Chenmark - Weekly Thoughts - Fast or Slow?

Last weekend, we wore an old-school muscle tank that said Sharpen the Axe for a long sweat sesh. Afterwards, our kids said, “Gross, why are you so sweaty?” Then they asked, “Why does your shirt say Sharpen the Axe?” Well children, gather around this protein recovery drink and let your parents tell you the tale of two lumberjacks. Once upon a time, there were two lumberjacks competing to see who could chop the most wood in a single day. The first lumberjack was a young, muscular man. The second was older and, well, less muscular. The younger man was determined to win. He chopped furiously all day, refusing to take a break. The older man was equally determined. However, every hour or so, he disappeared for a fifteen-minute break. During these breaks, the younger man smirked, certain victory was his. At the end of the day, the two men gathered to compare their piles in an old-fashioned (and literal) wood-measuring contest. To the younger man’s surprise, the older man’s pile was much larger. How was this possible? The older man chuckled and said: “For every hour I spent chopping, I took fifteen minutes to sharpen my axe. While you were hacking away for hours with a dull blade, I was making sure my tool was as efficient as possible.” As Abraham Lincoln apparently said, “If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first four hours sharpening the axe.” The lesson is often framed as work smarter, not harder. Fair enough. Measure twice, cut once. It’s timeless advice. But we think there is another layer to it. Along those lines, we recently enjoyed a Seth Godin post titled Kinds of Fast. From the post: "There’s the fast of a drag racer. Purpose-built, difficult to steer, expensive and fragile. There’s the fast of the marathon runner. Beat by a sprinter every time, but able to keep it up for hours… Or consider the fast of the craftsperson who spends most of her time studying, measuring, and sharpening before even beginning. And there’s the fast of the follower, copying what came before, avoiding false starts and errors and only coming out ahead at the end… What they all have in common is intent. Each requires trade-offs and is chosen with a purpose in mind. And then, of course, there’s the slow of “let’s see what happens” or “we always do it this way” or “I don’t care enough to do this well.” We often hear of exciting strategies that appear far more lucrative than ours. Billion-dollar valuations. IPOs. Hundreds of tuck-in acquisitions. Heavy leverage. Large corporate teams. Geographic expansion. These businesses certainly seem successful. Chenmark’s approach can look almost provincial by comparison. Slower growth. Fewer people. Less leverage. So, are we losing? We think we're just running a different race. For us, the question has always been the same: How can we set ourselves up to compound capital over a long period of time? Are we going too slow, or are we setting ourselves up to go quite fast? We'll find out. "Once upon a time" is the easy part. Only time will tell if we live happily ever after. Have a great week, Your Chenmark Team Subscribe to Weekly Thoughts Also, we're hiring.