{"id":2879,"date":"2016-10-07T20:43:00","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T20:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/?p=2879"},"modified":"2023-05-24T17:56:32","modified_gmt":"2023-05-24T17:56:32","slug":"anne-walsh-this-is-very-creative-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/2016\/10\/07\/anne-walsh-this-is-very-creative-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Anne Walsh: “This Is Very Creative Work”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anne Walsh and Guggenheim Partners take a team and liberal arts approach to investing, and the results speak for themselves.<\/em><\/h4>\n

by Richard Paige<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to be bedazzled by the fact that Anne Walsh helps lead a team managing a $2.6 billion bond fund that outperforms nearly every other fund in its class.<\/p>\n

What you don\u2019t expect is the way Anne\u2014Senior Managing Director of Guggenheim Partners and wife of Tom Walsh \u201973\u2014handles the small talk before sitting down to business in the firm\u2019s fifth-floor conference room overlooking the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

She describes the view: \u201cYou have the world-famous beach communities to the south of the Santa Monica Pier\u2014Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach \u2014all the ones you hear about in Beach Boys songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

She uses words like lifestyle, ethos, family,<\/em> and even magic<\/em> to describe what goes on inside the offices that overlook the intersection where Wilshire Boulevard meets the Pacific.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s when you realize something different is happening here.<\/p>\n

Dig a little deeper and Anne lets you in on the secret. In a field full of fund-managing rock stars, Guggenheim uses a team model. Four groups share management of the funds and share in the decision-making process. There is no one person who follows the newsfeeds, does the evaluations, selects the securities, and calls the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur investment process is unique,\u201d says Anne, a 33-year veteran of the profession. \u201cWhat we do here is specialize, and it\u2019s that specialization that leads to performance which is repeatable, predictable, and scalable. A lot of investors want the star, but they get the freshman. That\u2019s not what we have here. This is very creative work. We expect our people to think.\u201d<\/p>\n

The method championed by Guggenheim CIO Scott Minerd is based on the book Thinking, Fast and Slow<\/em> by Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman, in which the decision-making process is slowed by including multiple voices. By bouncing ideas off each other and thinking though the process, the Guggenheim Partners routinely avoid the panicked buys and sells that handcuff performance.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an old adage that says \u201cbuy low, sell high,\u201d but in the real world, decisions too often follow the movements of the herd. The team approach helps calm the nervousness that comes with the fear of losing money.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the times when you should absolutely not be making those kinds of decisions,\u201d she says. \u201cTruth of the matter, it applies to everybody, whether you are an institutional investor or an individual. By slowing down the process and diffusing it amongst the team, you collectively end up making better decisions. It\u2019s not unlike a liberal arts approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A defining moment in Guggenheim\u2019s success came during the financial crisis of 2008. Anne says they were one of the few firms to see it coming, and, more important, to act appropriately for their clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really made <\/em>this firm, the turning point, was seeing that crisis and acting accordingly in spite of everyone else saying something different. It proved itself during the most stressful time in the market\u2019s history. There isn\u2019t a bigger test. That\u2019s when we began to get attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anne\u2019s nine-year stint at Guggenheim Partners is the longest since she began in the profession as a 19-year-old at Auburn University.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have pride in this amazing team of people who do a tremendous amount of work day in and day out. We work hard to honor the people who have trusted us. A little bit of the chest thumping is due to the fact that we\u2019re doing a really, really good job for the people who trust me and this team, and that means everything to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in the Spring 2016 edition of<\/em> WM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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