David Booth Lectures Anderson on Leadership, B-School and Behavioral Econ
David Booth, chairman and co-CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors and benefactor of The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, sat down with UCLA Anderson School of Management Dean Judy Olian for a Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series on January 29.
Booth lectured students present for the event on the topics of leadership, management principles and principles learned by experience before opening of the floor for questions in a Q&A session.
On leadership, Booth explained it as a matter of several principles:
“Leadership is about achieving most of what’s achievable based upon your goals and available resources,” he said. “Part of leadership is being able to charge full-speed ahead without knowing exactly where you’re headed.”
Booth also explained how a good business leader must train people to accept outcomes as they are.
“A lot of things are outside of your control,” Booth said.
Booth also related to his audience of students by discussing his time in business school. He said there were four principles that have ben especially helpful as head of his own company: comparative advantage, consumer surplus, profit maximization and the principles of the demand curve.
After fielding questions from Olian and students, the talk ended with Booth tackling the ways in which behavioral economics relate to the idea of the efficient market. Booth said DFA uses behavioral ideas all the time.
“Behavioral economics tells us a lot about how we should present fact to clients. It answers, ‘How should we educate people?’ And it informs how we present our materials.”
