INVESTING GENERALIST

“In a wicked world, relying upon expertise from a single domain … can be disastrous.” David Epstein

“See a lot, be a generalist. Be security agnostic." Andy Redleaf

“We consider our lack of formal industry specialisation a strength. Without a dedicated retail specialist, for example, we’re less obliged to invest in retail businesses if opportunities seem scarce.” Vinson Walden

“The benefit of being a global generalist is that we’re not forced to do anything. We just need to find the best ideas from a wide universe.” Ed Bosek

“We think more value is added by being generalists and seeing opportunities from a broader perspective. If you have silos, you’re going to own things only within those silos. If you have the broader perspective, you can say, ‘I don’t even like stocks, I’m working on distressed debt,’ or something like that.” Seth Klarman

"There's a certain trade-off with having very narrow expertise. If one focuses on just a very small number of names they can develop a deep understanding of certain companies but may lose perspective of how that opportunity set compares to a broader universe.” Lee Ainslee

“Nomad has as broad an investment mandate as we could imagine. We can for example buy common shares, preferred shares, debt or convertible bonds. In analysing a company we assess the merits of investing in all levels of the capital structure.” Nick Sleep

“One of the reason of my success was open mindedness to various asset classes. It gives you the discipline to not play when you shouldn’t be playing. If you looks at bonds, currency, equities and commodities, if you are involved in a whole bunch of different asset buckets and open-minded you tend to only play when you should.” Stanley Druckenmiller

“We are looking for opportunities and we don’t much care what category they’re in, and we certainly don’t want to have our search for opportunities governed by some predetermined artificial bunch of categories. In this sense, we’re totally out of step with modern investment management, but we think they’re wrong.” Charlie Munger

“I don’t have a preconceived notion about allocation. I let the opportunity dictate where I end up.” Li Lu

"I have no boundaries. I am totally flexible. I am open to everything." Jim Rogers

“There are more tools in Nomad’s box than are available to most fund managers.” Nick Sleep

“We’ve generally been generalists (short sellers). We look all around the globe.” Jim Chanos

"It is a first principle at Whitebox to be ‘security agnostic’: to penetrate the labels like ‘bond’ and ‘stock’ and ‘hybrid’ and assess the real status of a security by the risks and rewards that flow from the combination of economic circumstances and the details of capital structure." Andy Redleaf

“We’re generalists, but we need to find the non-Wall Street people who have lived and breathed and suffered in the industries and business we’re now looking at.” Bruce Berkowitz

“Our analysts are generalists. The problem with specialising in sectors is that you tend not to have your eyes open to other sectors.” William von Mueffling

"I have always found that fund managers have done better by being set free. It is often hard to see much difference between companies if you are working in one sector." Jeremy Hosking

“The successful businessman is no narrow specialist.” J Paul Getty

“We can move money anyplace that it makes sense, and that’s an advantage of our structure. Now, whether we do a good job of it or not’s another question, but the structure is enormously advantageous in that respect.” Warren Buffett

“We are global generalists and think the best way to invest is to generate ideas as generalist.” Ed Bosek

"I came from the school of thought where we are all generalists. I think that's a huge advantage... We still use a generalist model. We need to go figure out what ponds we're going to fish in. I believe that 80% of the game is figuring out what to work on. We've created our firm to be very good at figuring out what to work on." John Phelan

"Like Baskin Robbins ice cream, opportunities come in dozens of flavours, not all of which are served at the same time. Investors who find an overly narrow niche to inhabit prosper for a time but usually stagnate. Those who move on when the world changes at least have the chance to adapt successfully." Seth Klarman

"Industry specialists are prone to taking the ‘inside view.’ Having got lost in a thicket of detail, industry specialists end up not seeing the wood for the trees. They may, for instance, spend too much time comparing the performance and prospects of companies within their sector and fail to recognize, as a result, the risks that the industry as a whole is running. Marathon prefers to employ generalists who are less likely to suffer from ‘reference group neglect’ and better able to employ an understanding of capital cycle dynamics across industries." Edward Chancellor

