Before I get started, make sure you watch the new Ricky Gervais comedy special on Netflix. Ellen and I laughed out loud a bunch of times. The bit where he talks about his floating nuts in the tub had us in stitches…though I am not sure how Ellen knew why that was so damn funny!

Onward..

I get judged everyday.

I’m not talking about my kids talking about the mole on my nose or my weird receding hairline.

I get judged by LP’s that have or might invest in our fund.

I get judged by my stock ideas and my blog posts and my tweets.

I can’t imagine running a public company and being judged by the price of the stock everyday.

In the early years of running my hedge fund I was terrible at dealing with being judged against the S&P.

I would like to think that every nightmare situation with the press or a hater or a tense situation could be deflected with humor and have tried, but it generally digs a bigger hole.

So..over the years…I have tried to judge LESS. I hope in judging less I will bring the good karma of being judged LESS.

I love this thought from Naval – ‘escape competition through authenticity‘.

The year 2018 is a challenge to my ‘judge less’ lifestyle, but the year 2018 is going to be punishing on people, companies and brands that are not authentic.

It is the year of the witch hunt. People are in a rage.

I have written about witch hunts all the way back to 2006 on this blog, but 2008 was the last time it really felt this witchy! Here is what I was writing at that time. In 2013, I reflected on the witch hunt and ‘perp walks’ and the opportunity ahead in financials. The bank executives, like Zuckerberg, even Trump, but probably not Jared, will walk away just fine.

In hindsight…witch hunts do not generally happen at the top.

I do wonder what Zuckerberg finally will say when he does chime on on the Cambridge Analytica fiasco.

If he asked me or I was in control of his Twitter account I would simply say ‘Sorry and BTFD’ than announce an acquisition of Shopify to refocus Facebook on the business of selling everything but your data.

Disclosure – Long Shopify.