Ep. 106: Denise Shull on Emotions as a Dataset and Avoiding Investment Mistakes

Denise Shull is the Founder and CEO of ReThink. In that role, she uses neuroscience and modern psychoanalysis to help clients become successful in investing, trading, and leading teams. She has consulted on the development of Showtime’s BILLIONS, coached Olympic champions, and often appears on CNBC, Bloomberg and in the Wall Street Journal. Before ReThink, Denise worked in finance. She started at one of the first electronic trading firms in Chicago, then traded at Schonfeld Securities before she ran her own desk at Sharpe Capital. Denise holds a Master of Arts from the University of Chicago. Her thesis was cited in 2013 as one of the first papers written about neuropsychoanalysis. In this podcast we discuss: 

1. Why understanding perception, judgment and decision making matters 
2. How your unconscious affects your decision making 
3. The particular challenge of trading and investing in markets 
4. The role of emotions and why we can’t ignore them 
5. Differences between emotions and impulse 
6. Understanding conviction levels 
7. Using intuition over impulse 
8. How to incorporate emotions into your dataset 
9. Traits of successful traders 
10. How to set up a hedge fund 
11. Books that influenced Denise: Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain (Feldman Barret), and The Drama of the Gifted Child (Miller)  

You can learn about Denise’s work here and follow her on Twitter here. 

You can read the full transcript for this podcast here.

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(The commentary contained in the above article does not constitute an offer or a solicitation, or a recommendation to implement or liquidate an investment or to carry out any other transaction. It should not be used as a basis for any investment decision or other decision. Any investment decision should be based on appropriate professional advice specific to your needs.)