Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
· Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Henry Ellenbogen
[00:00:00] S0: It's a wonderful excuse to ask you my traditional closing question, what is the kindest thing that anyone's ever done for you? [00:00:00] S1: I prepared for this one, Patrick, because I do listen to your show. So I have to say it's my mom. My parents got divorced when I was young and my mom raised me. I learned so much from her. The thing my mom did for me that in hindsight was so wise and proved to be so kind, was I took a leave of absence from Harvard to go work on a campaign for a state representative running for US House of Representatives. And she was totally supportive of that. And then he was expected to lose. And a long story, I became his campaign manager. He ended up winning. [00:00:00] S0: You were 19?
· Patrick O'Shaughnessy, Henry Ellenbogen
[00:00:00] S0: You were 19? [00:00:00] S1: Yeah, I was 19. And I came to her and I said, mom, I want to go to Washington DC and be chief of staff for Congressman Deutsch. And she said, wow, do you really wanna do that? And I said, yes. And I said, "in order to do that, I can't take another leave of absence from Harvard. They don't let you do that. I have to drop out." She was not in the Bill Gates or I guess future Zuckerberg belief in the world. It was not her ethos. But she was really accepting. She was very thoughtful and listened to me. And she said, "Henry, if that's what you really want to do, it sounds like very thoughtful. It's a very adult decision. And if you're gonna go do that, I'm always here for you. I love you. I'll always be your mother. You can come to me with anything. But what it practically means is you need to be responsible for paying for your education because you say you want to go back there. I'm gonna take your word, but you gotta go do this now as an adult because you're making a real adult decision." And I tell this story to my two sons because I think it was very important, but also kind because it taught me that if you're gonna go make major decisions, you have to be thoughtful about them. People will support you, but you have to be able to be responsible for the consequences. [00:00:00] S0: An amazing, beautiful story. Different flavor than lots of these answers that I get. I love it. Henry, thank you so much for your time. [00:00:00] S1: Thank you.