Answered raw tape
D 5 · C 5 · P 5 · Cm 4 4.85
Q Well, you write in the memo about how this came to be of the two of you collaborating over the pandemic, but maybe here to recap on the podcast, how did this amazing thing happen of a father son writing this incredible piece of work together?
A Well, Nancy and I came to California on March the sixth of 2020. Oaktree was scheduled to have a conference for its clients on the 11th. Although we canceled the conference, we did record it at the conference venue. For live streaming, and so we were in L.A., which of course is Oaktree's headquarters. Andrew and his family came out on the 13th and moved in with us, and we stayed that way for, I think, until June. So we were incarcerated together, and first of all, we have fun talking about what we do and kidding each other, and we have a lot of differences. We're not the same person. Andrew's business is different from mine, and his General mindset is different. What he learned 40 years after I learned what I learned initially, hopefully still learning, both of us. So there were a lot of instances of differences, and that made for a very spirited period, and I hope a spirited memo.
AI assessment note: “Andrew and his family came out on the 13th and moved in with us”
Answered raw tape
D 5 · C 5 · P 5 · Cm 4 4.85
Q One thing I've certainly learned in my career is that being a great investor is a very challenging proposition and an activity that can easily be one's life work. Building a great investment firm is a very different challenge. It's very rare that people can be great at both of those, and it's also not a Second challenge to take on lightly. How did each of you think of this?
A Well, having spent my first 17 years at Citibank, which is a management intensive bureaucracy, I was pretty good at those things. I was not a guy who started in a garage, you know, and so processes and deliberateness were right up my alley. But on the other hand, we started Oak Tree at a time when the quest for alternative investments was extremely strong. The demand, I think, outstripped the supply. Most people kind of gave up on getting the returns they need from stocks and bonds. So we had a big tailwind, and what Bruce and I did for the most part is create a culture. We didn't ever have a macro managing, micro managing mentality. We were too busy. It was not our day job to run the company. We did that as a sideline and it wasn't management intensive. So we weren't great on the profit margins, but they kind of took care of themselves and we were haphazard about compensation. You know, we kind of respond to the last person to walk in the door, but the right culture at the right time With I think some exceptional people was enough to make the company a success, even though it was largely an unguided missile in terms of management.
AI assessment note: “what Bruce and I did for the most part is create a culture.”
