Class Material Archives - Page 3 of 3

Leadership

Sep 7, 2022Nicholas MitsakosArticle, Book Chapter, Class MaterialAuthenticity, Colleagues, Collegial environment, Despair, disagreement, Disappointment, Leadership, Management, True North

Leadership is about being authentic to your organization and to yourself — and connecting the two. There is a constant struggle between a leader’s authentic self and the authenticity of his or her message. The wider the gap, the less effective and more conflicted an organization will be. How does one become an authentic effective leader?

An effective leader asks the organization questions instead of delivering answers and commanding with authority. Authentic leadership poses the right questions and focuses on the organization’s pursuit of answers to those questions. Leadership is being comfortable with uncertainty, managing unforeseen influences, necessary revisions and potential disappointment while keeping an organization focused on shared values and common goals.

Think Differently and Better

Aug 29, 2022Nicholas MitsakosAdvanced Technology, Article, Book Chapter, Class Material, Prediction, The MarketArtificial Intelligence, innovation, investment strategy, investments, risk, technology, valuation, volatility

The market is consensus thinking. Performing above average means being different. Simply being different doesn’t define success. Success means understanding what it takes to not only think differently but understand when consensus thinking is wrong and executing and implementing those choices effectively. Doing better (generating superior returns with less overall risk) is difficult. Understanding “what’s really going on” is not a simple formula. It requires different, deeper, and better thinking. Depart from the investment crowd, focus on the factors that are necessary and, in combination, sufficient to make a difference, sustain performance and manage risk. It’s not easy or obvious, but it is superior.

Sweltering, Chills, and Discontent

Jul 18, 2022Nicholas MitsakosArticle, Class Material, Inflation, Investment Strategy, Public Policycentral banks, china, economic growth, energy, Energy block, energy policy, Geopolitics, India, inflation, Interest-rate policy, investment strategy, natural gas, public policy, russia, Turkey, volatility

While most of Europe and the United States suffer sweltering heat, darkening economic skies and bitter winter of discontent are looming. Threats to the world economy are chilling. Rising interest rates are slowing activity for discretionary spending while rising prices for nondiscretionary spending are also slowing economic activity. It would be miraculous if the compounding of both effects would not lead to a recession in both Europe and the US. China’s growth has stalled. The Ukraine conflict will resolve itself to the West’s dramatic disadvantage and the West seems to be willing to let it happen – much to each economy’s long-term disadvantage. Don’t count on anything miraculous.

A New Vision for Artificial Intelligence

Jul 9, 2022Nicholas MitsakosAdvanced Technology, Article, Class Material, Transformative BusinessesAlgorithms, Artificial Intelligence, Big data, Cognitive architecture, Financial technology, investment strategy, Machine learning, neural networks, risk

A new vision for artificial intelligence is using smaller more relevant data sets for dynamic learning generating more effective outcomes and better predictions.

This model uses cognitive architecture, learns, transfers learning, and retains knowledge – enabling more valuable and compelling artificial intelligence applications. This approach is more closely related to the brain’s actual structures and much more effective than “neural networks,” which is a catchy name but the similarity to the brain’s actual functioning is in name only. Real advancement in artificial intelligence must live in reality, not theoretical marketing.

Recent Lecture – Digital Assets: Innovation, Opportunity, and Nonsense

May 14, 2022Nicholas MitsakosArticle, Class Material, Lectures, Transformative BusinessesBitcoin, digital assets, digital currency, innovation, technology, valuation

Recently, I gave a lecture at a graduate program focused on innovation, technological disruption, and the impact on global industries and investment opportunities. My lecture focused on digital assets and attempted to draw distinctions between disruptive and substantial opportunities and hype, nonsense, and unsustainable business models. This is a quiz given to the students that reflects the main points raised in this lecture. For fun, I am including it here because it makes a series of fundamental points that I think are especially important, and the true-false construct conveys those points with clarity.

Nicholas Mitsakos

Investor, Entrepreneur, Writer, and Lecturer