Connect with thought leaders: Don’t make my mistake

I have been thinking about how thought leadership drives change and why it is so important to be exposed to thought leaders and their ideas. Here's a case in point.

In 1971, when I was studying at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Eugene Fama was a young assistant professor who was already attracting a following among the Finance students. I knew who Fama was, but my focus was on Marketing, so I did not take his classes. However, my friend Ron, a Finance major, raved about Fama's ideas and teaching excellence. (Ron is a reserved Brit, so for him to rave I knew something special was up with Gene Fama.)

Turning the clock forward, in 2013 Eugene Fama was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics (along with Robert Schiller and Lars Peter Hanson). His pursuit has been research on markets, particularly the efficient markets hypothesis. He focuses much of his research on the relationship between risk and expected return and its implications for portfolio management. His work has transformed the way finance is viewed and conducted.

In short, Eugene Fama is the epitome of an academic thought leader.

Then there is the case of my classmate, David Booth. David was smart enough as a graduate student to seek out and work with Fama, and then go on to found Dimensional Fund Advisors, which put Fama's research findings on the markets to work in the real world. Fama is quoted as saying about Dimensional's funds, "...all of it is based on the proposition that you want to give investors a way to get exposure to various dimensions of risk that seem to be compensated in long-term returns, with a bottom line presumption that everything is priced correctly and you get returns in the long term appropriate to the risks that you take. Asset allocation rather than stock picking is the motivation behind it..."

You will note that the University of Chicago's business school now carries the name "Booth" on it because David Booth's application of academic theory has produced a fortune, some of which he has graciously donated to the school in recognition of what Gene Fama's thought leadership has meant to his life.

I urge you and all strategic leaders to take the time to engage with strategy thought leaders. If you do, you will at least open up possibilities, which is more than I did when I ignored the opportunity to connect with Professor Fama and his brilliant ideas.

Photo credits: Eugene Fama for University of Chicago Booth School of Business by Robert Kozloff.  David Booth for University of Chicago Booth School of Business by Matthew Gilson.