“Free” Markets The very first lesson one used to learn in business school back when I went 50 years ago was that there was no such thing as a free lunch. We all sort of know what that is supposed to mean and there have been many euphemisms that have expanded on that notion, most notably in the tech world of social media where it is said that if you cannot find the product, that…
Friday the 13th Today is that magically reoccurring phenomenon of a Friday which falls on the 13th day of the month. This happens once every 212.35 days, so at least once a year. That means we get to think about strange coincidences affecting our lives at lest that often. Today I am finishing up a forced march to grade thirty-three final exams from my Law, Policy & Ethics course that I gave to end the…
The Age of Greed When I think of great movie soliloquies, I can’t help but think about Michael Douglas standing before a board of director’s annual meeting in his attempt to take over the company to slice and dice it into his pocket and into oblivion, and saying to the the crowd, “Greed is Good!” It is one of the most memorable lines from Oliver Stone’s quintessential and defining 1980’s classic, Wall Street. We all…
Unlinking LinkedIn is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. For me, that means that it really didn’t exist as much of an aid to my career, either as a source for employees or as a source for employment. These days, the business world uses LinkedIn as one of its foundational services and I imagine a goodly proportion of career-minded people use it in either direction on a daily basis. I’ve been on LinkedIn since the…
Twitterin’ Tesla It is Saturday morning and that time which will forever be cartoon time to me and those in my generation who grew up waiting expectantly for this very time of week. Do you remember Sylvester (a.k.a Sylvester James Pussycat, Sr.)? His catchphrase was a spittle-soaked version of “Sufferin’ Succotash!” We mostly grew up not having a clue what that meant, but being amused by its rhythmic sound. Perhaps we knew that the combination…
Teaching to Teach I have been teaching at the graduate business school level since 2007. That represents fifteen years or approximately 20% of my life (deducting a bit for the interregnum between teaching at Cornell and University of San Diego). I have taught a variety of subjects including hedge fund investing, securities finance, pension funds, project finance, advanced corporate finance and now business ethics. This semester I am teaching a course called Law, Policy and…
The Jungle of My Mind My readers have often heard me harp about my distaste for the tropics. I lived six of my first seven years in the tropics of Venezuela and Costa Rica and it has left an indelible mark. There are few places I would rather not find myself stranded in than a dense dark jungle. I think its a combination of the humidity-driven discomfort and the truly creepy crawly things that thrive…
The Magic Kingdom My visiting family just returned from a two-day stint at Disneyland. They are a Disneyworld family, but they enjoy Disneyland equally well. I wrote several months ago about my visit to Disneyworld and how impressed I was by the pleasure it evokes in so many people who visit and visit regularly. Yesterday, the state of Florida revoked Disneyworld’s special district permit that it has enjoyed for 55 years when it was used…
The Earth as Property I have written about the awareness that has come to me recently about the increasing importance of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues in managing corporations and, for that matter, all manner of investments. That awareness came prior to my formulating the syllabus for this semester’s course in Law, Policy & Ethics, so I added two full class sessions to focus on the policy and ethical issues of ESG in today’s…
Expert is as Expert Does Last night was a glorious last night in Rome for us after a little more than a week of enjoying the wonders of Italy. There were several things that made it so special, not the least of which was the venue itself. We had been invited by my Italian partner, Damiano, to join him at a restaurant owned by a childhood Palermo friend of his. That restaurant is on the…