Practical Applications of No Fear of Commitment

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This extended interview with Laurence B. Siegel and Matthew Scanlan, published by Institutional Investor Journals, expands on the arguments developed in their 2014 Journal of Investing article on high-conviction active management. The conversation covers the evolution of their thinking on active versus passive allocation, the practical challenge of identifying managers with genuine skill versus those who have been recently fortunate, and how an investor’s process for selecting managers should mirror the concentrated, high-conviction approach they advocate.

Scanlan reflects on his experience across both the passive-dominant world of Barclays Global Investors and the active management environment of RS Investments, drawing on both to illustrate what high-conviction management looks like in practice — and why most institutions systematically underinvest in it.