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A documentary about the Beatles provides examples that are instructive regarding investment teams and the nature of process.

An excellent piece about the rise and fall of General Electric hones in on a critical factor in understanding how organizations work (or don’t work).

In this issue: the state of asset management, Two Sigma, private credit, using drugs “to produce business breakthroughs,” the double-attrition problem in wealth management, workplace culture, and much, much more.

To wrap up a long series of postings, here are some closing thoughts about the power of cultural evaluations and their importance in understanding the upheavals ahead.

The investment industry has often been referred to as “pale, male, and stale.” The latest posting in a series on social research into investment organizations dives into questions of sameness and difference.

Main sections on the equity risk premium, culture and key-man risk, AI resources, and ROIC migration. Plus: ESG, structured products, continuation funds, merger arbitrage, the end of cheap RIA capital, and much more.

Analysts operate within a web of relationships. To assess their estimates or recommendations, you need to understand the social environment in which they are produced.

The hottest stories in the investment world, plus intangible value, salesmanship, hidden leverage, lessons from Steve Cohen, Gen Z, diverse perspectives, tokenization, activists, and messy organizations.

Interviews with those involved in active management yield insights into that “community of practice,” which is at a crossroads.

This fourth in a series of postings takes a broader look at some of the precepts of anthropology as they apply to the craft of due diligence.

Great reads from around the ecosystem, including multi-manager hedge funds, family office costs, hiccups in RIA land, a new way to think about allocations, and what asset managers can’t say. And, don’t be a buckethead.

An anthropological view can offer deep insight into why an organization does what it does, providing perspectives that can be missed by others.

In addition to the headline items, dig into readings about shadow banks, direct indexing, the research settlement twenty years on, regulatory arbitrage, ESG debates, “BuyIRR Beware,” and more.

The corporate finance and M&A functions of investment banks sit at the nexus of market and corporate activity. The dominant culture within them has permeated the investment ecosystem.

Due diligence encounters are dominated by impression management. Those doing the work need to be skeptical and employ tactics that will go past the narrative to add value.