Warren Buffett, Ted Williams on making better decisions in life and work

Warren Buffett, Ted Williams on making better decisions in life and workWarren Buffett, Ted Williams on making better decisions in life and workArguably, hitting a batischsetanzabend is the most difficult feat to pull off in all sports.To put this into context, the average baseball hitter swings and misses a pitch about eight times out of ten. 1These are miserable odds for any sportsman or professional in any field.In 1939, a tall, skinny, and frail looking young man, named Ted Williams, joined one of the leading American baseball teams - the Boston Red Sox - and resolved to shatter the limits of the baseball batting odds by improving his decision-making. 2Day in and day out, for hours on end, Williams would practice his swing - paying close attention to the strike zone where he hit the best balls.Within a few years, Williams scientific approach to making better decisions as a baseball hitter paid off.During the 1941 baseball season, Williams achieved a .406 batting average - tha t means he swung and missed a pitch about 6 times out of 10, the last time any major league player has done so.By the end of his career, Williams had established himself as the greatest hitter in baseball history - he won six batting titles and posted the highest career batting average of any major league baseball player in the live-ball era.Although the late Ted Williams had a natural talent in baseball, he attributed his great success to his rule of waiting for a good pitch to hit.3Similarly, in an unlikely meeting of minds, nobody embraces and champions Williams philosophy any mora than the prolific billionaire investor, Warren BuffettTed Williams described in his bookThe Science of Hitting, that the most important thing - for a hitter - is to wait for the right pitch. And thats exactly the philosophy I have about investing- wait for the right pitch, and wait for the right deal. And it will come its the key to investing. 4Buffett later noted that this philosophy of waiting fo r a good pitch to hit,was the secret to his most profitable investments including Coca-Cola, American Express and Geico.What can we learn from these two greats - in two completely different fields of baseball and investing - on how to make better decisions in life and work?Lets dive in.The sweet spot of decision makingIn Ted Williams book,The Science of Hitting,he notes that the first rule of hitting was to get a good ball to hit. I learned down to percentage points where those good balls were.Below is an image of Ted Williams and his illustration of these percentage pointsThe box on the right of the image above is a representation of Williams strike zone and the percentage points broken down into 77 squares - the red colored squares bordered with red dotted lines lay within his sweet spot.According to Williams, if he waited for a pitch within his sweet spot, hed hit the ball about 40% of the time. But if he grew impatient and swung at pitches just a few inches outside of his swe et spot, hed only hit the ball about 23% of the time.Buffett often makes reference to Williams sweet spot and draws close parallels to decision-making in investing, The trick in investing is just to sit there and watch pitch after pitch go by and wait for the one right in your sweet spot. And if people are yelling, Swing, you bum ignore them. 5This sweet spot of decision-making which both Williams and Buffett refer to, is called the Circle of Competence. And it was first referenced in Buffets1996 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letterwhere he wrote that, You dont have to be an expert on every company, or even many. You only have to be able to evaluate companies within yourcircle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.In his biography,The Snowball(audiobook), Buffet explains how he used the Circle of Competence to make smart investment decisions, When it comes to Microsoft and Intel I dont know what that world will look like ten years from now. And I dont want to play in a game where the other guy has an advantage. The software business is not within my circle of competence. We understand Dilly Bars and not software. 6Now that weve touched upon the importance of the Circle of Competence, lets discuss what exactly it is and how you can use the Circle of Competence to make better decisions in life and work.Circle of competenceThe Circle of Competence is a simple concept the more knowledge (or strengths) you have about what youre doing, the better decisions youll make, and vice versa.For example, lets say youre trying to decide on what exercises to do to lose weight.Like most people, youd probably search for the most popular exercises and workout routines on the web.The problem with this approach however, is that it fails to take into account your circle of competence, leading to bad decisions that cost precious time and money.Assuming youre a much better runner, than a weight lifter, but the most po pular exercises involve weight training exercises like deep squats, deadlifts and bench presses, what do you do?Based on your Circle of Competence, the best decision would be to choose more exercises that involve running.Not only would this prevent injuries, but itll also make it easier to stick to your exercise habit, and improve your odds of achieving your weight loss goals.The Circle of Competence also applies to other areas of our lives including business and profession.For example, I spent a couple of years working in a profession that required strong skills in face to face selling and networking, and even though I pushed myself to improve, I struggled to perform at the highest level because the skill set was outside of my circle of competence.One day I took an inventory of the knowledge and strengths within my Circle of Competence - writing, public speaking, research, storytelling - and decided to shift my time and energy towards them.Without a shadow of a doubt, I can now s ay that the decision to stay within my Circle of Competence has paid off in spades.This year alone, Ive been truly blessed to have the privilege of over 500,000 people read my work across major media outlets on the web.Likewise, if youre an entrepreneur, writer, white-collar professional, athlete, artist or teacher, figure out your Circle of Competence and stay within it.This will ensure that you make good decisions that will improve your odds of success, and prevent you frommaking bad decisionsthat could sabotage your potential to become the best at what you do.Stay humbleThe ancient Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, once said that The wise man is one who knows what he does not know.What separates Warren Buffett and Ted Williams from the rest of the pack in their respective fields isnt their natural talent. Its their ability to identify what they dont know and their willingness to wait patiently for the right opportunities to act on what they do know.The Circle of Competence is a remin der that the best way to make decisions, is to avoid making decisions on things you dont know.Resist the temptation to swing at every opportunity that presents itself, be patient and stay humble, and as the late Ted Williams would say youll get a good ball to hit.Mayo Oshin writes atMayoOshin.Com, where he shares the best practical ideas based on proven science and the habits of highly successful people for stress-free productivity and improved mental performance. To get these strategies to stop procrastinating, get more things by doing less and improve your focus,join his free weekly newsletter.A version of thisarticleoriginally appeared atmayooshin.comasWarren Buffett and Ted Williams on How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work.FootnotesReferenceof Major League Baseball Batting Year-by-Year AveragesMontville, Leigh (2004). Ted WilliamsThe Biography of an American Hero.Williams, Ted, and John Underwood (1971).The Science of HittingHBO documentary, Becoming Warren Buffett.HBO d ocumentary, Becoming Warren Buffett.Schroeder, Alice (2008).The Snowball Warren Buffett and the Business of Life.According to Warren Buffetts business partner, Charlie Munger, the best way to expand your Circle of Competence is to read a lot. Munger once said that, In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didnt read all the time none, zero. Youd be amazed at how much Warren reads at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think Im a book with a couple of legs sticking out.

