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iQuestions Faculty, John D. Beckett 
 
 
Question: 
 
How do I find balance between short-term vs. long-term goals? 
 
Answer:  
 
One of the tensions that we have in business is between taking a 
short-term and a long-term perspective. I remember hearing Ralph 
Larsen, when he was chairman of Johnson & Johnson, saying that he 
would really try to school the investment community on the 
importance of taking a long-term view of J&J stock.  
 
But, in spite of that, over 60% of that stock turned over every week. 
So, the markets are really geared toward a short-term perspective. 
 
Now, what happens when you do that is that you end up making bad 
decisions. Companies will do best if they are able to take a long-term 
view, invest for the long-term, build toward the long-term, and 
develop their internal resources and capabilities for the long-term. 
 
And so, I think where it’s possible to take that view, we’re going to see 
better results from our business community. 
 
 
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