Michael Steinhardt and "Variant Perception"

A friend of mine pointed me to this quote from Michael Steinhardt's "No Bull: My Life In and Out of Markets" (p.191).

My friend believes that this quote is an excellent summary of what investing in the public markets is all about, assuming of course you’re not doing pairs, swaps, derivative trading, etc.

I have much to learn - but I believe I agree! - Ed

"I constructed a system that overcame the necessity of specific knowledge across a wide range of industries. In short, I asked the right questions by seeking the 'variant perception' inherent in each idea.

A summer intern reminded me years later of the advice I had given him on his first day at work.  I told him that ideally he should be able to tell me, in two minutes, four things:

1) the idea
2) the consensus view
3) his variant perception, and
4) a trigger event.

No mean feat.  In those instances where there was no variant perception - that is, solid growth recommendations within consensus - I generally had no interest and would discourage investing."