The “Wanting it all” mentality is dangerous.
In Chinese, a trendy phrase is “既要又要还要”. It’s often used to describe/complain what regulators want in China in recent years.
Some examples:
China wants economic growth and security, and it wants high tech.
When local gov wants growth, it wants a market participant that can do the construction (industrial park, infra, city updates etc.), plus bringing in good businesses, and it doesn’t want to give monetary support.
In economics, there is this impossible trinity – fixed exchange rate, free flow of capital, and independent monetary policy. China wants it all – policy needs to be “independent” and not influenced by others; it doesn’t want RMB to depreciate fast which could be a “loss of face”; and it wants foreign flows/investments to support its “open” narrative.
It’s not just China. US has this “wanting it all” mentality in drug pricing and supply (insulin for example) – US wants innovation in biotech; it wants low drug price; it wants de-risked supply chains. Companies are put into a hard position and are challenged if decisions like this are made (Novo Nordisk to discontinue Levemir in the US).
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One doesn’t become a leader just by making requests; one leads with directions.