Mike Lipkin – Academic, Consultant, and Champion Player
- Introduction: Academic in chemistry and mathematics, senior trader on Wall Street, accomplished bridge player.
- Early passions in science and chess.
Podcast
Overview
Welcome to a fascinating episode of The Brand Called You, where host Frits Bussemaker sits down with Mike Lipkin—a man whose career has spanned MIT’s academic halls, Wall Street’s trading floors, and competitive bridge tournaments. Whether you’re curious about physics, finance, or card games, this episode has insights for all.
00:00 – Who Is Mike Lipkin?
- Introduction: Academic in chemistry and mathematics, senior trader on Wall Street, accomplished bridge player.
- Early passions in science and chess.
- What connects science, trading, and bridge?
02:12 – How Did Mike’s Academic Journey Begin?
- Early admission to MIT due to outgrowing high school curriculum.
- Double major in math and chemistry, love for exploring outside core subjects.
- Progression from undergraduate to postdocs at Cornell.
06:12 – What Inspired Mike to Start Teaching?
- First teaching experiences at Cornell in statistical mechanics.
- Motivation: Enjoyment in challenging young minds, simplifying complex concepts.
08:03 – How Did Mike Transition from Academia to Wall Street?
- The effect of politics: Loss of academic funding during Reagan era.
- Serendipity: A bridge connection leads to entry into options trading.
- The bridge–trading link: Wall Street’s “bridge group” at Bear Stearns, with world-class games players recruited as traders.
13:28 – When Did Mike Start Playing Bridge, and Did It Shape His Career?
- Early family exposure to bridge driven by his mother.
- Never envisioned as a professional connection, but skills proved vital for trading.
- The importance of quick decision-making and estimating values as common ground between games and trading.
17:57 – Should Young People Learn Strategic Games Like Bridge?
- The difference between modern trading and earlier eras.
- Mike’s teaching focus has shifted to “Event Driven Finance.”
- Insight: Games skills can trump traditional academic backgrounds in trading environments.
20:47 – What’s Behind the Book “Invitation to Annihilation”?
- Not an instructional bridge manual, but a guide to maximizing opponents’ mistakes through strategic ambiguity.
- Real-world analogy and connection to business: Managing information asymmetry.
27:48 – What Were Mike’s Biggest “Aha!” Moments?
- Discovering feedback mechanisms in trading, leading to published papers.
- The interplay between financial markets and academic modeling.
RESOURCES:
Learn more about Mike Lipkin: Linkedin
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Profile
- Introduction: Academic in chemistry and mathematics, senior trader on Wall Street, accomplished bridge player.
- Early passions in science and chess.
- What connects science, trading, and bridge?
