(a) "Being a market leader within a given industry is not a sufficient criterion for securing investment."

(b) "A moat that must continually be rebuilt is no moat at all."

(c) "If company requires superstar to generated outsized return, the business itself cannot be deemed great." (Observation similar to Jim Collins' "Good to Great")

(d) "Bird in hand worth 2 in bush." - Aesop investment axiom

• What's your RFR?
• What's the probability of a bird being in bush
• What's the probability of you getting the bird

(e) "Capital outlays can be skipped by a company for a month, just like eating can for a day or week. The start-stop feeding mechanism will create a less healthy organism."

(f) "When a problem exists, whether in personnel or in business operations, the time to act is now."

(g) "You don't need to be smarter than the rest, you need to be more disciplined than the rest."

(h) "Price is what you pay, value is what you get"

Fortune study (1977-1986)

• Only 25/1000 cos had RoCE b/w 15%-20% pa
• All but 1 was non tech and focused on mundane stuff
• Very low leverage

Concept of institutional imperative

i.e. just like work expands to fill available time

• Projects and M&A expands to occupy free cash
• Business whims of leader justified by minions strategy plan