Market Mover

September 1, 2019

Weekday in and out, most newscasts give a market report: stocks are up, down, or unchanged. While many people are interested in this information, far fewer are curious about its source. In his first book, Greifeld details the ins and outs of how the NASDAQ market index makes this reporting possible. He tells two intertwined stories. First, he explains the business role of the market exchange and how changes in technology, law, oversight, and politics shape the playing field on which the exchanges operate. Second, he relates the role of market leaders in forming focus, thrust, and the environment of NASDAQ. Greifeld recounts his experiences from his initial interview and heading NASDAQ in 2003 to his departure in 2016. Of particular note is the author's ability to explain effectively how to evaluate acquisitions in terms of four risks: core business, geographic, cultural, and size/headcount. For a counterpoint to Greifeld, now chair of Virtu Financial, one should consider Michael Lewis's Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt. VERDICT An intriguing perspective on the intersections of IT, management, and finance.--Steven Silkunas, Fernandina Beach, FL

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2019
Tales of financial wonder from the former CEO of Nasdaq. Founded in 1971, Nasdaq was meant to bring "order and fairness" to the chaotic over-the-counter stock trading system, posting information regularly so traders didn't have to make separate phone calls to keep buy-sell price quotes current but instead could call in only to make an actual trade. Where the New York Stock Exchange reigned supreme, Nasdaq came to specialize in technology--"the public-market parent to hundreds of promising children" that were too young to qualify for listing on the larger market. As Greifeld notes, representing technology also meant leveraging it, developing systems that sometimes lent themselves to gaming (think Michael Lewis' Flash Boys). Those systems in turn were built by people in "jeans and sandals, not coats and ties," who didn't quite fit into the tidy corporate culture that the financial world represented. After wrestling with this violation of his rule of "cultural consistency," Greifeld concluded that it was best to let the nerds have their way. The emphasis on consistency is well placed: As the author notes, Nasdaq, being highly regulated and central to the equity market generally, had to be at once innovative and reliable. The "disruptive innovation" that came with instances such as Facebook's IPO proved a great test, as did the financial collapse that led to the great recession a decade ago, a scarifying event. "We all stared into the collective abyss in 2008," writes Greifeld." Anyone who took a good look into that dark and deep chasm, and came back from the brink, has not forgotten the view." Most of the book is more upbeat than all that, peppered with "leadership lessons" along the lines of, "If you've been doing your job as a leader, you should be developing most of the talent you need in-house" and, "As long as you're headed in the right direction, it's less important how fast you are going." Good reading for fiscal wonks, especially those with an interest in financial technology and information systems.

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September 15, 2019
From 2003 through 2016, Greifeld served as CEO of Nasdaq, guiding the stock exchange through years of tumultuous change in the financial markets. Having been an entrepreneur who had created an early ECN (Electronic Communications Network), his experience perfectly matched the challenge of moving Nasdaq into the new online model of price quotes and lightning-fast transactions. One of his earliest goals was to stop playing second fiddle to the venerable NYSE (New York Stock Exchange). Chapters that move through the changes implemented in his years at the head of Nasdaq always end with useful pointers for leaders. He details his early personnel decisions, his overhaul of outdated technology, acquisitions of companies that furthered Nasdaq's goals, and the many interesting and influential people (such as Steve Jobs and Donald Trump) he met and worked with over the years. He does not shy away from his regrets, one of them being the disastrous Facebook IPO in 2012, always emphasizing what it taught him. Told with erudition and verve, this is a guide for CEOs and business leaders.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)