Amen of the Week: “You have to say no to your friends to say yes to your work… What are you going to do … lose that idea because you decide to have a drink with your friends?” - Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the new Broadway hit “Hamilton” (Wall St. Journal, April 6, 2016) Magic Odds A few weeks ago I spoke to a class at Columbia Business School. I gave a fun little demonstration of how our odds of success can be far different than we’d assume. I asked a student to name a card and proceeded to correctly name it. This wasn’t a magic trick. I honestly predicted her card correctly. But my odds weren’t 1 in 52. They were closer to 1 in 2. You can learn how in this 2-minute video ex
In honor of March Madness, here's a re-play of one of my favorite notes. It explains important parallels between your bracket strategy and investing. (I’ve made a couple of edits to improve/update last year’s original.) How Buffett and Bogle Would Have Played Your Office Bracket Imagine that investment legends Warren Buffett and John Bogle were your co-workers and participated in your office March Madness pool. What strategy would they have employed, and how would it have differed from your typical co-worker’s approach? First, let’s take a look at your co-workers’ approach. Chances are most filled out their brackets based on what they heard from the “experts” in your office or on TV. S
