Market Mover

Market Mover, Lessons From A Decade Of Change At Nasdaq, by Robert Greifeld, Grand Central Publishing, 2019 

            Any moment reflecting on the past is a moment you're not focused on the future.

The "other" stock trading exchange, Nasdaq, is more than a digital display. When this new trading machine made its debut, because it was non-traditional and didn't cover the biggies, we didn't know what to expect.  But Robert Greifeld in 2003 took on this new challenge.  For 13 years he led Nasdaq through a series of complex and innovative acquisitions during the company's high growth period.  Revenue quadrupled, operating profits multiplied by more than 24 times annually, and during his tenure the market value reached over $11 billion.  And he was an English major at Iona College ( an MBA from NYU followed.)!

What are the big lessons  from Greifeld's leadership?  To an outsider, the obvious answer is that it was time for tech to move into Wall Street, and Greifeld understood that.  Deal-making mattered for new companies.  The Nasdaq Board was notable for its ties to the technology industry, and that helped build its speed and reach.  With connections to Fairchild Semiconductor and Apple, as well as Cisco and other Silicon Valley and East Coast leaders, Nasdaq was well-positioned to support transition, rapid movement, and a growing reliance on data and analytics.  Greifeld quotes John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco and a longtime Nasdaq customer, saying ultimately "you compete against market transitions, not against other companies.  If you don't stay focused on figuring out what's happening in the market, it doesn't matter if you win a few battles here or there... Disruption can quickly lead to self-destruction if you misread the market and end up fighting the current."

Greifeld inherited in 2003 a U.S. economy described by one economist as "nervous, anxious, and waiting."  Although the Dow topped 10,000 for the first time in a year and a half, and markets were moving up, that same year American troops moved into Iraq, and people were uncomfortable about the future.  Greifeld took on the opportunity in the face of the Bernie Madoff scandal, Facebook's crazy IPO and other global disruptions.  Yet, he had volunteered for this challenge and he chose not to abandon it in the midst of upheavals. Coupled with his vision for market and financial technology, as CEO he valued good leaders and visionary work.  From his front-line vantage point revolutionizing the tech financial world, he anticipated more disruptions ahead.