What We’re Reading: Alphas and Armenia

Geopolitical Alpha: An Investment Framework for Predicting the Future By Marko Papic Back when folks could still meet for drinks in a hotel lobby, I found myself in a conversation with the owner of a small holdings company. After we spoke about our respective professions, he stared at me blankly and asked, “And? What’s your value-add?” It felt like a scene out of “Office Space,” where corporate downsizers asked, “What would you say you do here?” We both left unimpressed with each other. My encounter speaks to the gap between financial market analysis and geopolitical analysis. Folks from one profession tend to talk past the other, as my chat ably showed. “Geopolitical Alpha” by Marko Papic helps bridge this gap. Papic goes beyond delivering an investment framework for predicting the future; he reframes how investors can identify and use the oft-promised “actionable intelligence.” He even-handedly addresses the shortcomings of those working in finance as well as those in consulting, explaining how this causes communication problems between the two. More important, he provides a solution. For investors, he prescribes concrete criteria for how to evaluate and think about data streaming in from consultants to ensure those that have value are fully […]