Pulling strings.

I am reading a new book by the famous mathematician and scientist Benoit Mandelbroit, it's called "The Fractalist: Memoir of a Scientific Maverick."

I like reading books by and about geniuses. Like reading about sports heroes or generals or notable conquerers of distant lands, it interests me to see the background, the genesis of the mighty and powerful.

This morning I read a simple thought from Mandelbroit about how an idea is found.

I think it makes sense for our industry.

Mandelbroit described finding his Ph.D. topic as pulling at a string.

You pull and pull.

Sometimes the string is played out quickly.

Sometimes it stretches out for a couple inches or a foot and then ends.

Sometimes you can keep pulling.

Sometimes you can't.

Sometimes when you pull, you get to something or someplace that's attached to something else that leads to something more.

Sometimes, as you keep pulling you find something.

This pulling of string is what we do in our business.

And, I'll admit, something you can find string of adequate length quickly.

But more often you have to search, you have to make many stabs, you have to have the time to pull many strings before you find one that leads somewhere.