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Harvard's Judgment Professor: Why Numbers Don't Make Decisions, People Do

13 Sep 2026 · 20 min

Investors pour over income statements and cash flow trends — but the person deciding what happens to those numbers next matters more, and it's the thing almost nobody knows how to evaluate. Motley Fool's Rachel Warren sits down with Reza Satchu, HBS senior lecturer and six-time company founder, to unpack why judgment — not intellect or data — is the scarcest asset in the age of AI, whether it can actually be taught, and the real story behind walking away from a billion-dollar buyout offer on his student housing company, only to sell it a year later for $1.7 billion.

Host: Rachel Warren

Guest: Reza Satchu

Producers: Dennis Golin, Lauren Budabin

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