Only $20 Billion
One time I came across a business article that said in 2015, ExxonMobil only made $20 billion. The article used the word “only”—because the Wall Street experts expected ExxonMobil to make much more than $20 billion. The primary lesson I learned for that article is ExxonMobil has to do a lot in order to impress the Wall Street experts. A $20 billion profit is “only” according to Wall Street. Wouldn’t it be something if those experts were in the habit of analyzing the entire world the way they analyze ExxonMobil? “Shakespeare only wrote 37 plays. He was a loser.” “Michael Jordan only won six NBA championships. The hell with him.” “Neil Armstrong always acted like he was some hotshot space explorer--but the only time he actually blasted off into space, he stopped at the first celestial body he came across, and then he headed right back to earth, like some kind of sissy. Also, when he golfed on the moon, he shot one birdie, one bogey, and three double bogies. A truly dedicated astronaut-go