Adam Grant: Give and Take
By LawrenceAdam Grant, the youngest tenured processor at Wharton, talks about his book, Give and Take.
It is a long discussion of the ideas presented in the book. Be prepared to spend an hour on this.
This video strikes an important point in trading.
Many famous traders from the the past, those who went into the business back in 1980s, 1990s, etc. are now gone. Many of these traders are takers. They made it big and crashed spectacularly. Their trading styles are often guarded in secret. Their only interest in other traders are often stealing the secrets from them. The success of these traders also drove them to believe that they are superior to other traders. This very belief made them disconnected from the world and misunderstood how the world is changing. When their secret trading techniques no longer work, they do not know how to deal with the changes and fail miserably.
The ones who survived and still thriving are the ones who are givers. Their giving spirits helped them to stay in touch with the other traders and the trading community as a whole. This connection enables them to understand the transformation of the trading business. Thus giving them a feedback that the takers never have, allowing the more giving traders to be able to adapt to the ever changing trading landscape.
Speaking from personal experience, I find that sharing trading knowledge with others actually help me understand myself better, crystalize my thoughts and improve my understanding of the markets in ways I could never do alone. After all, markets are made up of people. Even bots are designed by humans.
Understanding the participants beat any safe guarded secret trading techniques in trading.
