As passengers on a journey we have little control over, it matters who the driver is. "Who am I backing here" becomes an investor's most important question. (1st of series of essays on this)
Once again amazing write-up. This has been relevant in earlier times and even more during current times and possibly in times to come. We are betting on jockey and not on horse after understanding which horse jockey is to ride, maneuver and finish race atleast. I guess by jockey or in your words "Who am I backing" is not about individual specifically and it may mean group of people or team as well or its culture even...
Nice write-up. For owners/entrepreneurs, "who am I backing" makes a lot of sense...though I worry about my own judgement of how good the driver is and whether at times he/she is crossing the boundary from excellence & driven to delusional about his/her abilities. I'm curious how you deal with the judgement aspect and guard against falling victim to hero-worship.
For more established companies though, wouldn't the governance of the board and established systems & processes to drive the org more important? For example, Asian Paints having matured from a owner driven org to a professionally managed org seems to have improved its longevity as a performer in the market place.
How would you think about operational excellence vs capital allocation ? Some are exceptional at operational excellence but fare poorly on capital allocation in India. How would you think about the trade-off ?
Once again amazing write-up. This has been relevant in earlier times and even more during current times and possibly in times to come. We are betting on jockey and not on horse after understanding which horse jockey is to ride, maneuver and finish race atleast. I guess by jockey or in your words "Who am I backing" is not about individual specifically and it may mean group of people or team as well or its culture even...
Nice write-up. For owners/entrepreneurs, "who am I backing" makes a lot of sense...though I worry about my own judgement of how good the driver is and whether at times he/she is crossing the boundary from excellence & driven to delusional about his/her abilities. I'm curious how you deal with the judgement aspect and guard against falling victim to hero-worship.
For more established companies though, wouldn't the governance of the board and established systems & processes to drive the org more important? For example, Asian Paints having matured from a owner driven org to a professionally managed org seems to have improved its longevity as a performer in the market place.
How would you think about operational excellence vs capital allocation ? Some are exceptional at operational excellence but fare poorly on capital allocation in India. How would you think about the trade-off ?