Five Good Questions Podcast

David Hassell is the founder and CEO of 15Five, the leading web-based employee feedback and alignment solution that is transforming the way employees and managers communicate. Named "The Most Connected Man You Don't Know in Silicon Valley" by Forbes Magazine, David has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Entrepreneur, Wired, Fast Company, and the Financial Post. You can learn more about 15Five and David Hassell at www.15five.com. 1.  Children ask upwards of 300 questions per day. As adults we only ask a handful. Why do we change, and are we missing something as adults by asking fewer and less thoughtful questions? 2.  You have two “must ask” questions every boss should be asking. What are they, and why are they so effective? 3.  What are some tips for managing introverts? 4.  What are the best questions to ask to help a remote team succeed? 5.  How have you personally used asking better questions to influence the evolution and success of your company, 15 Five?

Jack Vogel, Ph.D., conducts research in empirical asset pricing and behavioral finance, and is a co-author of two books: DIY FINANCIAL ADVISOR: A Simple Solution to Build and Protect Your Wealth and QUANTITATIVE MOMENTUM.  His academic background includes experience as an instructor and research assistant at Drexel University in both the Finance and Mathematics departments, as well as a Finance instructor at Villanova University. Dr. Vogel is currently a Managing Member of Alpha Architect, LLC, an SEC-Registered Investment Advisor, where he heads the research department and serves as the Chief Financial Officer and co-CIO. He has a PhD in Finance and a MS in Mathematics from Drexel University, and graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Mathematics and Education from The University of Scranton. http://amzn.to/2kXjWnh 1.  Let’s start with some basic definitions that seem to trip people up. What are the differences between “growth” and “momentum” strategies? 2.  You argue in your book that value and momentum in

In this week's Five Good Questions, we're interviewing Erik Kobayashi-Solomon about his book The Intelligent Options Investor. Erik Kobayashi-Solomon is a 20-year veteran of investment banking, hedge funds, and third-party analysis industry. He is also the co-founder of IOI Investor Services, LLC, a company that helps institutional and individual investors close the gap between their investment responsibility and their skill set. His book, The Intelligent Option Investor, was published by McGraw-Hill as a well-regarded contribution to the value investing community. 1. Many value investors may feel like options are dangerous, I know I did. Why was I wrong to be fearful and how can options be a useful tool for an investor? 2. Assuming your analysis leads you to believe a company is undervalued, why might options be better expression than just buying and holding? What about the element of timing that options introduce? 3. If you don’t believe in the Efficient Market Hypothesis, why should you be especially attra

  Suzanne Heywood is a Managing Director of EXOR. Suzanne grew up sailing around the world on the Schooner Wavewalker (she is currently writing another book, “Wavewalker” about this experience which included getting shipwrecked in the Indian Ocean). After university she started her professional career in the UK Government at the Treasury and then went on to become a Senior Partner at the management consultancy firm McKinsey. Suzanne is also a board member of CNH Industrial and The Economist and Deputy Chairman of the Royal Opera House. She has a MA from Oxford University and PhD from Cambridge University. Suzanne is an expert in organizational design and for many years led work on this topic for McKinsey globally. 1. What are the keys to effective communications with employees during a reorg? 2. Walk us through what a successful reorg looks like. 3. What’s the 20-30-50 rule of thumb? 4. What are the biggest mistakes made during a reorg? Why do reorganisations fail? 5. If you have to let someone go, what are s

Alex Soojung-Kim Pang is the founder of The Restful Company and a visiting scholar at Stanford.   He spent more than a decade as a science and technology forecaster, most recently as a senior consultant at Strategic Business Insights. Alex received a Ph.D. in History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania. http://amzn.to/2jmwHcM Five Good Questions:   1. What’s Wallas’s four-stage model of creativity? 2.What’s the Default Mode Network? 3. Our society idolizes the 80-100 hour work week as a requirement for success.  How do you explain the paradox of the most productive and creative people working much less than that?  Also, what is this notion of “deep play” that a lot of creative people practice? 4. What was a Bill Gates’s “Think Week” and what can we learn from it? 5. How has your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly schedule changed based on what you learned writing a book about rest?  How has it impacted how you think about work and creativity?

