THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Listening

"It is the province of knowledge to speak And it is the privilege of wisdom to listen." - Yin and Yang of Communication

TOPIC OF THE DAY

Keep Listening, but Start Talking

When we meet with prospective investors, I don't speak much, and for good reason. There are three founding partners: Clayton Christensen, Matt Christensen, and me. When Clay is in the room, people want to hear from him. He's not only the controlling shareholder of Rose Park Advisors; our investment approach is based on his theory of disruptive innovation. Next on deck is his son, Matt, the CEO and portfolio manager; then me.

In this particular context it makes sense that my partners do the lion's share of the talking, but I've noticed that even when circumstances don't require it, I'm sometimes reluctant to talk shop. One particular instance of this hesitation stands out in my mind: it occurred during a trip to Brazil back when I was a sell-side analyst. After a day of meetings, several buy-side investors (all men) and I were debriefing over dinner. When the conversation turned to America Movil (NYSE: AMX) a stock that I covered (in sell-side parlance I was widely considered the 'axe on the stock'), I began to demur, reluctant to share my opinion, despite my expertise in the subject. It felt like high school all over again, slipping into the adult equivalent of playing dumb.

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