Syllabus: Investment Reflections from a Hedge Fund Career: Mindset and Meditation as Competitive
Advantage (7/7/14 Version, Approved)
1. Sept 25: The Big Myth of Reality
● Meditation exercise: natural object as support
● Text: The Art of Power - Chapter 1. Thich Nhat Hanh (2007, HarperCollins).
● Media: Ray Dalio on Meditation: http://vimeo.com/50999847
2. Oct 2: An Investment Case from Scout Capital [STZ]– Part I
● Meditation exercise: breath as support
● Text: “The Superinvestors of Graham and Doddsville” – Warren Buffett (1984, Columbia
Business School Magazine).
3. Oct 9: An Investment Case from Scout Capital [STZ] - Part II
● Meditation exercise: breath as support (variations)
● Text: “The Great Divide over Market Efficiency” – Asness/Liew (2014, Institutional
Investor).
4. Oct 16: How Good Investors Address Their Shortcomings
● Meditation exercise: body scan
● Text: Scout Capital Letter to Investors - Q1 2009
● Media: “Happiness, free enterprise, and human flourishing: A special online event
featruring His Holiness the Dalai Lama – Panel 1: Moral Free Enterprise : Economic
perspectives in business and politics (Dan Loeb Panelist) -
http://www.aei.org/events/2014/02/20/happiness-free-enterprise-and-human-
flourishing-a-special-online-event-featuring-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama/ (PART 1)
5. Oct 23: What Do We Know About Meditation?
● Meditation exercise: body scan (variations)
● Text: Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love and Wisdom –
Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. Rick Hanson (2009, New Harbinger).
● Media: “Magic of Awareness – Awakening our True Nature” – Anam Thubten, Talk
http://www.dharmaseed.org/teacher/335/talk/20645
6. Oct 30: How, Exactly, Does Meditation Help with Investing?
● Meditation exercise: tbd.
● Text: The Art of Power - Chapter 3. Thich Nhat Hanh (2007, HarperCollins).
7. Nov 6: Case: Mastercard Investment
● Meditation exercise: tbd.
● Text: The Outsiders – Chapter [tbd]. Will Thorndike (2012, Harvard Business Review
Press).
8. Nov 13: Career Paths in Investing - no assignment
● Meditation exercise: tbd.
● Text: “A Lesson on Elementary, Worldly Wisdom as it Relates to Investment
Management & Business “– Charles Munger. Speech to USC Business School, 1994.
● Guest Speaker: [David Sanford. ]
9. Nov 20: Deep Dive Into Meditation
● Meditation exercise: compassion practice, led by Guest speaker: Leah Weiss, PhD.
● Text: [Pema Chodron tbd Leah]
● Media: [Pema Chodron tbd Leah]
10. Dec 4: Class Reflection
● Meditation exercise: meditation without a support
OUTTAKES: OPTIONAL READING AND THINGS I CONSIDERED INCLUDING BUT DIDN’T
11. Meditation Books:
● The Magic of Awareness, Anam Thubten (2012, Snow Lion)
● complete reading of The Art of Power, Thich Nhat Hanh
● Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence, Daniel Goleman (2013, Harper)
12. Investing: The Berkshire Hathaway Investor Letters, by Warren Buffett
13. Random Walk
● Text
i. A Random Walk Down Wall Street – Preface, Chapter 1, Chapter 6, Chapter 7.
Burton G. Malkiel (2012, Tenth Edition, W. W. Norton)
14. Behavioral Finance
● Text
i. “Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases” – Tversky and Kahneman
(Science, New Series, Vol. 185, No 4157; Sep.. 27, 1974; pp. 1124-1131).
ii. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Chapter 3. Robert Cialdini (2006,
Collins).
iii. “Charlie Munger on the Psychology of Human Misjudgment” – Harvard 1995