Breaking Down a CFA Salary for Your Career

Breaking Down a CFA Salary for Your CareerBreaking Down a CFA Salary for Your CareerMany financial professionals seek theChartered Financial Analyst designation to improve their marketability and salary prospects. In this article, were going to delve into the numbers behind CFA salary data to discover how much difference a CFA charter can make in salary. Its elend an easy task, because the CFA Institute does not make such information available and because, unlike, say, a law degree, the CFAis broadly applicable to the financial services industry and doesnt have a clear career progression. This makes it hard to measure any salary increase attributable to the CFA charter. Salary Based on Experience According to CFAplanet,a site that tracks CFA-related statistics, there are a couple of different ways to break down a CFA salary, such as by years of experience. According to their estimates, a charter holder with between one and four years of industry experience can expect to earn a z entralwert salary of $78,190, while those with between five and nine years under their belts will earn an average of $99,370. Those with more than 20 years of experience will take home a median salary of $152,122. Now, remember that those are median salaries, meaning that there will be many people earning more and less than those figures. Perhaps the most meaningful way to compare CFA salaries is by job title since that will be most useful to anyone seeking to determine how much they could add to their current salary by pursuing a CFA charter. Data from Payscale.com confirms that the least paid CFA charterholder positions are financial analysts, who earned salaries between $43,741 and $99,957. The highest paid positions will come as no surprise to most of us and are those held by Chief Financial Officers, who earn between $78,410 and $242,395. Investment analysts are next in line at the trough and can earn as much as $125,403. A 2007 CFA Institute membership compensation survey of 9,000 U.S.-based respondents give us some illuminating data. 64% of respondents had between five and 20 years of experience and over 50% had completed an MBA. On theother hand, 37% did not have any graduate education. 42% of respondents worked at investment management firms. The top three positions reported were Portfolio manager (9%), Buy-side research analyst (8%), and C-Suite executive (8%). Caveats and Exemptions Now that weve given you some of the data, lets talk about all of the caveats and exemptions. Since there is no official data from the CFA Institute, most of these salary numbers were cobbled together from employment data and job search sites. As you may expect, its important to control for factors like educational background, years of experience, and job position when looking at salary data. According to industry data, compensation in the financial services industry is highly correlated with experience. A significant number of CFA charterholders are also compensated with bonuses and incentive pay that may not be captured in their reported salary. According to the CFA, compensation reported cited above, 90% of 2007 respondents were eligible for cash bonuses and 80% were eligible for non-cash compensation like restricted shares or share options. In short, there isnt an easy way to analyze CFA salary information. However, for comparative purposes, the easiest way to judge how much a CFA charter would benefit your career is to look up salary information for your target job role and determine what it will take for you to achieve that role. Understanding the base requirements for achieving your desired job or level of seniority and then understanding what desired characteristics can get you there faster is key to working out a career trajectory. Some career tracks require a CFA charter as part of the educational background. For others, its simply a way to differentiate yourself from the competition and increase your analytical skills.

