employeesoutofovertime—allegationsthecompanydenies.
A lawyerforthecompanysaysFisherneverrequiredsomany
callsina day.
Whenthecompanylosesa client,managerswillinterro-
gateinvestmentcounselorsandrummagethroughtheirnotes,
accordingtosomeformeremployees.Fisherprizesloyalty:He
likestopraisethosewho“bleedFishergreen”andhavetheini-
tialsofFisherInvestments“stampedontheirbutt,”according
toaninternalcompanymemo.Thecompany,however,bristles
atthecultcomparison,sayingit prizesindependentthought.
Maleentry-levelaccountexecutivessometimesdisplayeda
frathouseattitude.“Whodoyouthinkis hunglikea horse?”
onepersonwroteina 2013email.Anothernameda female
co-workerand,inanapparentreferencetohergenitalia,
wrote,“That’sherLaybesthoughbro.”Fisherprovidedthese
emailswhenBloombergaskedaboutthebehaviorofoneofthe
employees,who’sstillwiththecompany.Aftertheemailepi-
sodehewasdemoted,wasdockedthreedays’pay,andhad
hiscompensationcutto$14anhourfrom$24anhour.Fisher
sayssuchepisodesinevitablyoccurina companywith3,800
employees.“Whenwefindoutaboutthings,wedealwiththem
prettycompletely,”hesays.
Still,someemployeescomplainofrepeatedcommentsabout
women’sclothingandappearance.“Igottohearandwitnessa
lotofthingsthatdidn’tsitwellwithme,”saysJoeyHays,who
workedinthemarketingdepartmentfrom 2013 to 2015 andsat
nearthesalesbullpen.“Nosoonerwoulda womanleavethe
area,andthesemenwouldstartinitiatinghighlysexualizedcon-
versationsaboutthesewomen.”Hays,whois gay,sayshealso
heardemployeesmakehomophobicremarksandvulgar,sexual
commentsaboutclients.(Thecompanysaysa femaleemployee
oncecomplainedtoitshumanresourcesdepartmentabout
Hays,sayinghemadeaninappropriatecomment;Hayssayshe
andothersjokedabouttheco-worker,andhelaterapologized.)
Fisher’sownwordswerepartofthemachoatmosphere.“I
havea hard-onlookingatallofyou,”somepeopleremember
himsayingata Londongathering.Backin2008,asfinancial
marketswerereeling,a womanata staffmeetingaskedFisher
if he’dconsideredshiftingintodefensiveholdings.“Whywould
I wanthalfa dick?”hereplied.Fisherdoesn’tdisputethathe
madecommentssuchasthese,thoughhesayshemayhave
beenmisunderstood.
Ina recordingfroma 2018investingconference,Fishercan
beheardsaying:“IfI was 30 yearsoldandI hadtodoit over
again,I wouldhavemoresex....Onceyougetolder,you’relike
a Christmastree.You’refirmoncea year,andtheballsarejust
fordecoration.”Someintheaudiencelaughed.
A numberofwomenatFisherInvestmentssaythey’vebeenfairlytreatedinwhattheyconsidera meritocracy.Thecompany
notesthatthreeoffiveseniorexecutivevicepresidentsreport-
ingtoChiefExecutiveOfficerDamianOrnaniarewomen.Oneof
thoseleaders,JillHitchcock,whooverseesthecompany’slarg-
estbusinessunitandwastheformerheadofhumanresources,
saysFisher’scommentshaveneveroffendedherbecauseshe
alwaysconsideredhimtobeusinganalogiestoexplaincomplex
topics.“IfI didn’tbelieveinwhatweweredoingandthefirm
andtheculture,I wouldn’thavestayedhere,”saysHitchcock,
a widowedmotheroftwoboys,who’sworkedatthecompany
for 20 years.“I’vealsoseenhowouremployeesandhowourcli-
entsreacttoseeingKen,whichis theylovetoseeKenspeak.”
Thecompanypointstoaninternalsurveyshowing79%of
employeesthinkit’sa greatplacetowork.JacobGamble,who
workedtherefrom 2002 through2015,saysthecompanydoes
wellbyitsclients.“Itcanbehard,andyouareheldaccount-
abletolearnfromeverysinglelittleflawthatcomesacrossin
yourwork,”hesays.“Butthat’showthey’resuccessfuland
howtheymoveforward.”f Fisher’s sales force is aggressive, so is his investment
approach. When prospects turn over their nest egg to
Fisher, his company often puts the bulk of it in stocks,
even for older clients. That’s an outlier in an industry that
typically recommends a more conservative approach: All things
being equal, younger people should go heavier on stocks, retir-
ees should go in a more fixed-income direction, and so forth.
In retirement funds designed for 65-year-olds, Vanguard and
Fidelity place just over half of investments in stocks; Charles
Schwab and BlackRock, 40%. Fisher has little time for the idea
that it’s safer to keep a lot of money in bonds—not when you
need to grow enough savings to fund retirement. On a pod-
cast, Fisher once referred to husbands who put their spouse’s
money in a mix of stocks and bonds as no better than “wife
beaters.” Fisher says, for example, a 65-year-old man may marry
a woman 10 years younger who can expect to live many more
decades. That means the couple has to plan for a longer future.
“If you have a 30-year time horizon, you ought to be starting off
with a 100% equity benchmark,” he says.
Besides stocks, another investment he likes is an obscure
instrument called an exchange-traded note, or ETN. They’re
essentially contracts, issued by a bank, that entitle the owner
to a certain payout. The notes’ returns can be linked to the per-
formance of other securities, such as an index of stocks. And
they can be designed so they return even more when those
stocks rise—and fall even harder when the stocks fall. The risk
and costs of ETNs have drawn scrutiny from federal regulators,
and most investors shun them. (Although ETNs are backed by“I committed myself to never saying
words like that again or any things like
that again ever”
Bloomberg Businessweek February 10, 202044