Finite and Infinite Games and I Just Saw The Future...It Was Not In America - Sunday Reads and Listens

Good morning

I have spent the weekend in New York eating and walking and eating and eating and eating with Rachel, my sister Robyn and her three kids, my nieces and nephew, Jordy, Sami and Jake…

Last night we went to Emmett’s on Grove and it was delicious. Great pizzas, great burger and great mixed drinks (says Rachel and my nieces).

I’m working all day today putting some finishing touches on our Stocktwits Cashtag Awards this Wednesday night at The Stand, in Union Square. Over 300 people will be attending.

I’m having lunch today with Etoro founder and CEO Yoni Assia, our lead sponsor for the event. We have some incredible prizes for the ‘Cashtag’ award winners from Ari Soho., LA Golf, Komos Tequila and Manscaped.

Onward…

Walking with Rachel this weekend, we got talking as about life, business and trends in America. Rachel is 27.

She senses the changes at hand with AI and a possible slowdown and wants to know what it all could mean.

I want to know what it all could mean!

My best advice is to become fluent in the use of AI because if she is not, the person using AI will replace her. My nephew Jake in PR loves Claude and has a tab open all the time for Chat GPT.

My other advice is generally boring and she has heard it for the last 15 years…the sooner you get more specific with the role, career, job, industry you want to work in the better (there is no rule on when you discover this but the lucky ones figure it out), and then take any opening you can get. Optimize for mentorship and responsibility and a company that is growing fast, not salary or title.

Along these lines, I was watching the Bill Gurley and Brad Gerstner business and technology podcast this weekend and Gurley brought up ‘finite and infinite games’.

Here is the whole podcast. Below is the 5 minute clip on ‘finite and infinite games’…

A couple articles and interviews Bill brings up I have linked to here below…

Thomas Friedman - I Saw The Future. It Was Not n America.

Niall Ferguson - Will The Trade War Become a Real War.

In this weeks Trends With Friends with the excellent investor Jeff Richards, I brought up Ben Hunt’s amazing read ‘Wall Street’s NOT So Golden Rule’. My advice during the episode was NOT to panic and follow the advice, but to read so you can understand what possible chain of reactions look like when Wall Street smells fear and a potential carcass. Ben and I have seen this countless times.

NOTE - for paywall articles above you can use - archive.ph and drop the link

Some other great reads this week…

Apple and the ghosts of companies past from Ben Thompson.

America’s disruption…also Ben Thompson

Capitulation Nation - Andy Kessler

Have a great Sunday.