Preface
The Great Recession of 2008 to 2010 demonstrated the power that macroeconomic and financial forces have to alter the risks and rewards that frame choices for both private and public sector decision makers. Moreover, these forces completely overwhelmed the complex, micro mathematical strategies that were the rage at many institutions. Many books about decision making, finance, and economics, especially textbooks, are more like cookbooks–they tell you how to prepare a specific meal, step by step, but not teach the fine art of being the gracious host who leads the guests through a wonderful evening. Most technique-oriented business strategy books are not reader-friendly for those who must make real world decisions. The focus of many of those writings is almost exclusively on fine techniques of micromanagement, while ignoring the reality of the broader set of macro scenarios faced by actual decision makers involving the many changes in economic growth, finance, and globalization that are ongoing in our world. Is it any wonder that failure and surprise accompany the economic shocks of the day? Our finest financial engineers fail in the face of real world change.
This book is drawn from both my professional and teaching experience. In college undergraduate and graduate business courses, many students are given laundry lists of techniques for solving specific problems, with each problem treated as an isolated case. The breadth of factors that impact an economy and how to place ...
