The entire premise of The Big Short by Michael Lewis (and the view of our financial system) is summed up precisely in one sentence toward the end of the book:

“I think there is something fundamentally scary about our democracy… because I think people have a sense that the system is rigged, and it’s hard to argue that it isn’t.”

If you don’t read the book, an article in Vanity Fair sums up how Michael Burry spotted this subprime market bubble back in 2004 and created a way to bet against it.

I recently had a great conversation with a good friend on our way to go mountain biking one weekend concerning the book, business school and the current state of our economy almost three years after it nearly blew up in 2008. He happens to be a bond trader. While there’s always room for optimism, there’s still a machine out there constantly working away from what’s right. The machine builds complex financial instruments for certain structured opportunities, but they always tend to fuel the operators who steer it in the wrong direction.

We all come across people every now and then who share our last name, but it’s not that often when someone really captures your attention and you find yourself wondering if you could indeed be related.

I had no idea that Roy Spence was the founder of GSD&M, one of the mega advertising agencies that I admire based in Austin, TX.  Same industry. Same interests.  Hmmm.  Regardless if there is any kinship, I came across his book It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For published early last year, and it is now on my books to read list.

His website for the book features an interview from Entrepreneur magazine.

“Every time I’m around someone who’s in the business of improving people’s lives verses making money, I’m enriched and I say ‘I want to be more like them,’” Spence says.

When times are good, Spence says, people can make money with average products. But under trying economic conditions, when wallets are shut, entrepreneurs must show that their businesses have value. “Today, if you can’t prove to your customers that your product or service improves their life, they don’t have time for you,” Spence says.