Talks at Google

Known as the "Dean of Valuation," Aswath Damodaran is best known as the author of several widely used academic and practitioner texts on Valuation, Corporate Finance and Investment Management; he is widely quoted on the subject of valuation, with "a great reputation as a teacher and authority". His advice is a must for those wishing to gain a better understanding of investment valuation and its methods. With it, you can take the insights and advice of a recognized authority on the valuation process and immediately put them to work for you. The tools and practice of corporate valuation is intimidating to most laymen, who assume that they do not have the skills and the capability to value companies. In this talk, professor of finance Aswath Damodaran lays out four simple propositions about valuation. The first is that valuation is not an extension of accounting, insofar as it is not about recording the past but forecasting the future. The second is that valuation is not just modeling, where people put numbers into Excel spreadsheets and pump out values - a good valuation requires a narrative that binds the numbers together. The third is that valuing an asset or business is very different from pricing that asset or business, a difference that is often blurred in practice. The fourth is that luck plays a disproportionate role in whether you make money off your valuations. Put differently, you can do everything right and still walk away with nothing or worse at the end. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

Dr. Daniel G. Amen is a double board-certified psychiatrist, professor, TV producer, and 10-time New York Times bestselling author. He is one of the world's foremost experts on using brain imaging tools to help optimize and treat patients. He is founder and medical director of Amen Clinics, which has the world’s largest database of functional brain scans relating to behavior. This week, Dr. Amen visits Google to discuss his latest book, "The Brain’s Warrior Way: Ignite Your Energy and Focus, Attack Illness and Aging, Transform Pain into Purpose." He explains that psychiatrists are among the only medical professionals who do not consistently utilize medical imaging of the body part they treat - the brain! But looking at the brain itself changes everything. Our brains run our lives. When it works right, our bodies work right, and our decisions tend to be thoughtful and goal directed. Poor choices, however, can lead to a myriad of problems in our bodies. Studies have shown that our habits turn on or off certain genes that make illness and early death more or less likely. But we can master our brains and bodies for the rest of our lives with a scientifically-designed program to improve our focus, memory, relationships, and overall health: what Dr. Amen calls the Brain's Warrior Way. Originally published in January of 2017. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Payal Kadakia visits Google to discuss her book "LifePass: Drop Your Limits, Rise to Your Potential". Payal is the Founder of ClassPass, a fitness and wellness membership service that was acquired by Mindbody in October 2021. Prior to its acquisition, ClassPass had been valued at over $1 billion, with members logging more than 100 million hours of workouts across 30,000 partner studios in over 30 countries. Payal’s book introduces what she calls the LifePass method, her distinctive way of goal-setting that will help you hone in on your feelings, screen out unnecessary distractions, and live a successful and fulfilling life. When Payal let go of the pressure to achieve a more traditional kind of success, she tuned in to her calling and built ClassPass into a billion-dollar business. In LifePass, she shares the unique goal-setting method that not only changed her approach to business, but to her life. Moderated by Shilpa Maniar. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

In anticipation of May the 4th, Chris Taylor unearths the human-scale stories that have gone into the making of the galactic-sized legend that is Star Wars, and describes how and why it has been such an astonishing success. In a richly detailed narrative, Taylor traces the history of the series from its difficult birth through four drafts, a disastrous first cut, and many sequels and spin-offs. Today, he shows that Star Wars finds itself at a crossroads, with a new company holding the reins and many new spin-offs on the horizon. How did a few notes scribbled on a legal pad in 1973 by George Lucas, a man who hated writing, turn into a multi-billion dollar franchise that has quite literally transformed the way we think about entertainment, merchandising, politics, and even religion? A cultural touchstone and cinematic classic, Star Wars has a cosmic appeal that no other movie franchise has been able to replicate. From Jedi-themed weddings and international storm-trooper legions, to impassioned debates over the digitization of the three Star Wars prequels, to the shockwaves that continue to reverberate from Disney’s purchase of the beloved franchise in 2012, the series hasn’t stopped inspiring and inciting viewers for almost forty years. Yet surprisingly little is known about its history, its impact—or where it’s headed next. An energetic, witty account of this stunning cinematic and business success story, How Star Wars Conquered the Universe is the saga of how a young filmmaker’s idle idea became such an immense, transformative cultural force. Originally published in December of 2014. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Siobhan Haughey visits Google to discuss her career as the first Hong Kong swimmer to win an Olympic medal and the first Hong Kong athlete to win two Olympic medals in any sport. She also shares advice on health and wellbeing to inspire us in these times of uncertainty and isolation. Irish-Chinese swimmer Siobhan Bernadette Haughey was born in Hong Kong and graduated from the University of Michigan in 2019 with a degree in psychology. She won two silver medals for the Women’s 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle races at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, making her Hong Kong’s first swimmer to have won an Olympic medal and Hong Kong’s first athlete to have won two medals in a single Olympic game. She also became Hong Kong’s first world record-holding swimmer after breaking the women’s 200-meter freestyle record at the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships in 2021. Moderated by Michael Yue. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

This week, Broadway legend Idina Menzel visits Google to discuss her career, her personal life, and her new album "idina." She first rose to fame for her role as ‘Maureen’ in the popular Broadway musical RENT. Her career continued to take off when she won a Tony Award for her role as ‘Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West,’ in the smash hit musical, WICKED. But it was her role as ‘Elsa’ in Disney’s Oscar-winning film Frozen, the second highest grossing animated film of all time, that truly launched her into superstardom. Menzel performed the film’s signature song “Let It Go,” which became an instant international phenomenon, winning the Oscar for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. The track reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Menzel the first artist with both a Billboard Top 10 hit and a Tony Award for acting. Originally published in October of 2016. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

Checkers. Backgammon. Chess. Go. Poker. Scrabble. Bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In his book Seven Games, game theorist Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, and how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human. Moderated by Matt Bongiovi. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.  

We all struggle with interpersonal conflict at some point in our lives. In his book Negotiating the Nonnegotiable, Harvard negotiation expert Daniel Shapiro introduces a groundbreaking method to bridge the toughest divides--whether with family members, colleagues, or in the polarized world of politics. He reveals the hidden power of identity in fueling conflict, and presents a practical framework to reconcile even the most contentious situations. For anyone struggling with conflict, this book can be transformative. Negotiating the Nonnegotiable takes readers on a journey into the heart and soul of conflict, providing unique insight into the emotional undercurrents that too often sweep us out to sea. With vivid stories of his closed-door sessions with warring political groups, disputing businesspeople, and families in crisis, Shapiro presents a universally applicable method to successfully navigate conflict. A deep, provocative book to reflect on and wrestle with, this book can change your life. Originally published in May of 2016. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.