Hedge funds are constantly searching for that little extra edge, whether it is discovering a niche overlooked by others or motivating their employees to perform the best they can. It is not unusual for firms to hold off-site retreats for their employees or to bring in successful people in other fields as motivational speakers.
One firm that has devoted some discussion of these efforts in its client letters is Tiger Global Management, the hedge fund and venture capital firm founded by Chase Coleman.
The New York hedge fund manager, who is fast emerging as one of the more elite members of a new generation of industry luminaries, apparently thinks that hobnobbing and sharing experiences with top former athletes could rub off on his troops. For example, Tiger Global recently told clients in its fourth-quarter letter to investors that former New York Yankees superstar Derek Jeter joined the firm at its recent off-site meeting. Tiger likes to bring in sports champions to discuss how they have been able to not only not only achieve success but stay on top for prolonged periods, the letter explains.
Tiger Global plays up how the onetime team captain and former shortstop “led by example, adhering to a rigorous training schedule each day” and relays Jeter’s message that support can be “fickle and fleeting when you do not perform well.”
Jeter also reminded the firm of “the importance of staying positive,” stressing that he surrounded himself with people who believed in him and reinforced his strengths and not his weaknesses.
“Above all, he emphasized process over outcome, committing himself to practicing and improving his routines, tuning out the noise, and accepting whatever outcome occurred if he had followed a sound process,” the letter goes on to say.
This was not the first time a former big-name superstar spent time with Tiger Global’s staff. In its letter to clients for the second quarter of 2015, Tiger Global detailed a visit to the office from Wayne Gretzky, the former hockey superstar.
Tiger Global points out in the letter that Gretzky emphasized “the importance of team, family, and showing up every single day ready to play.”
Gretzky shared his recollection of losing to the New York Islanders in the 1983 Stanley Cup play-offs early in his career and how the winning team reacted to capturing its fourth straight Stanley Cup victory simply by sitting around exhausted and covered with ice bags rather than celebrating the more traditional way.
“This helped him understand what was necessary to win titles,” the letter states.
Gretzky also asserted there is no such thing as a slump, when asked about playing through tough periods. “There are bad days but the next night I’m at the rink ready to play and ready to win,” Tiger Global quotes Gretzky as saying.
“We love that mindset and hope to learn from our mistakes quickly and show up every day ready to play and ready to win,” the hedge fund firm tells clients.
Sometimes, Coleman looks for ways to inspire motivation without having to draw from the wisdom of a well-known athlete. For that, he turns to the old-fashioned company retreat.
For example, in last year’s first-quarter report, Tiger Global discussed the firm’s annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in February 2015. Yes, time was partly spent hearing presentations on investments and the research process.
It also included sessions “with outside business leaders who inspired us to think about the attributes of enduring, high performance investment organizations,” the letter added, although it did not name names.
However, when the firm wasn’t discussing business, its employees broke into small teams for its biannual adventure challenge, which included lassoing bulls, mushing through a dogsledding course and identifying wild game as part of a food tasting challenge. “There were some impressive performances from the team, but we certainly haven’t received any follow-up calls from Jackson cowboys trying to poach Tiger Global analysts as ranch hands,” the letter said.
By the same token, Tiger Global did not exactly bring back any of those westerners to analyze stocks.