"Having insight into only one market is likely not going to be sufficient." Seth Klarman

"I also believe that the more businesses you look at and can compare the better investor you will become. This is why we like the generalist versus specialist model. We are confident we can get to 80% - 85% of the knowledge base any specialist has. We can go buy the other 15%. We can go hire a consultant or whatever we need to get up to speed." John Phelan

"We think the best way to do it is to have a generalist culture across industries, across strategies, and - to a lesser extent - across geographies." Larry Robbins

"[Our] investment team utilizes a generalist approach within a consistent framework of what makes for a good and potentially investable business." Jeffrey Ubben

“All of our analysts are generalists.” Dan Davidowitz

"We've always been generalist ever since the first two years when I was an industry specialist. As an investor it's certainly nice to be able to go where the fish are as opposed to be fishing in a part of the stream where there's never any fish.. I think it really helps to be a generalist." Glenn Greenberg

"In my view, there is far greater danger to over-specialisation than over-generalisation." Robert Vinall

"We've never defined ourselves as one kind of firm and we've never really deviated from that kind of flexibly approach. Instead, we've deepened our research process and hired people who have brought us expertise in different geographies, different industries and different asset classes. Our philosophy is to be opportunistic all the way across the capital structure from debt to equity, across industries and different geographies." Dan Loeb

"Be open to the entire spectrum of market experiences. I never locked myself down to investing in one style or one country because the greatest trade in the world could be happening somewhere else. My advice would be make sure that you do not become too much of an expert in one area. Even if you see an area that is inefficient today, it's likely that it won't be inefficient tomorrow. Expertise is overrated." Jim Leitner

"We are not constrained by geography, sector, industry, or market capitalization." Lou Simpson

“Specializing by geography is not the same thing as specializing in investing. And we try to specialize in investing. So we don’t sell dedicated funds, and we don’t go marketing Asian specialization and when things are unattractive we go looking elsewhere on the planet, and I think that helps. We don’t have to be there. Our generalization by geography and specialization by discipline is a huge help.” Nick Sleep

"One big advantage is we don’t think of ourselves as one industry, like department store guys, steel guys or tyre guys. We thought of ourselves as having capital to allocate. If you start with a given industry focus and you spend your whole time to make a better tyre, or whatever, it's hard to have the flexibility of mind, that you have if you just think you have a large growing pile of capital and trying to figure out what is the next best move you can make with that capital. I think we have a real advantage that way." Warren Buffett

"Our approach is opportunistic in the sense that I don't have a particular top down approach to saying that I want to go into this asset class or this type of market cap or this type of industry or any of those things. I am completely wide open on that." Mohnish Pabrai

"We have no restrictive stipulations, such as market-cap size, sector weightings, or other common industry handcuffs. We simply look for compelling opportunities that inspire conviction, which is driven by clear understanding and a vacancy of major risks." Allan Mecham

"Remain flexible and open-minded about types of investments. There are times to buy blue chip stocks, cyclical stocks, corporate bonds, US Treasury instruments, and so on. And there are times to sit on cash, because sometimes cash enables you to take advantage of investment opportunities. The fact is there is no type of investment that is always best. If a particular industry or type of security becomes popular with investors, that popularity will always prove temporary and - when lost - may not return for years.” Sir John Templeton

"We try not to limit ourselves. It's a big world out there, and at any given time certain industries are going to be in and out of favour and regions are going to be in and out of favour, and so by restricting yourself I think you're restricting yourself." Jim Chanos

“I’ve never wanted to limit myself by things like business model, industry, cap size or geography. Those distinctions strike me as somewhat artificial and are limiting in a world where great opportunities can be anywhere and are constantly changing.” Chris Mittleman

