Want the Secrets to Succeed on Wall Street?

As we are approaching the Facebook IPO this Friday, there are a plethora of articles and segments that have been coming out on every news website and continuous television coverage that covers every development of the IPO in great detail.

Yesterday, the major financial websites ran articles that discussed the majority of the largest shareholders who have increased the amount of shares that they will be offering to the public; an amount that together will raise the size of the IPO approximately 25%.

Marvin Miller, the slayer of the reserve clause in baseball, has an eerily soothing voice. He would gaze into the television camera as if he were in a trance, speaking slowly, softly, with a calm demeanor that not only would convince me of what he was saying, but make me wonder how anyone could possibly believe anything else.

The reserve clause? Abolish it. Baseball players are not cattle, as my grandfather used to say. Baseball is not entitled to an exemption from the reserve clause because it is an "amusement," whatever that means. Baseball is a business. A baseball player is entitled to sell his services to the highest bidder when his contract expires, not be forced to have it renewed at the discretion of  the major league baseball team that "owns him."

As Curt Flood said to Howard Cosell when he refused to accept his trade to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1969, "a well paid slave is still a slave." Curt Flood was earning $90,000 a year when he spoke those words. His struggle became a selfless act because, even though the Supreme Court ruled against him, his short term failure paved the way for the long term success of those who followed him. The Catfish Hunters. The Dave McNallys and the Andy Messersmiths. And, more recently, Alex Rodriguez.

Andy (mod note): 9/23/11 article from Damodaran - but the talk on Rogue trading is still VERY relevant today.
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We are in the midst of a "rogue trading" scandal and the media loves it. It started with this report in the Wall Street Journal about an unnamed trader who had lost $ 2 billion for the Swiss banking giant, UBS. The trader was quickly identified and named as Kewku Abodoli, a director at the UBS delta One desk (more on that later). Today's story has more details, with a comment from Abodoli's lawyer about how much he regrets his actions (or at least getting caught). If you have a sense of deja vu, it is because you have seen this story play out before. Just to refresh your memory, here are some memorable rogue traders from times past, with one being famous enough (Nick Leeson) that he had a movie (and not a very good one) made about him.

Do you tell people that you are powerful...or do you show them?

The most important communication you make each day doesn't depend on what you say as much as it how you appear when you say it. Even the brightest minds can fail to reach success if they have horrible nonverbal communication. Unless you're counting on finding the rare blind interviewer, it's therefore important you not only practice the words you'll use to respond, but also how you'll physically present yourself. By the time you have entered the room, shook hands, and sat down, the interviewer already has a preconceived perception of you based nearly entirely off of nonverbal communications.

There are several ways we display nonverbal communication, but for the sake of brevity I'm going to focus on posture. The days of old involving children being taught to balance books on their head or slapped on the wrist if not sitting up straight in their desks is over. While these methods may seem infeasible (perhaps they could balance their iPads instead?) or inhumane in today's world, posture is largely overlooked in our society. Why?

The trading fiasco at JPMorgan Chase has triggered countless articles on regulation, risk, and strategy. Gary Belsky over at Time is taking a different approach.

The recent resignation of female JPM executive Ina Drew prompted Belsky to write this article suggesting more female traders should exist not just for the sake of equality, but because women are in fact better than men at the job.

Do you think women make better traders than men? As a guy, I’m inclined to defend my gender and say no. Here are 5 reasons why Belsky says yes: