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Skin in the Game
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A bold work from the author of The Black Swan that challenges many of our long-held beliefs about risk and reward, politics and religion, finance and personal responsibility
In his most provocative and practical book yet, one of the foremost thinkers of our time redefines what it means to understand the world, succeed in a profession, contribute to a fair and just society, detect nonsense, and influence others. Citing examples ranging from Hammurabi to Seneca, Antaeus the Giant to Donald Trump, Nassim Nicholas Taleb shows how the willingness to accept one’s own risks is an essential attribute of heroes, saints, and flourishing people in all walks of life.
As always both accessible and iconoclastic, Taleb challenges long-held beliefs about the values of those who spearhead military interventions, make financial investments, and propagate religious faiths. Among his insights:
• For social justice, focus on symmetry and risk sharing. You cannot make profits and transfer the risks to others, as bankers and large corporations do. You cannot get rich without owning your own risk and paying for your own losses. Forcing skin in the game corrects this asymmetry better than thousands of laws and regulations.
• Ethical rules aren’t universal. You’re part of a group larger than you, but it’s still smaller than humanity in general.
• Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by stubborn minorities imposing their tastes and ethics on others.
• You can be an intellectual yet still be an idiot. “Educated philistines” have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to Iraq to low-carb diets.
• Beware of complicated solutions (that someone was paid to find). A simple barbell can build muscle better than expensive new machines.
• True religion is commitment, not just faith. How much you believe in something is manifested only by what you’re willing to risk for it.
The phrase “skin in the game” is one we have often heard but rarely stopped to truly dissect. It is the backbone of risk management, but it’s also an astonishingly rich worldview that, as Taleb shows in this book, applies to all aspects of our lives. As Taleb says, “The symmetry of skin in the game is a simple rule that’s necessary for fairness and justice, and the ultimate BS-buster,” and “Never trust anyone who doesn’t have skin in the game. Without it, fools and crooks will benefit, and their mistakes will never come back to haunt them.”
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Reviews
A smattering of interesting ideas obscured by the insufferable style of a man who loves the smell of his own farts.
By Jon Burk
Publisher’s Description “Minorities, not majorities, run the world. The world is not run by consensus but by STUBBORN MINORITIES IMPOSING their TASTES and ETHICS on others.” “YOU can be an INTELLECTUAL yet still be an IDIOT. “EDUCATED PHILISTINES” have been wrong on everything from Stalinism to low-carb diets.” Reviews “ENTITLED MAN WROTE THE BOOK” and “THIS MIGHT BE AMONG THE WORST TYPES OF BOOK” ard “I HAVE NO SKIN IN THIS REVIEW. The idea of the book makes me think about how people used the word exclusive not realizing that they’re of the group the word exclusive applies to. I’d also like to address the fact that the “ethics and tastes” of “minorities” have and always will be a multi-billion dollar industry. These books are evident of that fact regardless of its passive aggressive nature.
By A Black MF Swan
Love the writing style and wealth of knowledge without show of knowledge.
By Bhupendrasinh Thakre
So much to absorb.
By jozabad43
I am from the middle east and appreciate Nassim’s knowledge of the region. His writing style is not my favorite, and the book has so much redundancy—no actual factual point at the end of each chapter.
By dr sogand