Enterprising Investor

In episode #388, Kunal Kapoor, CFA, chief executive officer of Morningstar, a leading provider of independent investment research, took the helm of the industry giant in January 2017 after joining the firm as a a data analyst in 1997. In this brief conversation, he shares what has changed and what has stayed the same, why Morningstar launched a family of mutual funds, why ESG and sustainability are important to him, and what he would ask prospective employees if he could only ask one question in the interview. **This conversation was recorded near a construction site, so we apologize for any background noise.**

Episode #387. Cryptocurrency is a fascinating but polarizing topic. In this episode, Meltem Demirors, chief strategy officer at CoinShares, a digital asset manager, helps explain the broader macro context for the rise of bitcoin including economic, political, and social drivers. She discusses macro tailwinds, whether bitcoin is a risk asset or a flight-to-quality asset, Facebook's Libra, and her top three science fiction book recommendations.

In episode #386, Danielle DiMartino Booth, CEO and director of intelligence at Quill Intelligence LLC, a research and analytics firm, and author of FED UP: An Insider's Take on Why the Federal Reserve Is Bad for America, tells us what, if anything, has changed since she wrote her book and shares her views on macro risks to global economic growth, the data she watches most closely, and whether millennials can grow the US economy.

Episode #385. Platform businesses are all around us, but not every technology platform is a platform business. What makes a company a platform business, and how is this business model changing the landscape for trust and governance? What does sound platform governance look like? Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University Stern School of Business, helps answer those questions and explains why platforms are not like democracies but rather like benevolent dictatorships.

In episode #384, Vanguard Center for Investor Research's head of research, Jane E. Henshaw, discusses insights gained through her work and how it may be used to improve investment clientele's customer experience.

In episode #383, world-renowned and best-selling author of the books When, Drive, and a Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink provides insight into how he times key decisions, anticipates possible futures, and simplifies complex subjects. Each subject is also shared by active investment managers.

Episode #382. Named one of the Top 100 Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine for four consecutive years, Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor at Allianz, discusses his top three concerns with respect to the global economy. Touching on unpredictability, divergence among advanced economies, and the interplay of politics and economics, El-Erian also brings in relations between the U.S. and China. Finally, he shares his unique career trajectory and the most important advice he ever received.

In episode #381, Clare Flynn Levy, founder of Essentia Analytics, discusses why solely focusing on performance misses an important point; how top managers are competing for survival of the fittest and why others are missing a trick; and how to mitigate behavioral bias in your own investment process.

In episode #380, Viktor Mayer-Schönberger discusses why he believes that data isn't just the new oil, but an even more important commodity. He believes that it not only greatly enhances markets, but also reshapes the economy. Last, he discusses data's new role and how he believes it has profound implications for the financial services sector and for finance capitalism more generally. The biggest challenge for the data economy is structural, and competition rules are ill suited to address this challenge.

In episode #379, Malcolm White, CFA, discusses the benefits and limitations of artificial intelligence (AI) in active investment management. Subjects include whether AI should be feared or embraced by investment professionals; things AI is good and bad at doing; neural networks; and how to avoid programming bias into algorithms.