{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO, Ariel Investments: Everything is Possible","description":"In this episode of Capital for Good we speak with Mellody Hobson, one of the country\u2019s preeminent investors and business and civic leaders. Hobson is the co-CEO of Ariel Investments, a board director of several Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit organizations, and a nationally recognized advocate for financial literacy and economic inclusion. We begin with a discussion of the formative childhood experiences that would shape Hobson\u2019s personal and professional trajectory. Hobson recalls how, as a young girl on the South Side of Chicago who regularly experienced economic insecurity, she was driven to work very hard and \u201cto understand money\u201d as a path to economic security for herself and for others. \u201cMy purpose was sealed very early,\u201d she says.  After graduating from Princeton in 1991, Hobson joined the Chicago-based Ariel Investments. In the thirty-five years since, she has traveled from intern to co-CEO, building a $14 billion asset management firm with a mission to \u201ctransform the lives of everyone who entrusts us with their financial futures.\u201d  Hobson walks us through her evolution as a leader, and describes Ariel\u2019s signature approach to long-term investing in companies and sectors that are \u201cmisunderstood, ignored and underfollowed,\u201d where vigorous and original research allows the team to identify mispriced securities and the opportunity to outperform. According to Hobson, Ariel\u2019s success has derived from the principles and practices of active patience (\u201cbeing patient is really hard, it requires great restraint, great study, great discipline\u201d), bold teamwork, and independent thinking \u2013 the focused expertise that supports the \u201cconviction to have a different opinion.\u201d This approach made Ariel a pioneer, first in small cap stocks, where the firm\u2019s founder John Rogers tested the long-term value investment thesis, and later in mid cap and international markets. In 2021, Hobson launched Ariel Alternatives, which included its inaugural private equity fund, Project Black, focused on building to scale minority businesses that will be tier one suppliers to Fortune 500 companies, and Project Level, a new vehicle focused on \u201cchanging the game\u201d in women\u2019s sports. Given the seismic and secular shifts in the industry, Hobson believes women\u2019s sports are \u201cthe next big growth opportunity\u2026 the small cap of sports.\u201d Hobson speaks passionately about all she has learned as a corporate director. Today, she serves on the board of JP Morgan Chase, and was a director of Est\u00e9e Lauder Companies, DreamWorks Animation, and Starbucks, which she led as chair. She is equally animated by her civic commitments, learning early on it was \u201cpart of your job to be of service to others\u2026 it was sewn into my DNA.\u201d We discuss the inspiration she finds in her work with a number of nonprofit organizations, including After School Matters, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, a new cultural institution she has created with her husband and filmmaker George Lucas. Hobson is fervent about the power of storytelling, and her and Lucas\u2019s belief that \u201ceveryone\u2019s story matters.\u201d Hobson has captured part of her own story in the New York bestselling Priceless Facts about Money, an immaculately researched and illustrated children\u2019s book that makes learning about money and finance accessible \u2014 and fun. And it is in young people that Hobson sees hope, even in challenging times, as they affirm her faith in the wonder and promise of human potential. \u201cIf you believe that is true,\u201d she says, \u201cthen everything is possible. Not anything \u2014 everything.\u201d Mentioned in this episode John W. Rogers, Jr., Ariel Founder, Chairman, and Co-CEO A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Burton Malkiel, 2024) Ariel Alternatives: Project Black, Project Level After School Matters Bloomberg Philanthropies Lucas Museum of Narrative Art Priceless Facts about Money (Mellody Hobson, 2024) ","author_name":"Capital for Good","author_url":"http:\/\/tamerinstitute.libsyn.com\/website","html":"