#8 Courage
What Makes an Investor Out of an Allocator?
From a Yellow Brick Road, just past the Avenue of Giants, the CIO of the Oz pension fund joins a merry band of misfits in search of… Courage. And, as luck would have it, he finds it.
What makes an investor out of an allocator?Â
Courage.
What makes sovereign wealth funds’ in-house teams the stuff of managers’ scary dreams?Â
Courage.Â
What takes politics, personal careers, and fears over peers out of investment decisions?Â
Courage.Â
Why does a pension pay its staff millions instead of its managers billions?
Courage.Â
What leads a sovereign fund to fire its fund-of-funds?Â
Courage.
What allows an endowment to leverage its unique endowments? Or pushes foundations to reconsider their foundation?
Courage.
What takes the stain from sustainability? Puts some welcome dents in rules demanding prudence?Â
Courage.
What provides true insight into the difference between net and gross returns?
Courage.Â
What puts the risk back in returns? Puts the long back in long term? Cuts the line to alignment?Â
Courage.
What drives courageous people to call their courageous actions… common sense?
Courage.Â
What do CIOs need that so many ain’t got?Â
Courage!Â
You can say that again…Â
Ashby Monk is the executive and research director of the Stanford Global Projects Center.