The Steward
Legacy, values and the long now, leadership as care and continuity.
Neil Woodford presents throughout this interview as a Steward: someone whose central identity as a leader was defined by obligation to those who entrusted capital to him. Woodford repeatedly frames every major decision, from resisting TMT pressure at Perpetual to backing unlisted science spinouts, as an act of fiduciary care rather than self-interest.
“Mark Damper, who was head of the research, said no hesitation adding the funds to our wealth, 150 list of favored funds. So you're up and running. Your performance gets going pretty well. And this is where I want to bring in some. Do you remember Cyril Young? He was the senior equity sales.”
“Whereas I think I showed in a chart the other night at a talk, Amazon stock price fell over 90%. So then we get to the financial crisis. So this is back to my point about sectors.”
“And then I got a series of pretty awful jobs, clerical jobs, and then found my way into the industry, the farm management industry, via a job which was basically advertised in a recruitment agency as an assistant to a fund manager. So as I plotted your path, read pension fund, TSP, Eagle Star, all precede perpetual.”
“He understood this problem. I had regular meetings with Jeremy. Jeremy to brief him on the challenge that the UK science and technology sector was confronting.”
Money Maze Podcast: “From Triumph to Trauma: The Dramatic Investment Arc of Neil Woodford, Founder of Woodford Investment Management”
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