Years ago I sat on a trading desk at a major Wall Street firm.
One afternoon I overheard traders talking about what a whale was doing. When a fund that size moves, markets move, and the traders around me positioned on it. Not inside information. Just a small edge that crossed the desk first.
Alone in my basement in front of a trading screen, I’d have read about it later, after the market had already responded.
I’ve been thinking about that trading desk lately.
Every client I have is thinking about AI. Not all of them are acting. The ones willing to experiment will use it to their advantage. The ones who ignore it do so at their own peril.
We’ll look back on this moment and know nothing was the same after.
It is not optional. It is existential.
I hesitated. Twelve weeks means saying no to other things.
But every quarter I walk into a session and something exists that didn’t last time. If I don’t do the work myself, I’m the one left behind.
So I’m going back to school.
This fall I start the MasterClass Executive, a 12-week program built with The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. The founding cohort drew more than 29,000 applications for about 700 seats.
I could learn AI alone at a desk, staring at my navel. I want the trading floor instead: leaders from different industries and countries showing each other what’s working. A community of practice.
I don’t want to become another AI expert. I want to be the 12th man on my clients’ teams, with a point of view I earned by doing the work.
Wisdom is only worth something when you share it.
Grateful to David Rogier, Mandar Bapaye, and the MasterClass team for building it.
What’s the best thing you ever learned just by sitting close to the right people?
Stay Curious,
JBS