Blog
Art of the Deal - The Rules of Negotiation
I negotiate with hundreds of people a year - both online and offline – haggling, whether it is with customers, suppliers, investors, or would-be employees. I can humbly say I learned over the years to negotiate like a “true master” though we all sometimes get into trouble - when something c...
Read MoreArt of the Deal - The Rules of Engagement
I meet thousands of people a year - both online and offline - and I am frankly flabbergasted how well educated and supposedly highly connected people are so awkward in engaging in business. For the most part, they think that just by soliciting you online – on LinkedIn or other social network �...
Read MoreUsing the Levers of Power: Art or Science?
“It is much safer to be feared than loved,” writes Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince, his classic 16th-century treatise advocating manipulation and occasional cruelty as the best means to power. Guided by centuries of advice like Machiavelli, we tend to believe that attaining power requires f...
Read MoreDo you Network Properly?
I used to love attending networking events and crowded conferences. I'm a bit of an extrovert and it always felt great networking with people of all walks of life and sizing up in a heartbeat who was real and who was a total waste of time. I realized later on that those networking events are a to...
Read MoreHow do you handle newly acquired wealth?
I am flabbergasted by how many seemingly smart people are inept at handling newly acquired wealth or how some can create a fortune exceeding $1 billion in a few years and then blow it all up faster than they acquired it. This goes for professional athletes, entrepreneurs, actors, rock stars and l...
Read MorePrivate Equity Investing: The 5 Things you should Practice when Making a Decision
In investing as you may know, there are many ways to fail but there are many ways to succeed too. The key is to have your process in line with your investing behavior. Here’s some food for thought I’d strongly recommend if you are seeking to thrive or at least survive in this new financial la...
Read MoreWall Street, K Street - Understanding the Politics of Money
It looks like hypocrisy abounds today on both sides of the aisle in Washington DC and on the media company propaganda channels as well. As the national debt soared from $10.6 trillion on the day Obama took office to over $17 trillion today, I still hear the liberal media blame the debt on the Bus...
Read MoreIs this Capitalism?
I believe there is nothing normal about what Ben Bernanke and the Federal government have done post the 2008 crisis and continue to do today. The Greenspan led Federal Reserve created two epic bubbles in the space of six years which burst and have done irreparable harm to the net worth of the mid...
Read MoreAmerica Tear down the wall before it's too late.
I am afraid America makes less sense every day. Little children are randomly slaughtered in their schoolrooms. Predator drones roam the skies over foreign countries exterminating bad guys, along with innocent women and children (collateral damage when it occurs in a foreign country). Drugged up m...
Read MoreWill the Internet ever change the face of Finance?
I certainly hope so….We don’t need giant banks as small banks do much more lending than big banks. It is a fact that smaller banks are stepping in today to fill the lending void left by the giant banks’ still much hesitant to make loans. The only reason I believe that smaller banks haven’...
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