Rules of Life, The, 4th Edition

RULE 52

Throwing money at a problem doesn’t always work

Years ago when I worked in one particular industry, whenever something was going wrong my boss would always sigh and say, ‘Well, I guess we can try the “American solution”’.^* What he meant, basically, was throw money at it until it went away. At work this approach often works wonders but problems in life tend to need a more hands-on approach, a more delicate touch. We tend to think that if we just chuck enough money at things they’ll get sorted out, instead of finding ways to really sort them out that require time and attention and care.

Let’s go back to that getting older thing again. You might think that throwing money at it in the shape of cosmetic surgery might be the answer but it ...