Financial Darwinism: Create Value or Self-Destruct in a World of Risk.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: Brief article - Book review

Financial Darwinism: Create Value or Self-Destruct in a World of Risk. By Leo M. Tilman. Wiley & Sons, 172 pages. $29.95.

Leo Tilman, who heads his own strategic advisory firm, has clearly thought long and hard about the earthshaking changes in the financial world, and what a more optimal business model might be. Much of the book, in fact, is quite technical, with a series of equations and tables that delve deeply into econometric theory. As such, it may be a tad esoteric for the casual reader.

But give Tilman his due. He offers some sharp observations, such as: "Time-tested strategies are being threatened by disruptive technologies and globalization. Financial crises that are deemed 'once-in-a-lifetime' by financial models seem to be occurring with an alarming regularity. Sensationalist news headlines and prognostications of financial pundits are obscuring, rather than illuminating, the reality."

Essentially, the author finds that extreme pressures on margins...