Goal Time vs. Measurement Time

14 Aug, 2025

Morgan Housel shared this short story:

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink once told a story about having dinner with the manager of one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds.

The fund’s objectives, the manager said, were generational.

“So how do you measure performance?” Fink asked.

“Quarterly,” said the manager.

And summed it up as:

The gap between ideals and reality.

Measurement and quantification is a double edged sword. What can be measured becomes the focus, even at the detriment to the actual goal.

No one person can measure generational impact. But they can compare today to yesterday.

This is most visible in publicly traded companies. Decisions get made to save a job during the next earnings call. Few are made based on brand value 10 years from now.

As the parenting adage goes: The days are long, but the years are short.

Progress can feel glacial. Until suddenly you realize what you’ve actually been investing in.