Marko Dimitrijevic is the founder and chairman of Volta Global, a private investment group in venture capital, private equity, real estate, and public markets.  Marko Dimitrijevic has more than 35 years investing experience and has founded and managed two investment management companies with over $3 billion in assets.  He is the author of Frontier Investor: How to Prosper in the Next Emerging Markets.  Marko is a pioneer in conducting on-the-ground due diligence, particularly in frontier markets. http://amzn.to/2jNNx0N 1. Can you give us a feel for how bad the home country bias is, and why it exists? 2. Let’s talk about some execution details.  Aside from a passport, how do you research frontier markets?  Would an individual’s best bet be country specific ETFs?  What are your thoughts about hedging currency risk? 3. Which investment style pairs best with frontier market investing?  Deep value, GARP, activist something else? 4. What’s the story of the evolution of Singapore and how does it illustrate the succe

Samuel Arbesman is a complexity scientist and Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado and a Research Fellow of the Long Now Foundation. In addition to Overcomplicated, he is the author of The Half-Life of Facts. http://amzn.to/2iU3Mst Five Good Questions:   I view this book as a beautiful blend of technology and philosophy.  What is the difference between “complicated” and “complex” in your view?     What is “the kluge” and how is becoming an impactful part of our lives?      How is a top-down, physics-inspired approach to technology losing ground to a bottom-up, biology-inspired approach? What are some ways we can fight the increasing complication we see in technology?  What’s a T-shaped individual? Is it just part of human nature to seek band-aid solutions which add to the eventual complexity and frailty of our systems?

Martin Ford is a futurist and the founder of a Silicon Valley-based software development firm. He has over 25 years experience in the fields of computer design and software development. He holds a computer engineering degree from the University of Michigan and a graduate business degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.  Martin is an expert on the subject of accelerating progress in robotics and artificial intelligence—and what these advances mean for the economy, job market and society of the future. http://amzn.to/2iU3q5j The decimation of the value of human labor due to technology has been proclaimed and proven wrong for time immemorial.  Humans have always found new ways to contribute and avoid obsolescence, transitioning from hunter gatherers to farmers to manufacturing workers to service providers.  Why is this time different?     Why are white collar jobs the most at risk?  Are there any industries that may be a last stand for human labor? What are the investment implications of a world

Adam Kucharski is an assistant professor in the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.  His research uses mathematical and statistical models to understand disease outbreaks.  In 2014, he was recruited to analyze the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.  Adam earned his PhD in applied maths at the University of Cambridge. 1.  What is it about gambling that seems to attract world-class mathematicians throughout history? 2.  What mathematical techniques have been best applied successfully to gambling? 3.  What was the genesis and evolution of Monte Carlo simulation?  What are its shortcoming? 4.  Why is poker such a good challenge for artificial intelligence? 5.  In free chess, computers-plus-human hybrids are still currently getting the best of computer-only opponents.  What are the implications for other domains like gambling and investing?

Julius Bailey is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wittenberg University. He is a philosopher, cultural critic, social theorist, and diversity lecturer. Julius is the founder of Project Eight, a youth service organization that focuses on leadership and civic participation. He holds Masters Degrees from Howard (Philosophy) and Harvard Universities (Af Am Studies) and a Doctorate from University of Illinois (Philosophy and Education). 1. How would you define “hip-hop”? A lot of people confuse it with rap music, but it’s really so much more culturally, right? 2. How did gangsta rap impact hip-hop? 3. Warren Buffett has often espoused following your own personal inner-scorecard. How does that tie in with hip-hop and authenticity? 4. There appears to be a zero-sum-game mentality with many MCs where they build their reputation through bragging about their own success and dissing or diminishing others. I know my personal favorite artists have been the ones who are more vulnerable and less about describing mone

