosophy / literary book by the epistemologist Nassim Nicholas Taleb. The core theme of the book is that the impact of rare events is huge and highly underrated. We are not aware of it, which increases their effect much. Our mind and thinking habits are poorly equipped to handle rare events. The book relates the various cognitive and psychological reasons of this, from multiple perspectives. The book is written in a literary style and covers a wide variety of subjects relating to knowledge, aesthetics, and living life.”

And:

“The main idea in Taleb’s book is not to attempt to predict Black Swan Events, but to build robustness into negative ones that occur and being able to exploit positive ones. Taleb contends that banks and trading firms are very vulnerable to hazardous Black Swan Events and are exposed to losses beyond those that are predicted by their defective models.

Taleb states that a Black Swan Event depends on the observer—using a simple example, what may be a Black Swan surprise for a turkey is not a Black Swan surprise for its butcher—hence the objective should be to “avoid being the turkey” by identifying areas of vulnerability in order to “turn the Black Swans white”.”

A turkey gets fed a hundred times or more – and remember what happens to it the day before Thanksgiving. Quite surprising for the poor bird, yet not for the butcher.

Banks and trading firms – I am going to expand on this in upcoming posts and I will try to expand on the idea that an MLM internet business is also an area that is vulnerable to Black Swan events, in a positive and negative sense.

Then it would be our business to avoid being the turkey.

And it would shed an entire different light on people who are trying to sell you “How to-stuff” – all you have to ask them is:”Where is the cemetery ? Show me the cemetery of people who followed exactly your so-called blueprint – and failed.”

I’m not against How-to-stuff at all – simply ask yourself: Am I the turkey or the butcher ?

Please go ahead to the post that shares a list of the books that impacted you the most – awesome stuff I must say.

What is your opinion ?

I always love your feedback, so please leave me a comment down below with questions, thoughts, or feedback.

And (yes, here’s my call to action) please share this post with your Twitter and Facebook friends by clicking on the share buttons above.

I appreciate you telling others.

To a prosperous life,

Oliver Tausend
+1 201 984 5664 office North America (anytime)
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21 Responses to “The Black Swan – Or: Show Me The Cemetery”

Jack Foley says:

January 25, 2011 at 10:24

Yo Oliver,

Thanks for doing the video and I look forward to your black swam blog series..

Jack
Jack Foley recently posted..How To Use Social Media The Right Way In Your MLM Business

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 00:04
Hi Jack,

thanks for your comment. You’re most welcome and stay tuned.

Take care

Oliver

[Reply]

Reply
Jym
Twitter: JymTarrant
says:

January 25, 2011 at 12:51

Mmmm…. Looks to be a very interesting book Oliver. Thanks for the tip!

It’s a great question to ask – ‘Where’s the cemetery?’ – all the statistics we get plied with on a daily basis are carefully designed not to reveal the less than successful side of course, but in most (or all?) cases, it is there somewhere of course…

I’m really looking forward to reading the rest of this series…

Thanks for sharing,

Jym
Jym recently posted..MLM Branding- How to Brand Yourself in 17 Steps

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 00:03
Hi Jym,

in Germany we have the saying: Only trust in the statistics you faked yourself.

We all know it, but we all are fascinated when someone talks about moving averages and standard deviation.

Stay tuned for the series. I’m not yet when it will start…

Take care

Oliver

[Reply]
Jym from MLM Lead Generation
Twitter: JymTarrant
Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 00:33
I like that saying very much… And so true!

It reminds me of another:

“93.4% of statistics are made up on the spot”

Cheers!

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 14:38
Thanks Jym. We all know it, but that doesn’t prevent us from becoming obsessed about stats…pretty weird, isn’t it ?

Reply
Tosin says:

January 25, 2011 at 18:32

Hey Oliver,

I’m surprised at the book, really. And being a bookworm of a sort, I am looking forward to laying my hands on The Black Swan.

