Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. A poem by Charles Osgood
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody
Personal finance and investing are often treated as technical problems. I see them first as problems of responsibility.
Most outcomes don’t fail because of missing information, but because ownership is delayed, diluted, or quietly delegated.
This dynamic is captured perfectly in the short poem Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody, often attributed to Charles Osgood.
In money, work, and life, sweating your assets begins the same way: by owning the task instead of waiting for someone else to do it.
Novelist Erica Jong once wrote:
Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame.”
On the other hand, what happens if you don’t take responsibility for a “job” that must be accomplished? Let’s present this question to four fictional characters described in Charles Osgood‘s poem: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
CONDENSED VERSION
There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody couldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
FULL VERSION: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody
“There was a most important job that needed to be done,
And no reason NOT to do it, there was absolutely none.But in vital matters such as this the thing you have to ask,
is WHO exactly will it be who’ll carry out this task.ANYBODY could have told you that EVERYBODY knew,
that this was something SOMEBODY would surely have to do.NOBODY was unwilling, ANYBODY had the ability,
but NOBODY thought he was supposed to be the one.It seemed to be a job that ANYBODY could have done,
If ANYBODY thought he was supposed to be the one.But since EVERYBODY recognized that ANYBODY could,
EVERYBODY took for granted that SOMEBODY would.But NOBODY told ANYBODY that we are aware of,
That he would be in charge of seeing it was taken care of.And NOBODY took it on himself to follow through and DO,
What EVERYBODY thought that SOMEBODY would do.When what EVERYBODY needs so did not get done at all,
EVERYBODY was complaining that SOMEBODY dropped the ball.ANYBODY then could see it was an awful crying shame,
And EVERYBODY looked around for SOMEBODY to blame.SOMEBODY should have done the job and EVERYBODY would have,
But in the end NOBODY did what ANYBODY could have.
Does it sound familiar to you? Do you know one of these fictional characters?
Personally, I first heard this poem in its Italian version, translated and read by Sergio Marchionne back in 2014 (YouTube video – in Italian), when he was CEO of FCA. He closed his 2014 Ambrosetti speech with Osgood’s poem to underline a cultural and political impasse.
Italy doesn’t lack ideas; it lacks ownership. He used the poem to show how everyone agrees that something must be done, yet everyone waits for someone else to do it.
Marchionne reinforced this by recalling that Italy is “the country of Il Gattopardo, where people like to say that
‘Everything must change so that everything can stay the same.”
Thanks to Charles Osgood’s reference, his message was clear and witty: real progress requires accountability, courage, and action — not another round of well-intentioned discussions.
Keep it real. Sweat Your Assets.
PODCAST & YOUTUBE
🎧 This article is also available as a podcast episode and on YouTube.
Nobody needs to do it
Just let nature take its course
And we’ll get through it.
“Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody couldn’t do it.”
I believe that if “Everybody couldn’t do it”, Nobody would be held responsible.