Money, Market Forces, and Monocularism: Michael Lewis Speaks to the Upper School

New Orleanians know Lewis as a hometown celeb and author of the novel The Blind Side, which was adapted into the Academy Award-nominated movie by the same name. However, the Newman community knows him as a Newman Alum and author of Coach, based on Coach Fitzgerald, as well as several other books. His most recent book, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, details how a number of investors, and one offbeat individual, made billions of dollars betting against the market in the recent mortgage collapse.

Introduced by Head of School T.J. Locke, Lewis sat down for an informal interview with Anne Konigsmark, who herself is a journalist, author, and English teacher at Newman. The Upper School audience listened intently while Lewis talked about heading to college and then Wall Street. Along the way, he became a reluctant expert on outsiders, outliers and the socially maladjusted who are often behind-the-scenes movers and shakers.

Chance plays a big part in Lewis’s books, whether it’s the game of chance we call the stock market, the chance-plus-skill of the sports world, or the random chance that brought him into an old friend’s living room, where he met Michael Oher who was on his way to becoming a pro football player.

He also talked a bit to the students about writing. He said to the students looking toward a career in journalism, “Don’t want to be a writer, just write.” He also stressed that writing must make you happy, adding,"If it’s not giving you pleasure while you’re doing it, you’re probably not suited for it." Those with true passion must be ready to “overcome some discouraging advice.” Recounting some of his early successes and failures, he added some brief suggestions for getting into the business: "Write. Read. And try to submit."

After an hour of speaking and answering student questions, Lewis spent some time walking the halls and reminiscing with Coach Fitzgerald and other former teachers and friends before receiving the 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Award.  Click here to read that story.