Thanks for the video and looking forward to a compilation of those books.

Tosin
…fear is the passion of slaves!
Tosin recently posted..Have You Shown Your Love to Marcus Baker

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
January 25th, 2011 at 23:56
Hi Tosin,

thanks for your comment. I’m going to publish the list of my reader’s books tomorrow – with really great and interesting books.

If you read it, let me know what you think.

Take care

Oliver

[Reply]

Reply
Heather C Stephens
Twitter: stephensheather
says:

January 25, 2011 at 21:45

Oliver,

The books sounds very interesting! Thank you for sharing it with us. I look forward to your series on this book. You reminded me that I requested book information in a post a while back and haven’t followed up on it. Looking forward to seeing your upcoming post on that as well!

Heather
Heather C Stephens recently posted..Beginner Blogger Q and A- Pick a Profitable Target Market and Niche

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
January 25th, 2011 at 23:53
Hi Heather,

thanks for your comment. The book is a little bit challenging. It’s also entertaining because he has brilliant way of writing. At the end of the day we want to expose ourselves to positive Black Swans and avoid the bad ones – without wanting to predict them. Chances are the internet is a great playground for that. Serendipity.

Take care

Oliver

[Reply]

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Mavis Nong
Twitter: MavisNong
says:

January 26, 2011 at 12:56

Hey Oliver,

I have never heard of this book and it sounds interesting. I look forward to your series.

Thanks for sharing this.

All the best,
Mavis
Mavis Nong recently posted..101 Surefire Ways To Attract Targeted and Endless Prospects

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
January 26th, 2011 at 14:26
Hi Mavis,

it is interesting and it is challenging, definitely.

Thanks for your comment.

Take care

Oliver

[Reply]

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Delena Silverfox says:

January 27, 2011 at 03:06

I’m very curious to get my hands on this book, now! This topic of a Black Swan has come up a lot online, I’ve seen, and not just because of the movie. I think I’ll be looking forward to your series!

Delena

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
January 27th, 2011 at 14:16
Hi Delena,

thanks for your comment. Let me know what you think about this book when you read it.

Take care

Oliver

[Reply]

Reply
Stephane Lacroix says:

January 27, 2011 at 13:51

Hi Oliver, an other book on my list to read. It’s sometimes take more than one read to understand some of of the content of a great book. Especially in personal development and business in general.

Thank you for the suggestion Oliver.

Take care.

Stephane

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
January 27th, 2011 at 14:14
Hi Stephane,

absolutely. As you grow as a person, a personal development evolves as well.

You’re most welcome and thanks for your comment.

Take care

Oliver

[Reply]

Reply
Web Content Writing says:

February 2, 2011 at 09:21

Hey Oliver,

I’m new to your blog.. was directed here from Liz’s portal which featured you in the list of top commenters. Good blog, I must say! Went through a couple of posts and noted down some pointers

My friends have been telling me about the Black Swan book too, so now there are two reasons why I gotta check it out. Thanks for the heads up, will try the book!

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
February 3rd, 2011 at 09:58
Hi,

thanks for your comment. Glad you like my stuff.

Take care

Oliver

[Reply]

Reply
Books That Impacted You The Most In Life And Business | Oliver Tausend's Blog says:

May 9, 2011 at 10:04

[...] Tausend The Black Swan – Or: Show Me The Cemetery Think And Grow Rich – The Ghost Of Fear Of Loss Of [...]

Reply
Sheila
Twitter: wowullsheila
says:

March 28, 2012 at 04:40

I loved reading Black Swan so much. Of course he doesn’t cover too many strategies for hedging against such an event, but I guess that’s partly the point. However it really has opened up my eyes to risk

[Reply]
Oliver Reply:
March 29th, 2012 at 09:37
Hi Sheila,

especially to the hidden risk of financial packages made “safe”.

Thanks for your comment

Regards

Oliver

[Reply]

Reply