Mihir Desai is a Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. In this conversation with Mihir, amongst other things, we cover the cocktail party test; how the principal-agent framework might help clear up the muddle of life; explore the dangers of optionality; examine why the pursuit of alpha is the most important life lesson from finance; and reason about why the income inequality debate is deeply misunderstood.