- The Idea Farm
- Posts
- Top Podcasts of the Week
Top Podcasts of the Week
Below is our “Top Podcast” episode with our new curator, Colby Donovan! Holler with any feedback!
Today we have an episode with the author of one of the best selling business books of 2019, an episode with the CEO of Spotify, and a couple of episodes debunking investing myths about stock buybacks and bonds.
Business
EconTalk: Rory Sutherland on Alchemy. Sutherland is an advertising executive and author of Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life. The episode is about his book, which is aimed at helping you think outside the box by becoming more aware of people’s motivations. Sutherland insists economic models must adapt to circumstances, context, and behavior of others, and applies his ideas to consumer choice, public policy, and corporate decision making. [November 11, 2019–1 hour, 24 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link
The ETF Experience: Scott Nations — Options and Crashes. This was an interesting episode on the history of stock market crashes. The guest spends the first 16 minutes discussing his background as a trader, his view on the options markets today, and the impact of the VIX. Then he dives into his new book, A History of the United States in Five Crashes: Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation, which goes through the crashes of 1907, 1929, 1987, 2008, and the 2010 Flash Crash. He explains the background and driver of each, why he thinks future crashes will be more like the 2010 crash, and what patterns emerged from his research (leverage was injected into the market at the worst possible time). [November 11, 2019–34 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link
Invest Like The Best: Daniek Ek — The Future of Audio. Ek is the founder and CEO of Spotify, and he comes across as incredibly thoughtful and humble in all areas. He discusses building Spotify and why he thinks audio (both music and podcasts) has a huge runway of growth left, his thoughts around growth and his evolution as a CEO, the impact of globalization and automation on businesses, and a lot more. [November 12, 2019–56 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link
The Compound Show: Exposing The Big Lie About Stock Buybacks. This is a really interesting episode around the very present discussion of stock buybacks. Ed Yardeni of Yardeni Research joins the episode to explain why everyone is incorrectly looking at the data. In his analysis, he believes the Fed isn’t including buying stock for employee stock plans, which he estimates that 2/3 of buybacks are related to this and states 1/3 of employees that work for companies with public stock are stock owners through plans (debunking the myth that stock buybacks are only to increase the pay of C-Suite employees). His research shows the bull market in stocks has fueled buybacks to employees, not the other way around. You can view Yardeni’s deck on the topic here. [November 15, 2019–15 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link
Stay Wealthy: Financial Myth #1: If Interest Rates Rise, Bonds Will Lose Money. The episode debunks the myth that bonds lose money in a rising interest rate environment. While that may be true in the short run, over the span of a few years, bonds actually make money. The host mentions this paper from Pragmatic Capital for more information on the topic. [November 12, 2019–12 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Breaker | Website Link
The Rest
AlphaMind the Podcast: New York Yankees Performance Coach Dana Cavalea: Habits of a Champion. The episode features former NY Yankees Strength and Conditioning Coach, Dana Cavalea, who explains the importance of the mental aspect in high performance. In his words, in order to perform at the highest possible level you must recognize and control your thoughts, be present in the moment, and deal with high expectations and pressure (he explains Mariano Rivera said he does so by slowing everything down, quieting the noise, and taking the game one pitch at a time). He also explains what he calls “reset, refresh and recalibrate” which emphasizes detaching yourself from whatever you are doing to recover. [November 9, 2019–1 hour, 1 minute] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast |Website Link
RECOMMENDATIONS
Books
Rory Sutherland (Executive Creative Director, OgilvyOne):
The Economic Naturalist: In Search of Explanations for Everyday Enigmas by Robert Frank— Taught him there is more than one way to look at human behavior. The book is about puzzles and why are things the way they are (why is women’s dry cleaning more expensive than men’s).
David Heath (Founder & CEO, Bombas Socks):
Jim O’Shaughnessy (Chief Investment Officer, O’Shaughnessy Asset Management):
Jason Karp (Founder and CEO, HumanCo):
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan and In Defense Of Food by Michael Pollan — Both were seminal books for him in his early education about health and wellness.
Bill Simmons (CEO, The Ringer):
The Franchise: Building a Winner With the World Champion Detroit Pistons, Basketballs Bad Boys by Cameron Stauth — Details how GM Jack McCloskey built the Bad Boys Pistons teams.
Second Win by Bill Russell, Life on the Run by Bill Bradley — Two of his favorite sports books; both books describe what it is like to play for a famously magnanimous team.
—-Here’s ours:
Good investing,Meb Fabertheideafarm.com