In economics, there has always been a big debate about what drives economic growth. In the end, economists have assumed that positive “shocks” to an economy just kind of happen. However, there have been some thinkers who looked inside the black-box and focused on entrepreneurship.

The three most interesting thinkers have to be Max Weber – known was his idea of the “Protestant Work Ethic”  , Joseph Schumpeter – famed for his concept of “Creative Destruction” and Frank Knight who worked on differentiating uncertainty from risk.

I’ll elaborate on each on this podcast.

I hope you find this helpful. You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Deep See With Bilal”. Also make sure to rate and review this podcast and enjoy! 

Bilal

I often think back to Shakespeare's plays for pearls of wisdom on life. One of my favourite pearls is to think of his biggest plays as representing the three stages of life, thus:

Youth represented by Hamlet

Adulthood represented by Macbeth

Old age represented by King Lear

I elaborate on each in this podcast and discuss what we can learn about how to live (or not to live!) our lives accordingly. 

Hope you find this helpful. You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Deep See With Bilal”. Also make sure to rate and review this podcast and enjoy! 

Bilal

We live in an era that worships the individual superstar – whether in the business world think Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Jack Ma or in culture think Luke Skywalker, Batman and Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson. But is it true that superstars make the difference? More specifically should companies focus on hiring stars over other traits?

We have an answer. MIT’s Alex Pentland has conducted extensive studies on individuals and team dynamics in business settings. And the punchline was that the quality of interactions, not the quality of the individuals that mattered. In this podcast, I go through his findings in more detail

I hope you find this helpful. You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Deep See With Bilal”. Also make sure to rate and review this podcast and enjoy! 

Bilal

A regular podcast, where I discuss financial markets and interview thinkers inside and outside of finance. All to help you live a better life.

We tend to think of time in one simple way - that time is an arrow. So we're constantly moving forward. Often this can us feel unhappy with where we are. But there are alternative ways of thinking of time. In this podcast, I discuss four:

Time becomes events. 

Expanded presence.

Cyclical time.  

No past or future. 

Hope you find this helpful. You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Deep See With Bilal”. Also make sure to rate and review this podcast and enjoy! 

Bilal

On this podcast, I talk about pick-pocketing.  I’ve researched the subject and learned how pickpockets operate, how to avoid them and what precautions to take. I’ll share my findings, which include how:

Pickpockets often look at victims shows to assess how wealthy they are

Most acts happen at doors whether on trains or entrances and exits to busy buildings.

The classic technique for a pickpocket is to bump into the victim when the train lurches.

Hopefully, the advice on the podcast will help you avoid a nasty experience while on holiday.

I hope you find this helpful. You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Deep See With Bilal”. Also, make sure to rate and review this podcast and enjoy! 

Bilal

Before starting Macro Hive – my own research business, I worked for over twenty years in large banks. And the finance sector is notorious for being male-dominated. 

As a man, it’s easy to shrug this off, or at best attend a few workshops on implicit bias and think you’ve done your bit. But it doesn’t sit well with me. At a very personal level, I have a daughter I want her to face a level playing field when she enters the workforce.

So, I often think about what can men do to make a difference? Well, I’ve looked at many studies on this subject and found there are four common ways men hold women back at work. In this podcast, I discuss what they are.

I hope you find this helpful. You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Deep See With Bilal”. Also make sure to rate and review this podcast and enjoy! 

Bilal

All my life I’ve been forecasting financial markets – first at big banks like JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Nomura, and now at my own research firm – Macro Hive. Throughout, I’ve always felt like it’s a fool's errand. Can I seriously predict the future? In the end, I make peace with myself that my objective is not always to be right, but to be right more often than being wrong. But more importantly, the fear of being wrong is always driving me to research how to become a better forecaster.

As it happens some of the best work in this area has been done by the American Political scientist Philip Tetlock. He summarised his work in the excellent book called “Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction“. In the book, he lists ten commandments to forecasting well, which include

Focus on questions where your hard work will pay off.

Break big problems into smaller ones. 

Strike the right balance between inside and outside views. 

Strike the right balance between under- and overreacting to evidence. 

Acknowledge the counter-arguments. 

I run through these and the rest in this podcast.

I hope you find this helpful. You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Deep See With Bilal”. Also, make sure to rate and review this podcast and enjoy! 

Bilal

I’m a huge fan of Oscar Wilde. He was the 19th-century Irish poet and playwright and is perhaps the most quoted artist aside from Shakespeare. It helps that he was incredibly witty, but it’s the honesty and truth behind the quotes that have made them endure. So in this podcast, I’m going to share some of his best, including:

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”

“I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.”

“Men always want to be a woman’s first love – women like to be a man’s last romance. “

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”

"Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they judge them. Rarely if ever do they forgive them.”

You can find a more complete list of quotes in this blog.

I hope you find this helpful. You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Deep See With Bilal”. Also make sure to rate and review this podcast and enjoy! 

Bilal

Dale Carnegie was the best-selling author of the 1936 classic. How to Win Friends and Influence People. His other classic written in 1948 was How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.  He wrote it because in his own words he "was one of the unhappiest lads in New York". On this podcast, I run through some of his principles and tips laid out in the book. These include:

“Don’t stew about the future. Just live each day until bedtime”.

The next time trouble hits, think what’s the worst that can happen, mentally prepare for the worst, then calmly try to improve upon the worst

Once decided, act – don’t think about outcomes

“Unjust criticism is often a disguised compliment. It often means you have aroused jealousy and envy”

“Count your blessings – not your problems!”

I hope you find this helpful. You can subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for “Deep See With Bilal”. Also, make sure to rate and review this podcast and enjoy! 

Bilal