Putting the Band Together, Not the Algo
In an age when AI can polish every CV, leadership is still about knowing who can actually play in the band.
Against the Lane – A letter to the next generation
“Jack of all trades, master of none” was once a compliment. Why breadth beats specialisation, and why AI has just made the generalist more valuable than ever.
Teach Your Kids About Investing (Without Telling Them)
I spent over 20 years learning how markets work. Then I tried to teach my kids. Charts glazed their eyes. Monopoly taught them the wrong lessons entirely. It took a Renaissance gem-trading board game to make compound growth, concentration risk, and strategic patience click. Sometimes the best financial education doesn’t look like education at all.
The Opportunity Cost of Not Answering the Question
“When a potential client asks a direct question, answer it directly. Even if the response is not known, answering I do not know is acceptable…. It is also acceptable to say no.”
Why Most Family Offices Should Fail (And How to Build the Rare Exception)
Why Most Family Offices Should Fail (And How to Build the Rare Exception) “Adversity is sometimes hard upon a man, but for one man who can stand prosperity, there are a hundred that will stand adversity“ Thomas Carlyle, Scottish historian and philosopher (1795-1881) Unfinished portrait of Thomas Carlyle by John Everett Millais (1877). Source: National
When a Tip Is Not a Tip: How Service Charges Lost Their Meaning
A tip is a message of thanks. A charge is a matter of accounting. When the two become indistinguishable, the meaning collapses.
From Sovereign Bonds to Monte Cristo: A Tale of Two Waterloos 📚
What connects a research paper on emerging market bonds to Alexandre Dumas’ masterpiece? Both emerged from the post-Napoleonic era—but only one explores what truly counts.
🎭 I just quoted a dead guy who never said what I quoted.
Turns out “what gets measured gets managed” isn’t Drucker either—and the real version warns against exactly what we’re doing with it.