Book excerpt: Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The world is undergoing paradigm shifts on multiple fronts: political, geopolitical, generational, and technological. What these changes are and their implications for the future are beyond the scope of this book. #2 In 1986, my father joined General Export, a conglomerate that controlled 12 to 13 percent of Yugoslav foreign trade and nearly a third of Serbian trade with the rest of the world. The company was based on pure geopolitical alpha. But when the Soviet Union collapsed, so did Genex’s entire corporate strategy. #3 The same can be said for investors. The training, certifications, and experience they gained during the past 35 years have woefully underprepared investors for the geopolitical paradigm shifts occurring. #4 Politics and geopolitics have long played a role in investment and business decisions, and have done so for centuries. However, today the curricula of most MBA programs and the CFA curriculum ignore these factors.