Sloane Payne and Dave Joerger – Why Culture Matters (EP.500)
Episode publishedPodcast: Capital Allocators – Inside th...Capital Allocators – Inside the Institutional Investment Industry
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I wish people understood how simple it is to run a good business. And by that, I mean, you gotta measure things. You have to hold people accountable. But doing it systematically and systemically, I think, is a fool's errand. And instead, this idea of treat people really well, be generous, over trust them before they think they're ready, show them that you trust them, be honest, be candid, make work feel safe, make mistakes feel safe, celebrate errors, encourage people to learn and get better. It's just not that hard. And be curious. You know what? And sometimes we fuck up. Sometimes I'm actual
It sounds so cliche. We start talking about these values together, but the company is still made up of people. It's just people that you're trying to get through the day and perform better inch by inch. And all you have to ask yourself is how can I make this person better? Forget the company, forget the entity, forget the structure, just focus on the person. And what would make that person do something great? And that's all you have to focus on. All the other pieces form themselves when you focus all that purpose behind the people as opposed to the entity. It sounds cliche, but it works.
I'm Ted Seides, and this is Capital Allocators. Today's show is episode number 500. Although, technically, it's actually the five hundred and eighty third episode. I thought it fitting to mark the occasion with an exploration of why culture matters in an investment organization. The guests on today's show are Sloane Payne and Dave Jerner, COO and CCO of WCM Investment Management. A firm I've chronicled over the years with a remarkable culture that's fueled its growth to a $120,000,000,000 in assets under management. This special conversation was hosted by Scott McDonald on our affiliate invest
Sloane and Dave, thanks for joining me today. Dave, why don't we start with you? Give us your quick background, and then let's jump right in.
Well, I don't know how I'm still here because I was the first lawyer that WSIM hired. You can imagine that WSIM was probably in operations for close to gosh. I mean, was started in 1976 way back in the day. When I came on board, they were running billions of dollars and hadn't had a single in house counsel doing anything. Ironically, I wasn't even brought in to be the lawyer guy. I was a lawyer guy. I was working for a humongous law firm hating my life, billing my life in every six minute increments as all the lawyers know they have to do. I took a leap of faith when I decided I just did not w
were like,
you should probably maybe blend you into a little bit of legal work just to make sure we're signing out what we think we're signing up for.
And you weren't even a fund formation lawyer, which is where you typically come from.
That's right. Yeah. I had no experience in the investment advisor space. I was a commercial litigator for seven years going to trial, had some experience doing banking type litigation. But if you saw my resume, any other company and want to hire me for this role, I would not have met the first layer with you. But that's the special thing about this place is that we don't necessarily look for those orthodox competencies. It's character above everything. You have to be smart. You have to be super intelligent. But once you establish yourself in that way, everything else that you bring to the tabl
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