Liars Poker by Michael Lewis
“Wall Street,” reads the sinister old gag, “is a street with a river at one end and a graveyard at the other.” This is striking but incomplete. It omits the kindergarden in the middle. -Frederick Schwed Jr.
Liars Poker by Michael Lewis is not only a fantastic picture of the nature of investment […]
What Billionaire Business Titans are Reading and Why Poets Make Better Leaders
Page one of Today’s Wall Street Journal has a fascinating story about Phil Knight, the founder and now chairman, of Nike, Inc. And what’s so interesting about Mr. Knight has little to do with how he built the industry titan Nike, or about his time as CEO. Last spring, the billionaire businessman nonchalantly sat in […]
Deceptive Advertisments, Why Maslow Was Wrong and How to Motivate People
Typically, when a marketer appeals to a person’s self interest, the advertisements that result are deceptive and schmucky.
The ads end up promising enormous benefits for minimal costs:
“You Can Laugh at Money Worries if You Follow This Simple Plan”
“Give Me Five Days and I’ll Give You a Magnetic Personality…Let me Prove It -Free”
“The Secret of How […]
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Last year I read the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. More than a year later I keep thinking about this idea. Here is an excerpt that explains this concept better than I could:
“Why are these things fun? Strangely enough, when we try to answer that question, it turns out that […]
Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life.
I just finished the book Thinking Strategically: the competitive edge in business, politics, and everyday life by Avinash K. Dixit and Barry J. Nalebuff. It is the single best narrative (non-math) introduction to game theory that I have ever read. Here is the epilogue from part I, which paints the big picture incredibly well:
“A game […]