All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions

When it comes to investments, value sometimes resides in unlikely places. Pete Briger, CEO of Fortress Investment Group, specializes in buying bad debt and spinning it into gold.

In this episode of All Else Equal, Briger, who dubs himself a “garbage collector,” describes how he makes decisions and why being prepared to act quickly and decisively is crucial for success.

In a market bristling with competitors, “the competitive edge you get may be expressed in the context of days,” Briger says.

Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual

Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.

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Picking stocks is a famously difficult exercise, not for the faint of heart. So how do investment professionals make decisions about which stocks to buy?

In this episode of All Else Equal, professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen interview Cliff Asness, cofounder and chief investment officer at AQR Capital Management, about his decision-making strategy. Fundamentally, Asness says, success depends on the ability to “withstand pain” when your investments perform poorly and the confidence to trust your judgment.

“Everybody talks about the long term, but actually being long-term is a superpower in investing if you can do it,” Asness says.

Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual

Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Personnel decisions can be some of the toughest a manager will make. What are the attributes you should look for when building a team? 

In this episode of All Else Equal, professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen interview former NBA general manager Billy King about how he approached player evaluation. Statistics are an important measure of performance, but King says he also tried to assess how individual players made the players around them better.

King invokes the philosophy of his mentor, Duke University head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who taught the power of teamwork. Punching a wall with five separate fingers would have little effect, “but if you make those fingers into a fist, you’re going to have a better impact,” King says.

Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual

Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When the scientific method began to be applied widely hundreds of years ago, innovation bloomed. Today, those same principles inform business leaders who rely on data analysis to set and shape direction.

In this inaugural episode of All Else Equal, professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen speak with Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat about how to — and how not to — use data to make decisions.

“It’s too easy to just anchor on a set of numbers,” Porat says. “Most important is to look at the trends over time, then break it down to the sensitivity analysis — what are the key variables that will drive behavior one way or another?

“Coming with just a flat set of data is not constructive because obviously the world in which we live is not static.”

Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual

Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Join finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen in a conversation with prominent business leaders about common flaws in the decision making process and what to do about them.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.