John Burke serves as the President of Trek Bicycle Corporation.  John joined Trek Bicycle Corporation, which his father founded in 1984, and has been its CEO since 1997.  He served as chairman of President George W. Bush's President's Council on Physical Fitness & Sports.  John is an avid cyclist who has finished Ironman Wisconsin twice as well as completing the Boston and New York Marathons. http://amzn.to/2fBYYGa 1.  You describe yourself as independent, and it’s clear you don’t care which side of the aisle an idea comes from if it makes sense to you.  How do we break the stranglehold the two parties seem to have right now? 2.  If you could make only three specific changes, what would they be?  What are the prime movers we might focus on to make the biggest differences? 3.  It seems like one party wants to “do more with more” and one leans toward “do less with less.”  With technology constantly increasing human capabilities, how come no one is saying “let’s do more with less”?  Is a low-performance gove

Benjamin Bergen is a professor of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego.  He teaches and does research on language and the brain.  Ben’s the author of two books; Louder than Words, which proposes a new theory of how people understand the meanings of words, and What The F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves.  He earned a PhD in Linguistics from UC Berkeley. http://amzn.to/2fTisa9 1.  Is there truth to the myth that swear words come from a different part of our brains?  What’s aphasia? 2.  How do swear words operate with their own grammar?  It seems like fuck is a Swiss Army Knife of words. 3.  There appears to be a Gresham’s Law to swear words where once a word takes on a taboo meaning, it drives out all of it’s non-profane meanings.  How do swear words evolve? 4.  What’s the story behind Samoan children’s first word? 5.  Is the internet leading to a homogenization of swearing?  It seems like new swear words could bubble up more readily through the use of hashtags, but are we also

In this week's Five Good Questions, we're interviewing Sundeep Bajikar about his book Equity Research for the Technology Investor. http://amzn.to/2elyFVD Sundeep Bajikar is a portfolio manager of the Acteve Model Portfolio, which is based on a value investing philosophy and process described in his book Equity Research for the Technology Investor. Previously, Sundeep was a Wall Street analyst for 9 years at Morgan Stanley & Jefferies. He spent the 9 years before that in the technology industry at Intel. He holds an MBA in Finance from Wharton, and M.S. degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Five Good Questions: 1. If you’re a generalist investor, do you have any business venturing into technology investments? Or are you setting yourself up for failure by venturing outside your circle of competence? Or is it that exact mindset that creates the opportunities? 2. What are your views on discussing investments with others? It seems like a difficult balance of gaining

In this week's Five Good Questions, we're interviewing Malcolm Balk about his book The Art of Running. http://amzn.to/2dUpCvI Malcolm Balk is a runner, coach, Alexander Technique teacher, cellist, and father of two based in Montreal, Quebec. Malcolm trains colleagues from the Alexander world to teach The Art of Running which is based on his book of the same title and which aims to help runners improve their performance and enjoyment. Five Good Questions: 1. Who was Alexander, what was his technique, and how does it relate to running? 2. What is S.M.A.R.T. running? 3. In our achievement-driven society, emphasis is placed results over process. Your book argues putting process over results, which happens to fit with how some of the best investment thinkers view the world. Why do you put process over results? 4. What’s the mantra/checklist I should be telling myself while I’m running to maintain good form? 5. What’s the connection between running and deep thinking exercises, like reading?

In this week's Five Good Questions, we're interviewing Jeremy Miller about his book Warren Buffett's Ground Rules. http://amzn.to/2fibqAi Jeremy Miller is a research analyst at a large New York-based asset manager. Five Good Questions: 1. Having thoroughly read the partnership letters and presumably followed Buffett closely after that period, what percent of Buffett’s current wisdom would you guess he had by 1970 when he closed the partnerships? 2. Who was Harry Bottle, and why was he so critical to the decentralized model of what Berkshire has become? 3. Everyone remembers American Express as a formative investment for Buffett because he moved from purely quantitative to more qualitative, but a strong argument could be made that his Dempster investment was also highly formative. What did he learn from that experience? 4. Buffett has famously said that he believes he could still do 50% per year on a small portfolio. Do you agree or disagree with his claim? 5. What’s the difference between conservative and con

