Mihir Desai is here to demystify and rehabilitate finance. He's an economics professor at both Harvard Business and Law School and author of The Wisdom of Finance where he uses uses stories from the George Orwell to Kanye West to explain concepts such as options, leverage, and herd behavior, then extrapolating them into broader life lessons. For example blindly following society's expectations is a form of the principal-agent problem. And how professionals love “collecting options,” but forget that for options to work, you need to take risks. We cover Wall Street's culture of fear, his "a-hole theory of finance," and the industry's lack of diversity. We talk more broadly about higher education's "crisis moment" and if credentialing is important in the face of technological innovation (such as cryptocurrencies and social), and why the "free-agent economy" is overhyped. + SHOW NOTES: http://bit.ly/MihirDesai + JOIN OUR NETWORKING WEBINAR: Networking doesn't have to be transactional or slimy - it can absolutely be achieved with kindness and generosity. Learn now to identify new relationships, have impactful conversations, and create a system for following up. http://bit.ly/radnetworking + SUBSCRIBE TO RADREADS: http://radreads.email