#872: Graham Duncan — Talent Is the Best Asset Class (Repost)

Graham Duncan ( @GrahamDuncanNYC ) is the co-founder of East Rock Capital , a multibillion-dollar multi-family investment office he launched in 2006. He is also Chairman of the Sohn Conference Foundation , which funds pediatric cancer research. This episode was originally published in February 2019. Show notes: https://tim.blog/2019/02/28/graham-duncan/ This episode is brought to you by: Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: Shopify.com/tim Eight Sleep Pod Cover 5 sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: EightSleep.com/Tim AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: DrinkAG1.com/Tim 5-Bullet Friday , my very own free email newsletter: https://tim.blog/friday Timestamps: [00:00:00] Start. [00:02:29] I think of Graham as far more than an investor. How does he describe what he does? [00:06:13] Absent the systems and frameworks he's honed over time, what made Graham a good talent hunter at the tender age of 24? [00:08:42] What constitutes taste when Graham is scouting for talent these days? [00:11:14] Upon meeting someone, how does Graham stress-test whether or not someone is "commercial" in the way they balance aggression and integrity? [00:16:49] One high-signal question Graham has found particularly useful when trying to determine the quality of anyone from a trader to an OB/GYN. [00:19:17] When interviewing a potential candidate, how does Graham vet their given references? [00:22:21] On approaching the reference process with curiosity rather than an attempt to catch anyone with a "gotcha." [00:25:34] Why does mutual friend Josh Waitzkin call Graham The Wild Gardener ? [00:27:04] How does Graham deal with contradictory perspectives — when the data is telling him one thing and his gut is telling him another? [00:29:09] What does Graham do to familiarize himself with the way people underwrite their mental models (besides nearly beheading them)? [00:30:29] Graham talks about his role as an investment coach, of sorts, and how he picks the best "players" for the game at hand. [00:31:53] What other patterns has Graham noticed in the successful talent he's ended up selecting? [00:36:06] In what way have others helped Graham surface his hidden assumptions, and how might a coach do the same for others? [00:39:17] An example of when Graham's "grip" has been a bit too tight around his own beliefs. [00:40:09] What Byron Katie has taught us about articulating the opposite of such beliefs — and having a mindful lunch. [00:46:18] When evaluating a team, how does Graham think about each person developing the ability to look at the opposite versus hiring to end up at that optimal mixture? [00:49:12] How might someone train to more clearly see disconfirming evidence — and roll with the punches when their instincts lead them toward regrettable decisions? [00:42:21] What books does Graham gift to others most often? [00:56:11] An aside about Wim Hof and Josh Waitzkin embracing "the other side of pain" to get the most out of life. [00:59:31] How does James Carse's distinction of finite and infinite games apply to finance, and how would Graham test a potential teammate for compatible sensibility? [01:02:41] How likely would it be for Graham to invest in a Jocko Willink project? [01:04:16] Different people have different ways of sniffing around direct questions. Here are a few examples. [01:05:54] Graham explains what this Kwame Appiah quote means to him: "In life the challenge is not so much to figure out how best to play the game; the challenge is to figure out what game you're playing." [01:08:13] Going by David Foster Wallace's famous commencement speech, what's your water? Podcasting helps me see mine. [01:09:32] Graham's take on Greg McKeown's Essentialism . [01:10:31] How Graham sees careers as a river (with a nod of thanks to neuroscientists Dan Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson's model of well-being). [01:12:53] Toward which bank do the top one percent in any given field swim?