In this week's Five Good Questions, we're interviewing Jeff Gramm about his book Dear Chairman. http://amzn.to/2eQaVZV Jeff manages a hedge fund and teaches value investing at Columbia Business School. His recently published book, Dear Chairman: Boardroom Battles and the Rise of Shareholder Activism, has been praised as "a terrific read" by Andrew Ross Sorkin in the New York Times, "a revelation" by the Financial Times, "a grand story" by The Wall Street Journal, and “an engaging and informative book” by The New Yorker. 1. I’ve heard you previously interviewed and have been impressed with your thoughts around governance and board dynamics. How can boards help management make better strategic decisions, especially with respect to capital allocation? 2. I’ve heard Munger say you could teach an entire MBA just from studying GM. Could you walk us through some of your insights, specifically during the period of Ross Perot’s involvement? 3. Of all of the stories, which one was your favorite to research? 4. We all s

Wrapping up Season 2 of Five Good Questions. Hi! We hope you enjoyed Season 2 of Five Good Questions. I'm still in awe at the intellectual generosity of these amazing authors! It's time for me to hit the road for shareholder meeting season. If you'll be in Toronto for Fairfax or in Omaha for Berkshire, shoot me an email or come up and say hi. I'd love to meet you and chat. I'll also be traveling to China for a few weeks of exploring with my wife. We're evening doing a marathon on the Great Wall-- wish me luck! I've already got a massive stack of books cued up for next season, and I may or may not be working on my own book. More details to follow... Thank you again for supporting 5GQ's mission of creating more inspired readers.

Jason Zweig is an investing columnist at The Wall Street Journal and editor of Benjamin Graham’s The Intelligent Investor. He's also author of Your Money and Your Brain (2007), on the neuroscience and psychology of financial decision-making, and The Devil’s Financial Dictionary (2015), a satirical glossary of Wall Street jargon. 1. The entire book was written with tongue in cheek and there are some hilarious definitions. What inspired you to write a book of this nature? 2. I enjoyed the entry on the term “panic” and how it related in multiple ways to the Greek god Pan. Can you explain the multiple parallels that exist? 3. I like to imagine two intersecting continuums for intelligent investing. On one of them is a “be the casino” approach most like Joel Greenblatt vs. a highly concentrated, individual company research like how Charlie Munger ran his fund. On the second continuum you have an all-weather, always-invested-and-rebalancing approach most like Ray Dalio vs. a fear-and-greed, holding-cash-for-opportun

Edward Chancellor is a financial historian, journalist and investment strategist.  In 2008, he joined GMO’s asset allocation team.  He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge with first class honours in Modern History, and from St Antony's College, Oxford with a Masters of Philosophy in Modern History.  He is a former deputy US editor for Breakingviews.com, and worked for Lazard Brothers in the early 1990s.  Edward is the author of Capital Account, Devil Take the Hindmost, and Capital Returns.  Let’s start with the basics: what is the Capital Cycle theory?  I’d seen it explained in different ways over the years, but never this clearly and obviously.  I feel kind of dumb for not understanding sooner the seemingly larger investment implications of this theory.     What’s a real life example that most clearly illustrates a successful investment using the Capital Cycle theory framework?  Additionally, what do you make of the game theory aspects of individual companies faced with competition over-investing in t

Steve Kamb is the founder of NerdFitness.com, a worldwide fitness community dedicated to helping nerds, desk jockeys, and self-aware robots level up their lives. He's also the author of the book, Level Up Your Life, that gives people a blueprint for prioritizing adventure, growth, and happiness by turning life into a giant video game. Video games often get a bad rap as large time-sucks.  This may be fair in some instances, but how have video games shaped your personal development? I loved how you demolished two of the most common excuses people use:  “I don’t have time” and “I can’t afford it.”  Can you explain what those excuses really mean and how they hold people back? You’ve checked some pretty cool adventure boxes already.  How do we go about building our own awesome life quests? There’s a popular saying that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time around.  Who are the type of people we should seek to surround ourselves with?  Everyone assumes the generic: “people better than us,”