Jason Hsu

Jason Hsu is one of the brightest investment minds in the world. In our interview he talks about how curiosity and emotional intelligence are key to the success of great investors and great teams.

One of his firms, Research Affiliates, was focusing too much on growing fast, and as a result were ripping themselves apart, causing much unhappiness. That’s when someone suggested they talk with Jim and bring in conscious leadership. Jason shares, “ We thought we were just going to bring someone who was a management consultant, get a diagnostic on who's wrong, who's right and be done with that. It's been certainly far, far, far from that. It's been a fantastic journey.”

Jason credits CLG with creating an environment where fear and blame play a much smaller role in day to day interactions. People are much more willing to take responsibility for results—rather than playing the blame game—and focusing on how they can do things differently to create a better outcomes.

Appreciation for CLG's Impact

CLG has helped me become much more authentic in my relationships with my team members as a leader. As I’ve begun sharing a broader range of feelings and stories, and creating a space for others to do so, I’ve seen the trust, appreciation, and energy within the team increase. I’ve also experienced the team making faster and better decisions. Our team at Rayliant, a nine-month old company, has a level of openness and trust that usually takes many years to develop. If Rayliant is to be successful in the years to come in an industry that is undergoing significant disruption, it will be due in large part to the culture that CLG is helping us build.

Michael Bowers

Managing Director, Member of the Board

CLG’s teaching surrounding candor, giving us the courage to allow the chips to fall where they may, has been freeing. It is refreshing to be in an organization where we’re able to openly and honestly share ideas, concerns and focus on effective collaboration. I find we are able to relax together while reserving our energy for learning and business execution. Play and rest was deeply lacking in my prior position. Since working with CLG at Rayliant I am seeking to maintain a commitment to play and rest to avoid the negative spiral of burnout. My hope is to influence others in this important need for health and well-being.

Michael Larsen

Managing Director

I’ve never worked in a culture where opinions, disagreements and annoyances are so freely shared. I understand this may sound like a bad thing, but trust me, it’s not! There are no emotional skeletons in the closet at our firm. Our management team have had radically open discussions about compensation, expense reimbursements, travel class – even personal hygiene! But we have these discussions in a respectful way. We share our thoughts as stories; we acknowledge our stories are partly (or mostly) false; we take from them what we can; and at the end of the day, we move forward together. These experiences build personal and professional bonds, and they free us to focus on business. To be honest, I was deeply skeptical of this approach when I joined the firm. And I’m still not convinced it could work in every environment. But at Rayliant ... so far, so good.

Matthew Bowers

Managing Director, Legal and Compliance

Company Orientation During its first weeks as a “start up,” Rayliant held an orientation and alignment event at both its U.S. and Asia offices. During this event Jason emphasized the 15 commitments which are incorporated into the firm’s core values and culture.

E-Mail Protocol to Encourage Candor We copy in e-mails any person who is addressed in that e-mail. For example, if Alan sends an e-mail to Beth that talks about Charles, but neglects to copy Charles; Beth will copy Charles in her reply to Alan. By forcing private conversations into the public, our team has become more conscious of what they say and how they say it. This practice has had the ancillary benefits of outing stories and undermining negative alliances.

Daily Appreciation Opportunity E-Mail In its early days, each Rayliant employee was responsible for sending to the entire firm a daily “Appreciation Opportunity” e-mail. The e-mail recognized and appreciated the contributions that day of someone on the team and identified a way for someone on the team to help them better.

15 Commitments in Employee Handbook Many of the 15 Commitments can be found as core principles, which guide our daily operations, within the employee handbook. This handbook is given to all existing employees and new hires.