“Hosking Partners' multi-counsellors have a broadly unconstrained set of investment restrictions, allowing us to exploit the widest opportunity set, with as few limits as reasonably possible on how we invest. This means we can go where the fish are, rather than fishing with the fishermen. It supports a contrarian approach, taking advantage of others' crowding, which is simply a case of diversity breaking down. Often the most attractive opportunities are to be found in the gaps between silos of information: as the market crowds inside easily defined categories, we can exploit the value to be found in the interstices, whether in terms of sector, geography, size, style, liquidity, time horizon or even asset class.” Jeremy Hosking

“Like Buffett’s original partnership, Coho Capital is an all-cap fund unconstrained by style boxes and is agnostic with respect to geography. The number and quality of fish one catches is determined by how well stocked their fishing pond is. Our all-cap mandate and lack of geographic confinement allow us to fish from a well stocked pond.” Jake Rosser

“We are stage agnostic and invest in everything from private growth companies to public companies. We invest in companies that have minimal or no earnings, or in companies that go from positive earnings to negative earnings with our advice and encouragement. We hold on to companies without pressure to sell and help them compound in value. We invest not only in China, but across Asia and the rest of the world and put capital to work wherever we find exceptional entrepreneurs.” Lei Zhang

"We don't have to try and decide to make our money in any one instrument or strategy - we can invest in private equity, individual equities or arbitrage. We feel that we are versatile enough that we can move into a number of different strategies." Louis Bacon

"One truth or archaeology in particular bear directly on my thinking. Archaeologists have their specialties, and one of the curiosities of the field is that those who specialise in one aspect of antiquity tend to be blind to anything else. Archaeologists who look for pottery sherds will not see coins, and, conversely, those who look for coins will not find sherds. Same dig, but those sifting the soils see entirely different things. So it is with markets." Leon Levy

"A specialist likes ideas in a sector but that doesn’t mean they're good investments. What you want in the portfolio is not the best coal company, you want the best stocks.” Mohnish Pabrai

"By specializing in just one industry, analysts are prone to be surprised by developments outside their focus, just as, say, the Swiss watch industry was unprepared for developments in the semi-conductor field. Predictions are often in error not as to what is analyzed, but as to what is not taken into account." Bennett Goodspeed

"I am industry agnostic. I move in and out of real estate, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, logistics, energy, and a bunch of other industries. I am opportunistic. Sometimes I am a buyer, sometimes a seller. Sometimes an equity investor, and sometimes I focus on debt. Often both. I never let my affinity for any one industry or my love of doing deals dictate my actions." Sam Zell

“I have no prejudice, no bias. I’ll buy companies with unions, I’ll buy companies that aren’t growing, I’ll buy companies that are airlines, that are insurance companies or banks. I’m a little scared of technology companies as they are a little bit beyond my realm. But I have bought a couple of biotech companies I can understand. I’ll look at anything, I have a very big horizon. If you look at 10 companies one’s probably a bargain, it’s mispriced. If you look at 20 there will be 2. If you look at 100 you’ll find 10. So the person who turns over the most rocks wins.” Peter Lynch

"We have no boundaries on where we will go. It’s a matter of both familiarity and our enterprising nature. We are not constrained in a style box. We are interested in all parts of the capital structure." Chuck Akre

"This business where somebody says, ‘You should have 50 percent of your money in bonds and 35 percent, you know, in equities, and 15 —.’ We don’t go through anything like that. I mean, we regard that as nonsense." Warren Buffett

"We are free of historical biases created by lifelong association with a given industry and are not subject to pressures from colleagues having a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. That’s important: If horses had controlled investment decisions, there would have been no auto industry." Warren Buffett

"We like to think that our generalist approach to research, which prioritizes continuous learning and pattern recognition on business models and long-term industry evolutions rather than deep sector knowledge, allows us to form independent and original insights." Jeffrey Ubben

"Analysts with highly specific knowledge are prone to adopt the inside view. Generalists can adopt the outside view and understand that mean version—and investment returns—are driven by changes on the supply side, which is far more certain than forecasting demand." Chris Pavese

