As we approach the turn of the calendar year, I have my own set of rituals that prepare me for the new year. Last week, was my data week, where I download and analyze data on all publicly traded companies, listed anywhere in the world, and I will post extensively on what the numbers look like after a most tumultuous year. I also start thinking about my passion, which is teaching, the spring semester to come, and the classes that I will be teaching, repeating a process that I have gone through every year since 1984, my first year as a teacher. And as always, I invite you come along for the ride.
What I teach…
For a class to resonate and be remembered, it has to be more than a collection of topics, and with each of my classes there is a core narrative that animates and connects the class sessions. If you were to ask me what that narrative was for each of my classes, here is how I would respond.
- Corporate Finance: Corporate finance is the development of the first financial principles that govern how to run a business. It is that mission that makes corporate finance the ultimate big picture class, one that everyone (entrepreneurs, investors, analysts, business observers) should take. If it looks like I am over reaching, I start my corporate finance class with the simple proposition that any decision that involves money is a corporate finance decision, and by that definition everything (Read more…)