Throughout my life, I have attempted to correct the inaccuracies of others. I know that I have also introduced a few inaccuracies. And this has kept me scrambling to clean up the messes ahead (left by others) as well as the messes behind (created by me). Hopefully, the balance is a positive one for truth.
Mistakes regarding the truth come from several sources. Some arise from my own biases. Others are from outright laziness on my part to more thoroughly investigate a subject. The biases are often cured if only my laziness is cured.
And the diligence to write responsibly is the focal point of my personal industry in contrast to any lurking personal laziness. In other words, responsible writing—and writing prose does carry a serious responsibility—must include a strict aversion to slackness, in all those things related to expression through the written word.
A common source of the investigative kind of mistakes is our tendency to assume the references we source. We seek these for reliable information about our topic of the moment. And we often reject some in preference for others based on various vetting criteria.
The following story is a case in point which I believe is true, but which I am unable to verify. I’m certain of some of the details and a little fuzzy about others:
I worked for Arthur Jones (1926-2007) for about 10 years. He was the original owner and founder of Nautilus Sports/ Medical Industries and, for a time, listed in Forbes Magazine as #400 on the Forbes list of the wealthiest men in the world. How did Arthur make it on to this list?
During the 1970s and 1980s Arthur gave hundreds of interviews. Often, an interviewer asked Arthur for his business numbers. He invariably roared, “No numbers!” Arthur regarded his private business as exactly that: private. And his motto was, “Don’t give your competition a club to beat you with.”
Eventually, with one interview, Arthur broke his rule… well, sort of.
In an interview with the New York Times (about 1981), the interviewer asked Arthur his annual cash flow. As usual, Arthur roared his famous eyelid-peeling response.
Apparently prepared for this and undeterred, the interviewer pressed on with, “Now come on Arthur, just give me a number.” Eventually, Arthur flatly stated, “300.”
The interviewer exclaimed, “$300 million? Wow!” And he printed this in the article.
The Forbes people read the New York Times article and, being the respectable financial sages that they were, supposed that there had to be a lot of money that Arthur was hiding. Therefore, they tacked on another $100 million and added him to the 400 Wealthiest Men in the World (I believe this was the name) list.
In 1986, Arthur sold Nautilus for $25 million. His general manager of over a dozen years personally told me that the company was barely worth $12 million but that if Arthur had been patient, he could have gotten $50 million.
Moral of the story: Telling the truth doesn't pay...lol...
I aspire to make a living out of telling the truth!