Cults vs. Tribes

by StockJockey

Tuesday, December 26, 2006 - 1:46 pm

We have been long-time members of the small and mid-cap cult...a group of simians who swap ideas like chimps on Mad Money.

Tribes are different...they frequently go to war to protect their hunting grounds…

One of the peculiarities of the big dealer shops I frequented was their intensely tribal nature. The sales/trader types loathed the slick investment bankers, who in turn treated “the floor” with contempt. The bond guys thought the stock guys were idiots, and the stock guys thought the bond guys were dweebs. The salesmen thought the traders were calculating lying thieves, and the traders thought the salesmen were glib lying thieves.

Many of the failures I observed at these firms could be traced directly to these tensions, and management’s inability to get all the horses to pull the twin carts of customer satisfaction and firm profitability.

I’ve always assumed the key to 85 Broad Street’s stupendous success lay in creating and sustaining a culture/management/incentive structure that solved the tribalism problem. George Zachar/Daily Speculations 12/15/06

Vince Valco added:

I’ll reinforce George’s observations. In the late 1990s I ran a research desk on the trading floor of a small boutique investment bank. Our primary responsibility was to very quickly make assessments about news flow regarding the companies under the firm’s coverage, synergize that with the industry analysts’ existing research stance and get the perspective out to block traders and the institutional salesforce. It was very amusing to see the quickly shifting manner in which we were treated. When queried about the meaning of something, we were treated (generally) respectfully. The moment we weren’t on stage providing the value added insight (we hoped), we slid back to being treated as simply consumers of others’ potential compensation upside and our part in the larger process was lost. To the traders, we weren’t rough and tumble enough. To the salesforce, we knew the research well but weren’t glam enough to put out the firm’s sales call. Second class citizens from every angle.

Have you been there...done that?

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