John Train's The Broadside

Russell Reynolds, probably the world’s best-known recruiter of directors of large corporations, looks for basic intelligence, common sense, good character, and collegiality. The director you want is enthusiastic, thoughtful and pleasant to have around.

The current catastrophe illustrates several traps and delusions that come up frequently, even though they are fairly obvious… Enough so, indeed, that I have pointed them out in my books.

The ancient Greeks associated emotions with deities. Today we explain the same emotions by the effect of hormonal and other systems that have developed over millions of years to help us adapt to our environment.

Pre-election years are usually good for the stock market. The defending president pumps oxygen into the system to produce a rosy glow as the voters go to the polls. That’s politics though, not economics.

The Afghan economy is at a dangerous crossroads. A strong market economy could very well survive without democracy in Afghanistan, but the fledgling democracy in Kabul stands little chance without a vigorous economy.

Going for a stroll in Saigon at either end of a business day is like walking along the bank of a furiously rushing torrent: a torrent of motorcycles, tens of thousands of them, hurtling past. Since much of the city has no traffic lights, you wait and hope for a break in the flow, which may not happen.

All this is something of a metaphor for Vietnam in general: everything is pervaded by hustle, bustle and optimism; by enthusiastic movement.

I’m all for elegance, particularly the elegantly simple, but the truly elegant isn’t self-conscious, and particularly not grossly and vulgarly self-conscious, like the “Luxury Collection” in some top hotels caught in the grip of a hyperactive PR man.

I graduated from Harvard College in 1950, and can probably say that if it weren’t for the buildings, an old grad of my vintage would not recognize the place today.

When large matters go awry, they often follow standard patterns—groupthink, hubris-nemesis, the Ponzi scheme, speculative manias, the “distance lends enchantment” mirage, and other raptures—alone or in combination.

China has her own interests, and unlike Americans, who like to bash ahead, the Chinese follow the maxim of their favorite strategist Sun Tze: “Be subtle, be subtle.”

In the old days in the investment business when you were studying a company you would sometimes send a young fellow out back of the factory with a clicker to count the widgets emerging to be shipped. Easy enough to check production. Quite different now!