“We have no master plan. And Charlie and I did not sit down in 1960 — early ’65 — and say, ‘We’re going to do this and that,’ and all that. We’re going to try and do sensible things as we go along.” Warren Buffett

"We try not to be siloed the way many people are. We don't have industry analysts, we have generalists who can move quickly from working one day on a drug stock, to another day on the distressed debt of a bank, and another day even potentially on a mortgage security or real estate investment .. it means that our resources will always be deployed in the most interesting areas all the time." Seth Klarman

“A final advantage of the generalist model is that it provides analysts with better training for becoming portfolio managers. All of Oakmark’s current portfolio managers previously worked as generalist analysts. If industry specialists want to become portfolio managers, it is an open question as to how adept they will be at making cross-industry comparisons. Yet every day, a portfolio manager has to make judgments like whether Alphabet is more attractive than Ford or whether Citigroup is a better investment than Merck. Our analysts constantly make those judgments as they decide which companies to recommend for purchase. For a specialist, that’s a brand new way of thinking.” Bill Nygren

"In a period like summer to mid-fall of 2002, when junk bonds became very attractive, we bought a lot of them. But we didn’t make some great decision to buy junk bonds, we just started seeing things, individual items, that started screaming at us, you know, ‘buy, buy, buy.’ And then that came to an end. And so we don’t go to the office in the morning thinking what category — how do we prioritize our categories. You know, we have an open mind and whatever we see that day that overcomes, or that crosses the threshold to where we take money out of short-term cash and move into it. Charlie and I do not have a checklist that we talk about every day, or every month, or every year, in terms of prioritizing categories. If you read the annual report, you know, we took a significant position in currencies. We’re buying viatical settlements, in terms of the transaction I mentioned a little earlier. We’re open to anything we can understand." Warren Buffett 2004

“Because analysts and investors have a natural tendency to classify – and subsequently cling to that classification – there’s a good chance that companies with idiosyncratic business models will be misunderstood and therefore mis-priced. Having a more generalist approach to investing can make it easier to spot these opportunities produced by the tunnel vision and impatience of other market participants.” Todd Wenning

“We like to hire generalist analysts rather than sector specialists because we believe they’re more likely to see the bigger picture on a theme. Then you have to give them room to think. I have said to the research guys, get out of the office, get away from your screen. Go to the beach, pull out a chair and read a thought piece. Read a good book about an industry. Get on the road. Walk the street. Figure out what is going on. That’s how you will get your advantage.” Paul Black

“We at Oakmark benefit from having investment analysts who are generalists. Although investment firms generally assign their analysts to specialize in just one industry, we believe that analysts who examine a wide breadth of companies provide far more value to the investment process than those who focus on one narrow industry.” Bill Nygren

“We have a small operation, but it works. Each analyst is a generalist and is getting out there asking questions, visiting management, digging around.” Bill Stewart

“In a world where traditional fund management is compartmentalised by attributes such as geography, sectors, investment styles (value, growth, garp, momentum), tracking errors, beta, listed or unlisted status, (stay awake at the back) equity or debt, bankruptcy or solvency then those with broader powers, such as private equity, and indeed Nomad, should have an advantage over constrained incumbents. Woody Allen once quipped that being bi-sexual doubled the chances of a date on Saturday night, curiously that principle applies to investing.” Nick Sleep

“We're not just a bunch of specialists, we're global generalists. We cover the world. We can kind of see some patterns I think that we wouldn't be able to if we were all stuck in certain lanes just covering certain countries or certain industries.” Mike Trigg

“Build a team with good collective judgment, rather than an assemblage of specialists. If you don’t understand bonds and interest rates, it is hard to understand economic cycles and therefore bonds versus industrial stocks. Similarly, if you do not understand stocks, you will have an imperfect understanding of the bond market.” Paul Cabot