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THE MARKET WHISPERER 49 9

were those who owned machines, put an end to the power of nobility.
In our own times, power once again changed hands, moving from those

who held capital and assets to those who also held knowledge. Up until
some decades ago, it would have been impossible to compete with heavily-
invested companies such as General Motors or IBM. To compete with a
giant like IBM, a dreamy capital in the billions of dollars would have been
needed. All this was true until a “geek” in jeans named Bill Gates overthrew
IBM from the top by the use of initiative and knowledge. So too for Apple,
Facebook, Google and tens of other companies that now control our lives,
but were established not by holders of capital but by holders of knowledge.
The beauty of our current times is that the chances of success are open to
every single person, even if you have no physical power, capital, or title
of nobility. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is the key to success. And
knowledge can be bought.

Knowledge and Action

Knowledge moves the world. Until the end of the nineteenth century, if you
had neither capital nor title, you could never break out from the class into

which you were born. In those times, knowledge was for the privileged few,
and banks funded the upper classes rather than those with knowledge. Our
world is completely different: we live in an era where knowledge is readily

accessible, and capital seeks good ideas even if the person presenting them
is a youngster with a ponytail who never even finished college. Billionaires
like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were not born into the nobility--they were
simply born into the right time. And they didn’t have a college degree.

Knowledge and ideas are available to anyone seeking them. If

knowledge is available to all, how is it that there are not more people who
are successful, happy, driving Ferraris and living in Beverly Hills villas?
Because knowledge in itself is not enough. Knowledge is the potential for
power, but to realize it, actions are needed. Success begins with knowledge

and ends in actions.

Knowledge in stock trading is also available to anyone seeking it, so why
isn’t everyone rich? Because operating in the stock market also requires
integrating knowledge with action. The world is full of people with broad

knowledge but who are inactive. What is unique about the successful

individuals is that they, unlike the bulk of the public, take action. Their

success, their power to control their own futures, derives from accrued

knowledge and cumulative actions.