Getting a Job as an Album Cover Design Artist

Getting a Job as an Album Cover Design ArtistGetting a Job as an Album Cover Design ArtistA titelbild art designer is a graphic designer who specializes in producing artwork for music-related projects. Often, graphic designers who produce titel art andliner notesalso dabble in designing posters, T-shirts, and other merchandise for music artists and record labels. When Vinyl Was King Truly iconic album titelbilds dont just define an album, they defined an era, a generation and, in some cases, an entire musical genre. Sometimes they do all there, which is the case with The BeatlesSgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club, considered the most famous album cover ever produced, topping the list of the top twenty-five covers. The widely-recognized album cover that depicts several dozen celebrities and other images were created by Jann Haworth and Peter Blake, who in 1967 won the Grammy Award for Best Album Cover Graphic Artsfor their work on it.And, while costs were not made public, its said that at the time, it welches the most expensive album cover ever made. Many of the most memorable album covers of the 60s and early 70s were high-concept artworks designed by famed graphic designers like Hipgnosis and Roger Dean, who worked in-house for Roxy Music.Their work was glamorous imagery, more like a 50s fashion shoot than an album cover and they commanded in-house salaries equivalent today to a six-figure salary. Salary Range Today, album cover designers (who create cover art and layout for LPs and CDs) earn an average salary of $48,000, though the general salary range varies widely. Salaries can go up to $150,000, or more, based on experience, a well-developed portfolio, and whether or not a designer is producing work for a well-known artist. Freelance designers (with a roster of established clients) can earn on the high end of the scale, as can designers working in-house if its for a major label like Universal Music Group or SonyMusic Entertainment. Employee vs. Freel ance Many graphic designers working as freelancers are hired to design cover art on a per-project basis. If you want to work as a freelance graphic designer, you will need tobuild your portfoliowhich can mean doing some initial projects either for generous discounts or free until you have a portfolio that lands you the type of paying gigs you want. If your clients are pleased with your work, youll likely find new geschftsleben through referrals. Graphic designers working full-time in-house give up the potential for lucrative gigs in exchange for a steady paycheck. The Design Process Analbum cover designer not only designs and/or illustrates the art thats on an album cover but more often than not, does the entire layout, including the back cover, insert or booklet, lyric sheet, CD face print, etc. Freelance design artists often develop a obligation with the bandsthey work for, gainingtheir trust, and collaborating with them over long periods of time and multiple albums. Typicall y, the designer meets with the artist to discuss their ideas. Sometimes the artist has a well-developed idea of what they wantto be createdand other times they have no concept or idea at all and its up to the cover art designer to come up with the ideas. Once a basic direction is understood, the designer develops a series of rough ideas to present to the band. From there, the designer amends their initial concept and after a (hopefully) short back-and-forth process they settle on the covers design. Generally speaking, the longer a designer works with a band, the more intuitive this step becomes. Designers usually work with the artist directly, though it is not uncommon for the label to act as a liaison. Sometimes with major labels, production managers, printers, and other designers may be involved. The smaller the ?artist or more independent they are, the fewer people the designer works with. The process is basically the same when working in-house. There are times when a record labe l or the musicians themselves have very specific ideas about how they want their album covers and other merchandise to look. They may have photos or designs in mind, and they may have decided on everything from typefaces to color schemes. In this case, the designer is in charge of laying out their clients artistic vision- typically using graphic design software- and putting it into the proper format to be delivered for manufacturing. Education and Training While schooling is not for everyone, most album cover designers usually have training in Fine Arts or Graphic Design and attempt to get into one the prestigious institutions like the Rhode Island School of Design and CalArts in Los Angeles. The value of training and truly learning a craft cannot be underestimated. Advancement The days of the rock star designers pretty much came and went with the 70s. This is when vinyl was king.These days, many designers diversify because an artist may also need a logo, T-shirt design, bac kdrops, and other design art to support their tours.