Tim Barrett

Let's talk about the deals you did or the funds you hired, et cetera.

Like, and I really was hyper-focused on investment skills.

And as I've done this for decades now, yes, you have to have that in this field.

But that's just the table stakes.

That's what gets you into the game.

If you're in the game, you probably already have that.

And I kind of stopped worrying about that part so much and really started focusing more almost on culture and drive.

than the other two, because what I've found is that even if you hired really smart investment guys, if your culture gets fractured from bringing in a person that just doesn't fit or having one or two that don't fit on the team well, that creates way more havoc than having somebody that might not be quite up to speed in investing.

In the end, I can teach somebody how to invest and how to think about managers and how to think about strategies.

And I can walk them through analysis and show them what to look for.

What is hard to teach is culture and fit.

That to me is almost ingrained in a personality behavior and how you behave.

So to me, that whole personality and culture fit has taken a much bigger driver in how I hire.

Very open.

Our doors, we all sit within 20 feet of each other in the office.

And even on the weekends, like on a Saturday, people will call me or they'll be shooting texts and emails.

They're working on something.

And it's just constant open dialogue.

Anybody feels comfortable walking into anybody's office and talking about an idea in their portfolio or just being a channel check.

You know, Mike, my credit guy will go over and talk to Clint about a credit deal and see what he thinks about it.