Speaking at the Super Return Conference in Dubai on Wednesday, the KKR chief said:
“All of us need to accept responsibility for the damage done to the free-market system… We’ve moved too slowly to replace management in some situations…. We wait too long hoping they’ll improve but they never do… You have to focus on all the stakeholders. It’s a new thing for us and something we’re really hammering. Long term value is only achieved if growth benefits all stakeholders in a company, from owners to employees, communities and even governments. We are also conscious we are fiduciaries to millions of hard-working men and women and university endowments…Trust must be earned over the long haul and maintained constantly. We have not always adequately explained what we do to the man on the street. Even some of our investors, although happy with the returns we deliver, don’t fully understand what we do and why they should invest with us.”
That’s right – it’s all about TRUST and right now that’s the real scarcity.
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