The Typical Investment Personality 59Management (Dec. 1998), editor Katrina Sherrerd sums up the
articles in one sentence: “A unifying theme is the need for innova-
tive strategies to meet the challenges of the 21st century” (empha-
sis added).
Another expert in the field, Michael Phillips, President and CEO
of Frank Russell Company, writes in the same publication, “Cop-
ing with the new trends and the complexities of the business models
of today requires innovative solutions” (again, emphasis added).
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, a leading name in the consulting field,
spent two years researching trends in the investment industry and
concluded that the top priority for successful investment firms will
be “senior managers who have vision, creativity, flexibility, and a
broad perspective” (Tomorrow’s Leading Investment Managers,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers/The Economist Intelligence Unit 1999).
What about customers? Do any studies show that they care
about having creative money managers? One study conducted by
Dean LeBaron and Gail Farrelly, published in the Financial Ana-
lysts Journal (“Assessing Risk Tolerance,” Jan./Feb. 1989), asked
customers to rank the attributes that they would most—and least—
like to see in their fund managers. Surprisingly, their two favorites
were “creativity” and “willingness to be different.” At the other
extreme, customers were very negative as to “prizing certainty”
and “consensus portfolios.” So, yes, customers seem to be support-
ing the move to more creative money management.
What can be done, then, by individuals or firms?
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator tool provides direction in this
regard. Lots of studies have been conducted to see which Myers-
Briggs preferences link up with big-C Creativity (the kind that
spawns breakthrough thinking). One study, for example, included
105 professionals from the fields of math, science, architecture,
and writing who were rated by their peers as being “highly cre-
ative.” The participants then took the MBTI assessment instrument.
Of the 105, fully 103 showed a preference for iNtuition (N) over
Sensing (S).07 ware 59 1/19/01, 1:09 PM