Robert Rubin and Uncertainty

This week Robert Rubin resigned from Ford to avoid a conflict of interest since Citigroup, where he is a director, is advising Ford on strategic options.

More interesting, though, is David Leonhardt's recent observation in the The New York Times that Rubin championed the idea, during the Clinton administration, that "uncertainty was an inevitable part of life and only the foolish imagine they could eliminate it."

Yes, Leonhardt goes on to write, you evaluate all the data, assess the risk and act. However, a good decision can still produce a bad outcome.

In an uncertain world, you have to hit for a high average. On any given day, you have to make ten decisions. I go for making seven good ones, two so-so and one bad. You just have to hope that the bad one doesn't kill you. Then you have to understand what caused the failure, learn from that and do better next time.