100 Minds That Made the Market

By now you’ve seen these 100 Minds that made our market were exceptionally diverse. No rules could box these 100 in any singularly prescribed format. For every generality you can craft to describe them, you can find at least several exceptions to prove the rule. In many instances, these giants were simply above any rules. They and thousands of other lesser noted, or unnoted, leaders set the stage for today’s markets through their innovations. But innovation never ends—even in a partially free market. And these leaders’ efforts and the evolutions springing from them are not this story’s end. History is a beginning—merely the stage being set for future history.

There are plenty of living legends who are, and always will be, more famous than many of these 100 Minds. I’m talking about today’s bigwig movers and shakers—or octogenarian legends from 20 years ago. Their stories will be written best when their lives are done and can be put in perspective. And their lives will tell still more about market innovation.

But many of the lessons we will learn from the next 50 have already been told by my 100. The next 50 will be no smarter, no more diverse, and no more creative; they still will have to grapple with many of the same issues faced by the 100.

These next 50 will show us more technical expertise, to be sure, as it pertains to rapidly evolving technology and a world where increased specialization in all fields seems insured. Yet, in finance, the key will be to deploy specialization without losing the overview and personal traits that made the original 100 so great. Specialization in finance without overview is useless. It’s like a cog spinning wildly with no connections. And specialization without the right supporting character traits won’t go any further than many of the geniuses we’ve examined who couldn’t quite get past their own character flaws.

Time and again, we saw among the 100 Minds separation based on character between those who endured as financial successes and those who gained-and-waned. The endurers cared more for the game they played than their egos or what their money could buy for them in earthly pleasures. The flash-in-the-pans were often just as smart, innovative and timely as the endurers, but often got diverted by some compulsive obsession, whether it was wine, women, ego, or all three. It will probably always be that way. And you may well take it to heart, and to the bank, in your own investment activities.

That there will be another 50 fabulous financial types, who could half-fill another book like this one, is certain. Between us, we could rattle off a third of them right here and now: Warren Buffett, Fred Carr, David Dreman, Phil Fisher, Rudolph Giuliani, Peter Lynch, Ned Johnson, Michael Milken, William O’Neil, T. Boone Pickens, Claude Rosenberg, Barr Rosenberg, William Sharpe, George Soros, John Templeton, Gerry Tsai, Robert Vesco. All are living, most are still contributing, and all are fabulous and fascinating. Think a tad harder and another third would pop into our minds without too much trouble. But coming up with those 50 names isn’t really the issue.

What really counts is the 50 after that . . . the ones who haven’t even started their financial legacies yet. Hopefully, we may some day see a book entitled, The Second 100 Minds That Remade the Market. If capitalism and Wall Street are to prosper, then behind them must be vivid minds twisting new ideas out of an ever-aging financial system to keep it renewed. Will those minds keep evolving to drive our financial system forward? Let us hope so. The future of capitalism depends on it. And to make it fun for us in the process, let us hope they are as fascinating as these 100 Minds That Made The Market.