CSI Chat

In this discussion, investment expert Chris Mayer, author of '100 Baggers,' shares his journey from corporate lender to professional investor. He delves into the characteristics of stocks that can multiply their value, like high growth expectations and low PE ratios. Chris also reflects on the luck involved in investing and the importance of corporate culture, particularly in companies like Berkshire Hathaway. The chat offers insights on recognizing potential '100-Baggers' and the complexity of navigating today's investment landscape.

Join Dan Levy and Richard Zeckhauser, Harvard Kennedy School professors, as they delve into the art of decision-making. They share insights on utilizing extreme and simple cases for making better choices, whether ordering dinner or navigating complex issues like tariffs. The duo also tackles the infamous Super Bowl 49 decision, exploring how good decisions can lead to bad outcomes. With a blend of humor and analytics, they make the intricacies of decision theory both relatable and engaging.

We are joined by Peter Warmka who is a former Senior Intelligence Officer with the CIA with over 20 years of experience in national intelligence and security issues.  To make it simple, Peter is an expert in "Human Hacking" or the art of influencing people.  Peter is also the author of 2 terrific books entitled "Confessions of a CIA Spy" and "Why are you messing with me".   During our "Chat" with Peter, we talk about: How did Peter join the CIA?  Peter outlines the crazy story of how he joined the CIA which involved some very intensive interviews with both him and his wife!   What is the "Art of Elicitation" and how is this used to extract information from other people? Why should we be careful navigating some of these social media sites such as LinkedIn?  What are some of the red flags we need to watch out for?   Why do we need to be careful talking with strangers at conferences or trade shows?  Surprisingly, these events can be attended by folks who are strictly looking to extract non-public information from others.   It was a fascinating conversation with Peter and I would encourage everyone to check it out!  

Robert Mazur served for 27 years as a special agent for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, the Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency working predominantly as a undercover agent working as a money launderer.  Robert wrote two terrific books, "The Infiltrator" and "The Betrayal", the first of which was turned into a movie which starred Brian Cranston as none other than Robert Mazur! Robert joins CSI Chat and we touch on a number of topics including: - How did someone go from working at the Internal Revenue Agency (IRS) to working undercover going up against the most dangerous drug cartels in the world? - What is the mental skill set one needs in order to prepare themselves to go undercover?  How do you prepare your family for this dangerous experience? - What is the "day in the life" of an undercover agent?  How do you deal with the stress and the fear of potentially being caught? Robert is an American hero and an incredible person who has been fighting against the illegal drug trade in the United States his entire life.  We are very lucky to have him join "CSI Chat".  

We are joined by the former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan (and HUGE Detroit Tigers fan) Barbara McQuade to talk about her book "Attack from Within:  How Disinformation is Sabotaging America".  After spending some time talking about the pros and cons of both the Detroit Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays signing Alex Bregman during the offseason, we get down to business and address: Her experience as the former US Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and some of the high-profile cases she prosecuted during this time. How disinformation is used by politicians to push their agenda and help sway voters.   What we can do as citizens to ensure that we are not a victim of a disinformation campaign.   It was a terrific conversation with Barb and I would encourage everyone to check it out!     

We are joined by the "Q" (James Bond fans will know "Q") of the CIA, Dawn Meyerriecks.  After learning a bit more about Dawn, perhaps it is more accurate to state that "Q" is the Dawn Meyerriecks of the British Secret Service.  In any event, Dawn was the Deputy Director of the CIA for Science and Technology.  Dawn recently led a "Masterclass" on "The Art of Intelligence" which I would highly encourage everyone to check out.   We talk to Dawn about: - There are a few questions that we have always wanted to ask someone from the CIA (including whether it is true or false that there are CIA agents who speak over 30 different languages fluently).  Dawn does her best to answer these questions! - What is a "day in the life" of the "Deputy Director of the CIA"?  How did she spend a typical day? - How does Dawn compare life in the public sector vs. the private sector (as she has worked in senior positions in both). - We ask Dawn about the current state of technology in society and whether we should be concerned about the increased investments being made in Artificial Intelligence.   I hope everyone enjoys the "CSI Chat" with Dawn!  

We are joined by Colin Bryar, a former Amazon executive and co-author of the outstanding book, "Working Backwards:  Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon".  How did Amazon grow from a tiny start-up to one of the most successful companies on the planet?  What best practices did Amazon leverage to facilitate this success?  Colin was Jeff Bezos' "shadow" (Jeff's Chief of Staff") during those early days and talks to CSI Chat about: - How was Amazon able to hire the best and the brightest employees?  Colin explains Amazon's "Bar Raiser" hiring approach and how it was leveraged to hire 1,000's of Amazon's top employees.   - Amazon has banned the use of PowerPoint within their organization for most meeting presentations.  Why did Amazon ban PowerPoint and what format does Amazon now use for most presentations?   - How has "thinking long-term" and "focusing on the customer" resulted in some of Amazon's life changing products and services including "Amazon Prime" and "Amazon Web Hosting"? End of the day, Colin explains how nearly all of Amazon's best practices can be leveraged by all corporations to facilitate their growth and success.    

Michele Rigby Assad, who is a "super spy" and a renown author, joins us to talk about her latest book, "Get off the X:  CIA's Secrets for Conquering Obstacles and Achieving your Life's Mission".  Michele spent 10 years working in the Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA") and is now an international corporate advisor, author and keynote speaker.   Michele talks to us about: How do you go through the process of joining the CIA?  How do you apply and how does the interview process work?  What types of folks are the CIA looking for?   What is it like living in a war-torn country while working for the CIA?  What is a typical "day in the life" of a super spy?   What does Michele imply when she says to "Get off the X"?  How do we apply the training she received in the CIA to real world examples? After listening to Michele (and reading her book!), you will have a tool kit to "Get off the X" and achieve your life's mission.  

Frank Perri joins CSI Chat to talk about "Red Collar Crime".  Frank is the author of "Red Collar White Collar Crime:  Corporate, Predatory Violent Fraud Offenders".  Frank debunks the myth that white collar criminals reflect the kinder, gentler offender and Frank explains how red collar criminals resort to violence to prevent the detection of their fraud schemes.  Frank takes us down a fascinating journey of how a white collar criminal can turn to violence ("Red Collar") when cornered.  

We are joined by Bethany McLean on CSI Chat to talk about the learnings from Enron, the 2008 financial crisis and her most recent book, "The Big Fail:  What the Pandemic Revealed about Who America Protects and Who it Leaves Behind".  Bethany is a well-known journalist who published in 2001 the now famous article in Fortune, "Is Enron Overpriced".  Bethany is the author of several books, cohost of the podcast "Capitalisn't" and a special correspondent at Insider and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.   During our "Chat" with Bethany, we talk about a number of topics including: We go back in a time machine to March 2001 when she first wrote "Is Enron Overpriced"?  What was Bethany thinking at the time?  What conversations did she have with the Enron executive team? After 20+ years since her article and the Enron collapse, have we learned anything?  Is history due to repeat itself? Why did she decide to write a book on the financial crisis of 2008 entitled "All the Devils are Here"?  Was the 2008 financial crisis preventable? Her most recent book, "The Big Fail", goes through the learnings of the COVID 19 pandemic.  What did we do well during the pandemic?  What were the areas that we could have done better?  Are we prepared for the next global pandemic.    It is a fascinating conversation with Bethany and I hope everyone enjoys it.