Skin in the Game

Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life

By: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Narrated by: Joe Ochman

Number-one New York Times best seller

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 asymmetrically 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 have 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."

©2018 Nassim Nicholas Taleb (P)2018 Random House Audio

Better off read than heard

There's a lot in here that should be read over and mulled over to fully appreciate the author's message. I stopped half way because I'd much rather read it and carefully consider the author's conjectures rather than taking them for granted. I gave the performance a 2 because there were times when the reader added his own tone to the text.

Excellent Work. Not sure why so many detractors.

A good and necessary capstone in the incerto series - perhaps the most important book as it draws real world implications from the building blocks of the previous three.

I am not sure why there are so many negative comments, other than perhaps a modern aversion, bordering on cowardice, to strongly argued points. Calling out Thomas Friedman by name for being wrong about almost every major trend in his career - including support for the war in Iraq that ended the lives of the 10000s and helped plunge the middle east into chaos? Heaven forbid we should be so impolite as to suggest that someone of his repute literally has blood on his hands and still parades around in his hubris and ignorance? Meanwhile principled detractors and critics like Chris Hedges are forced out of their jobs and utterly marginalized for speaking the truth from a position of first-hand knowledge and experience.

Nassim Taleb has a particularly salient understanding of the world and does not pull punches. We need more people like him in order to break through the self-serving complacency of our supposed "intellectual" class, which has been leading the U.S. into one military, political and economic disaster after another.

Turn off CNN, put down the NYT and go outside and look around you.

Another brilliant book by Taleb!

A great followup to Antifragile, although can easily be enjoyed without first reading Antifragile. It is always fun to hear Taleb tear into the Expert Yet Idiots. I wish more folks would read his books and realize that experts aren't nearly as perceptive as they seem.

Excellent description on what's going on now

I love reading books written by Mr Taleb as he describes the essence of what really is happening around the world. Although I have encountered concepts in the book which are difficult to grasp at first sight, I still enjoyed the parts that I understand. Highly recommend to everyone who wants to live well and robust in life

More about Agency issues than Investing

A continuation of Anti-Fragile and speaks a lot about having awareness of Agent's having different agenda's than you and how to sheild yoursell from them. Agent could be anyone who advises or represents others on a subject. Could be anyon from a realestate agent to a financial advisor, to a politician, to a religeous leader. Doesn't have a lot investing or the barbell strategy that the cover would lead you to believe. More about making sure agents have skin in the game to align agenda's with yours.

Listening to a bully....

Unfortunately, I was so distracted by the author’s complete lack of emotional intelligence, narcissism, and meandering diatribes, that whatever message he was trying to convey, I found myself incapable of paying attention to his punchline. He seems mean, troll-like and likely reflects insecurity or delayed emotional development.

Great addition to your worldview

The culmination of Taleb's Incerto series. This is a worthwhile read for everyone that explains the asymmetry in a manner that is simultaneously intellectually high-brow and feet-in-the-dirt grounded in real life. Though to confess, I'm still not totally sure what ergodicity is...

Perspective Changing Book

Love it or hate it, "Skin In The Game " is a perspective changing book. I have altered my behavior as a result.

interesting insights

very interesting views and conclusions as always but times where taleb has more surface rambles than digging deeper into his thoughts which would have been nicer

probably better to read

on audible you don't have any of the graphs to look at while listening. still condescendingly wonderful