Essential Listening: The Power of Intuition

There is little doubt that we are in the midst of a podcasting boom. There is no shortage of aspiring podcasters looking to elbow their way into the space. Stephen Dubner of Freakonomics fame and James Altucher are both veterans of the form, and in their Question of the Day podcast, tackle the question of what aspiring podcasters need to do to become successful.

Even though we have pushed into a new year, there are still some “best of” podcast lists worthy of note. The Casties, Quartz‘s annual awards highlighting the best podcasts of 2015, were recently published. Song Exploder, which deconstructs songs with the assistance of the artist, was declared the best overall podcast. Also, Drake Baer and Richard Feloni at Business Insider posted a list of 18 podcasts that will “make you smarter,” one of which, 99% Invisible, explores the world of everyday design.

For another week, we are finance-light, so feel free to check out previous weeks’ editions of Essential Listening. The new year is a great time to take up some new habits. The following podcasts are a good start to a new listening regime.

• One of the biggest books of 2015 was Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction by Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. Russ Roberts interviews Tetlock, who discusses what he gleaned from studying successful forecasters and the challenge of forecasting one-off events. (EconTalk)
• Jake Taylor talks with William Green, author of The Great Minds of Investing, about the lessons he learned from profiling renowned investors and what separates the great ones from the rest of the crowd. (Five Good Questions)
• The history of institutional venture capital investing and what has changed in the new, new economy are the focal points of this conversation between Barry Ritholtz and Warburg Pincus’s Bill Janeway, author of Doing Capitalism in the Innovation Economy: Markets, Speculation and the State. (The Big Picture)
• Ben Horowitz engages in a wide-ranging discussion with Mellody Hobson of Ariel Investments. They talk about the markets, Hobson’s investing journey, and Star Wars. (a16z Podcast)
• What do you do after you’ve made more money than you will ever need? Altucher sits down with Bryan Johnson, founder of Braintree, who explains how he is using his business background to be a smarter investor and philanthropist. (The James Altucher Show)
• Michael Martin interviews Flavia Cymbalista, an expert on uncertainty endorsed by Nassim Taleb and George Soros, about the power of intuition and how to make better decisions under uncertainty. (MartinKronicle)
• Why would anyone spend tens of thousands of dollars on a handbag? To find out, Vanek Smith and Sindhu Gnanasambandan go in search of a Birkin bag and ask why people are willing to pay so much and why such bags are so scarce. (Planet Money)
• Personal narratives are everywhere these days, but few are as interesting (or as controversial) as Neil Strauss‘s. The author of The Game and the newly published The Truth recalls his journey from nerdy journalist, to high-profile player, to family man in an interview with Marc Maron. (WTF)
• Finance pros by and large don’t get a whole lot of television screen time compared to doctors, cops, and lawyers. On Showtime, however, there is a new series called Billions starring Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis as a US Attorney and hedge-fund billionaire engaged in a cat-and-mouse game. (Abnormal Returns)

Feel free to leave a comment with other podcasts Enterprising Investor readers/listeners might enjoy. I may highlight your suggestion in this ongoing series on the world of podcasting.

You can read more from Tadas Viskanta on his blog Abnormal Returns or follow him on Twitter @abnormalreturns.

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All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.

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