“Meeting adjourned!” the chairman announces. In one swift move, I’m out of my chair and walking toward the door ahead of the other board members when I hear my name, and there’s no mistaking that voice.

“The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet” is attributed to Damon Runyon, who wrote about Broadway in the 1940s. Some investors use this as a guiding principle for predicting winners and losers....