Call me Mixed-Metaphor Marilyn. I have a reputation for botching colloquialisms, misusing idioms and declaratively voicing meaningless clichés or awkward analogies with unmerited authority. We call these turns of phrase “Marilynisms” and they include everything from, “Flattery is the highest form of flattery” to “Why buy the milk (when you can have the cow for free)?” Once, in a Silicon Valley setting, I blurted out something about having “too many Indians” when I meant to summon the idiom “too many chiefs” to communicate that everyone was trying to take control but no one wanted to do the work.
The first time I said, “Hindsight is 50 50,” I proclaimed it with full force and conviction, completely baffled as to why my audience was laughing at me. My confusion of course led to more laughter until a kind soul pointed out what I had said versus what I had meant – that hindsight is 20/20.
But, over time, I’ve decided to own the “hindsight” Marilynism. It’s an example of how, once in a while, unexpected meaning emerges from a vocal slip.
I have come to believe that hindsight is, in fact, 50/50. In my observations of life – and that of friends, colleagues, clients, frenemies and acquaintances – most of us tend to make some decisions and mistakes time and time again, even when we have hindsight to guide us.
In other words, even knowing now what I now know, I would likely still do many of the same things at least half of the time, whether as CEO or in any other of the roles I play in life. There may be times that I’ll look back on a venture and wonder what I was thinking or how I could have made the decisions I did at the time. But, given a chance for a do-over, I’d likely make at least half of my decisions the same as I did the first time.
