Cultural Habit – Mental Models 4 Life

How it Feels to Live in a Current Account Surplus / Deficit Economy

July 22, 2017

The June 30 Quarterly Report from Platinum Asset Management’s European Fund contains some great insights and here’s an excerpt that I find particularly interesting. “Consider for a moment our own experience, as Australians, participating in this economy over the last thirty-odd years: We have enjoyed a period of unprecedented economic stability. We have not experienced … More How it Feels to Live in a Current Account Surplus / Deficit Economy

Pixar on Management

March 19, 2017

With movies like Toy Story, Up, Finding Nemo, and Wall-E, Pixar has left an indelible mark on the world, enriching our personal lives with characters that speak to us at a deeply emotional level. With the publication of the book Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull, Pixar now stand a chance to change our professional lives for the better, … More Pixar on Management

Small Data: The Yin to Big Data’s Yang

December 30, 2016

To be a good scientist and investor, Charlie Munger counsels that we must “Invert, always invert.” It is in this spirit that I picked up the book Small Data: The Tiny Clues that Uncover Huge Trends by Martin Lindstrom earlier this year from Amazon. After spending the last several years evangelising Big Data up and … More Small Data: The Yin to Big Data’s Yang

Black Swans, White Swans

June 11, 2016

I have never warmed up to the use of “black swan” to signify an improbable but impactful event. The very first swan I saw was a resident at the Australian National University. It was naturally a black swan. For years I saw only black swans — there are many of them living all around Canberra. I saw … More Black Swans, White Swans

A Cinema-goer’s Guide to Freedom and Liberty

May 1, 2016

Cinemas everywhere have little hesitation in making movie-goers sit through 15-20 minutes of advertising before each movie. It struck me recently that the amount of eye-rolling one experiences in those 15-20 minutes is actually a pretty good index of a country’s freedom and liberty. In India, one is made to stand and sing the national … More A Cinema-goer’s Guide to Freedom and Liberty

A Guide to Moving to Singapore

April 17, 2016

A friend in Australia was contemplating a move to Singapore and asked me about my experience. We discussed a range of topics — housing, transport, food, work environment, etc — and I’m sharing in this blog piece some practical tips and observations about Singapore while they are still fresh in my mind. Here’s the email to my friend: “The first … More A Guide to Moving to Singapore

Building a Data Science Practice

March 28, 2016

I spent five years working as a consulting data scientist for EMC/Pivotal. In that time, I have had a chance to help several organisations in Asia Pacific set up their data science practices. Most of these organisations are large traditional enterprises with entrenched corporate practices. In each case, I must admit I wasn’t as successful … More Building a Data Science Practice