Smashing Stereotypes Drives This $12 Billion Fund
- Different outlooks bring better outcome, Ariel president says
- Diversity drives $12 billion manager’s investment approach
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Mellody Hobson, in her mid-twenties and a newcomer to the world of investment, walked into a vast office in Texas with two senior male colleagues for a meeting. At one end of the room was their host’s desk, with two extra chairs. At the other, fully 30 feet away, was a separate area with a sofa.
“Fellas, why don’t you sit here at my desk?” she recalls the host saying. “And miss, you can take the couch. ‘None of us is sitting down,’ I said.” And they all moved to the couch and held the meeting there, the 48-year-old president of Ariel Investments LLC recounted on a recent visit to Hong Kong.