3 wildly inaccurate predictions to reinforce the value of consistency

At one point or another, we think there are elements about the future that we can predict. And we have all been wrong about those predictions.

In his 2016 Annual Meeting presentation “The challenge of value investing,” Lawrence Sarbit spoke about the importance of a stable approach to finances and your business as a whole. To illustrate how attempting to predict the future without the proper systems and knowledge in place can lead to epic miscalculations, he cited three historically inaccurate forecasts:

1. In “Talking Movies,” Jack Warner, cofounder of Warner Bros., said when talkies first came out in 1927, “Who the hell wants to hear actors talk? The music — that’s the big plus about this.”
2. Gary North in his essay, “The Year 2000 Problem: The Year the Earth Stands Still,” said, “At 12 midnight on January 1, 2000, most of the world’s mainframe computers will either shut down or begin spewing out bad data. Most of the world’s desktop computers will also start spewing out bad data.”
3. Decca Records’ Dick Rowe said to Beatles manager Brian Epstein, “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on its way out.”

Read more in “The challenge of value investing”

Written by Matt Pais, MDRT Content Specialist