I need to remind myself

of things at times, which is why this is here today.

God, parachutes and Wall Street

This one's for you, Mariachi. Hang tough, my friend.

From his book "Straight from the Gut" this is Jack Welch. Extract from Chapter 15 titled "Too full of myself".

Where God parachutes us is a matter of luck. Nowhere is that more true than Wall Street. There are more mediocre people making more money on Wall Street than any other place on earth. Sure, there are some stars, and some earn every nickel they make. They crowd they carry along with them is something else. Wall Street might be the only place in the world where a $100,000 raise is considered
a tip.

When you handed someone a check for $10 million, they'd look you in the eye and say, "Ten? The guy down the street just got 12!" "Thank you" was a rare expression at Kidder.

The outrageous pay in a good year was bad enough. It really drove me nuts in a bad year. That's when the argument would go something like this: "Yeah, we had a tough year, but you've got to give them at least as much as they made last year or they'll go across the street."

This place had the perfect we-win, you-lose game.

Wall Street had to have been better when the companies were private and the partners were playing with their own money rather than "other people's money." The concept of idea sharing and team play was completely foreign. If you were in investment banking or trading and your group had a good year, it didn't matter what happened to the firm overall. They wanted theirs.

It's a place where the lifeboats carrying millionaires were always going to make it to shore while the Titanic sank.

That Jerry Maguire Moment

Those who've seen - and loved - Jerry Maguire would recall Tom Cruise's face, when he gets a brutal reply to his "it-would-take-a-tank-to-stop-your-dad".

This leads him to the path of, um, greatness and his mission statement, titled "The Things We Think And Do Not Say (The Future of our Business)"

Mr. Maguire's face when the Kinko's guy (making photo-copies of his statement) tells him "That's how you become great man. You hang your balls out there", is a study in horror. But I digress.

Since I'm in a...well, certain frame of mind that I'd rather not write more about, I'm reproducing the text of the tank scene below (taken from here)

EXT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY -- NIGHT

Remo's 14 year-old SON (JESSE) confronts Jerry outside the
hospital room. He's a hulking kid, a Pop Warner football
player himself. His voice is in the process of changing.



SON
This is his fourth concussion.
Shouldn't somebody get him to stop?

As he talks, Jerry's cellular phone rings in his bag.

JERRY
(glib, easy)
Come on -- it'd take a tank to
stop your dad. It would take all
five Super Trooper VR Warriors,
right?

The kid stares at Maguire. It feels as if the kid is peering
into his soul... and all he sees is trash.

SON
Fuck you.

The kid turns and exits in disgust. He leaves Jerry standing
in the hallway. Devastated. Music.

You can also see this scene here (video quality is sad)


Now, the Kinko's scene (which starts from the middle of the Mission Statement)...

SHOT OF SENTENCE: We must embrace what is still virginal
about our own enthusiasm, we must crack open the tightly
clenched fist and give back a little for the common good, we
must simply be the best versions of ourselves... that
goodness will be unbeatable and the money will appear.

He pauses, and wipes his eyes, still considering the sentence.

JERRY'S VOICE
(continuing)
Hey, I'll be the first to admit
it. What I was writing was
somewhat "touchy feely."

He deletes it. And then -- zip -- he restores it and
continues on, boldly.


JERRY'S VOICE
(continuing)
I didn't care. I had lost the
ability to bullshit. It was the
me I'd always wanted to be.

INT. KINKO'S COPIES -- NIGHT

Jerry in T-shirt stands proudly watching copies pumped out.
Wired college students, band guys, other Copy People of the
Night nearby.

JERRY'S VOICE
I printed it up in the middle of
the night, before I could re-think
it.

Industrial, multi-pierced Kinko's copy guy examines the first
printed copy of the Mission Statement. He nods approvingly,
taps his heart in tribute. He slides a copy across the
counter, for Jerry's approval.

THE THINGS WE THINK AND DO NOT SAY
(The Future of Our Business)

KINKO'S GUY
That's how you become great, man.
You hang your ba11s out there.

Jerry nods. It's 3 AM, and this guy sounds and looks like a
prophet. In fact, everyone in Kinko's at 3 AM does.

JERRY
(self-effacing)
Thanks.

This is Jerry Maguire's Mission Statement, which never gets read in the movie, beyond its original title.

And finally...Tom Petty's "Free Falling". Ho boy. Now we're talking.