If you ever have the chance to see Alan Greenspan do an hour of improptu Q&A in front of any audience (in this case 500 business people in Denver), do it. I went to the AMG National Trust Bank sponsored event today at the Denver Art Museum titled “Art, Alan and AMG.” It was awesome.
AMG and the Denver Art Museum were superb hosts. Greenspan was amazing. He stood up for most of an hour and took random Q&A from the audience. His answers were cogent, direct, and powerful. It was fascinating to watch him think for a few seconds and then spit out a comprehensive, well articulated answer to question after question after question.
After fielding a few questions on energy policy and oil, someone asked him a random question about the middle east. Greenspan thought about it for about ten seconds and then succinctly stated “I don’t think I know enough about that particular issue to have a qualified answer.” That was – without a doubt – the most impressive moment of the day.
There are very few people that have enough confidence to respond to a question in front of 500 people that way. I expect Charlie Munger does, but the list gets short quickly. Greenspan won my heart and mind with that one.
Update: The Denver Post has a summary of some of Greenspan’s answers.