“Risk is everywhere, and we all need to manage it wisely. This book teaches you to manage risk as a highly proficient and articulate investment professional does. Karen Firestone shares her copious experience in a series of useful and engaging examples.”
—Ben Shapiro
Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing, Emeritus
at the Harvard Business School
“There is no other book like Even the Odds. It is a must-read for every MBA student launching a career and every midcareer professional contemplating what is next. This book spans risk/reward tradeoffs with uncommon candor, clarity, and cleverness. It blends Warren Buffet’s wisdom with the engaging personal appeal of Oprah Winfrey. Written by one of the world’s most successful and witty money managers, this book adroitly navigates the opportunities in the turmoil of markets and money as well as in the complexities of love, family, and community life. Unlike the biographical reflections of most CEOs and public officials, Firestone reveals missteps showing the lessons of resilience and how to detect dangerous mischief of others.”
—Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld
Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies
Lester Crown Professor of Leadership Practice
Yale School of Management
and author of Firing Back and The Hero’s Farewell
“Even the Odds is an eloquently written exploration of multiple facets of risk. By mixing risk management theory, business anecdotes, and her personal life story, Karen Firestone has created a highly readable book on a subject relevant to everyone.”
—Lord Adair Turner
former Chairman of the UK Financial Services Authority
and author of Between Debt and the Devil
“Karen Firestone has produced a very thoughtful, articulate, and eminently readable book on how to think creatively about risk and deal with our uncertain world. I particularly enjoyed her anecdotes and vignettes on specific case studies of both personal and financial risk-taking, which include her blunt assessment of both successes and mistakes. She is persuasive in providing examples of how a more systematic assessment of risk might lead to better decisions and outcomes.”
—Edward H. Ladd
Chairman Emeritus and CFA
Standish Mellon Asset Management
“Even The Odds: Sensible Risk-Taking in Business, Investing, and Life is Karen Firestone’s experience utilizing her personal courage and critical analytical sense to navigate through the riptides of the waters of billion dollar investments, take on the risks inherent in becoming CEO of an investment firm at the height of one of the nation’s most historic financial collapses, and now help guide others through the uncertainties of their own risks.”
—Peter Gammons
writer, journalist, and analyst
at the Major League Baseball Network
“Karen Firestone has brilliantly navigated market risk for many years. In Even the Odds, she offers us the gift of her clarity and pragmatism in assessing that risk. By showing us how to ask the right questions and unearth potential pitfalls, this book offers wisdom about how to pursue our dreams without losing our shirts—or our minds—in the process. . . . A smart, gutsy book, written by a smart, gutsy businesswoman.”
—Robin Ely
Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration
Senior Associate Dean for Culture and Community
Harvard Business School
