Never Bet the Whole Farm

"It made me realize that the adage is true: in every crisis lurks opportunity. So if I could learn something from a near-death experience, maybe the whole thing was worth it. That day, now fifty years ago, I made a promise to myself that I never have broken: *If we get out of this alive, I will never bet the whole farm… on anything. No deal is ever worth doing that.*"

"Although the unrelenting fear of bankruptcy in the early 1970s scared me, it also forced me to quantify risk with precision, weigh every deal with a clear head, and make bold moves without ever putting everything on the line again."

"I see how my restraint runs counter to the bet-it-all mindset of some of the current business stars. Elon Musk, a brilliant mind and inveterate risk-taker, has famously doubled down again and again. He poured roughly half of his entire fortune into SpaceX when it was near bankruptcy, as he did with Tesla."