Podcast
Going Long
Hosted by FCLTGlobal · EN
Non-profit FCLTGlobal interviews today's leaders in global business and investing to discuss how they are running their companies for the long term, on issues including capital allocation, risk management, climate change, sustainability, and more. Hosted by Sarah Keohane Williamson, CEO of FCLTGlobal.
To learn more, visit FCLTGlobal.org.
11episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
S8E6: State Street’s Ron O’Hanley on An Era of Reglobalization
Mar 900:38:41Tap to summarizeOn this episode of Going Long, Sarah Williamson speaks with Ron O’Hanley, Chairman and CEO of State Street, about why “reglobalization” — not deglobalization — better describes today’s global economy. Topics include: • [00:05:00] How today’s changes in global supply chains, capital flows, and policy shifts are reshaping long-term investing• [00:12:00] The evolving role of the U.S. dollar and the possibility of a more multipolar financial system• [00:19:30] How investors can navigate uncertainty through diversification, insurance, and long-term thinking • [00:27:00] Under-appreciated risks: sovereign debt, immigration declines, geopolitics, climate costs — and where opportunities may emerge
Transcribe →S8E5: Brian Moynihan on Building a Bank That Thinks in Decades
Feb 300:45:49Tap to summarizeOn this episode of the Going Long Podcast, Sarah Williamson speaks with Brian Moynihan, Chair and CEO of Bank of America, about leading a systemically important financial institution through crisis recovery, technological transformation, regulatory complexity, and long-term capital deployment. Moynihan reflects on rebuilding Bank of America after the financial crisis, defining “responsible growth,” and financing the energy transition amid shifting global economic dynamics. Topics Include: [00:00:41] Rebuilding Bank of America and balancing short-term survival with long-term objectives: Moynihan reflects on inheriting a bank reshaped by rapid acquisitions and crisis-era volatility, and the long-term work required to stabilize risk, restore trust, and rebuild a durable competitive advantage. [00:10:05] Scaling AI in a systemically important financial institution: How Bank of America approaches innovation — prioritizing customer usability, reliability, cybersecurity, and enterprise-wide scalability over experimentation or hype. [00:19:33] Responsible growth as a long-term operating model: What “responsible growth” means in practice — aligning risk discipline, customer trust, workforce investment, community engagement, and sustainable profitability. [00:23:35] Regulation, capital requirements, and the real economy: Moynihan examines the trade-offs between financial resilience and economic dynamism, arguing that overly restrictive capital rules can constrain lending and slow growth. [00:31:15] Financing the energy transition, energy security, and future growth: How long-term capital supports decarbonization, infrastructure investment, evolving energy systems, and the geopolitical implications of energy independence.
Transcribe →S8E4: Mark Konyn on Building Resilient Portfolios Across Asia’s Shifting Economies
Jan 1300:53:13Tap to summarizeIn this episode of the Going Long Podcast, Sarah Williamson speaks with Mark Konyn, Group Chief Investment Officer at AIA Group. Drawing on decades of experience across the region, Konyn explores Asia’s structural diversity, the role of long-term capital, China’s economic transition, and why technology adoption across Asia may reshape markets faster than many expect.Topics Include: [00:00:00] Asia is not a single investment story Konyn opens by challenging the idea of Asia as a homogeneous region, emphasizing the importance of understanding local legal systems, financial structures, demographics, and development paths.[00:07:00] How long-term capital is mobilized in Asia The role life insurers play in aggregating domestic savings, matching long-dated liabilities and assets, and supporting the development of capital markets and infrastructure.[00:12:00] Hong Kong’s renewed role as a financial hub What “Hong Kong is back” looks like on the ground, pointing to IPO activity, returning international engagement, and the city’s continued role as a conduit for capital.[00:20:00] China’s structural transition and the confidence challenge China’s property overhang, demographic shifts, and the way confidence, rather than capital availability, is shaping savings behavior and investment outcomes.[00:46:00] Why technology adoption may surprise investors Looking ahead, Konyn explains why Asia’s speed and willingness to adopt digital finance, automation, and AI could reshape markets over the next decade.
Transcribe →S8E3: Karl Kuchel on the Infrastructure Supercycle
Dec 1500:39:21Tap to summarizeOn this episode of the Going Long Podcast, Sarah Williamson speaks with Karl Kuchel, Chief Executive Officer of Macquarie Infrastructure Partners and Head of Infrastructure Americas at Macquarie Asset Management. Kuchel explains why infrastructure is in a sustained “supercycle,” driven by energy transition, digitalization, and shifting supply chains, and how AI and data center growth are colliding with power constraints. He also unpacks why infrastructure is fundamentally a stakeholder business, how Macquarie creates value by scaling platforms rather than simply owning mature assets, and what different types of investors should consider as they build and refine their infrastructure allocations for the next decade. Topics Include: [00:01:20] The Infrastructure Supercycle and Its Drivers: How structural themes like decarbonization and digitalization, combined with underinvestment and cyclical shifts such as deglobalization and reshoring, are creating broad, sustained demand for infrastructure capital across sectors. [00:05:20] Global Scale, Local Stakeholders: Why similar digital and energy trends are unfolding across the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, and how successful investing depends on pairing a global view with a deep local understanding of regulators, communities, employees, and other stakeholders. [00:11:45] AI, Data Centers, and Power as the New Constraint: How accelerating AI and data usage are driving unprecedented demand for data centers, why grid constraints and power availability now determine where capacity is built, and why rising costs have not dimmed investor appetite. [00:18:50] Creating Value Through Growth Platforms: What Macquarie’s Aligned Data Centers journey illustrates about entering thematics early, scaling from a handful of sites to a national platform, exiting to crystallize returns, and focusing on businesses where growth and building are more accretive than simply buying at mature multiples. [00:25:55] Matching Infrastructure to Investor Objectives: How “infrastructure” spans a spectrum from stable, income-oriented assets to growth- and development-heavy strategies, and why more mature allocators now think in terms of how each exposure complements their existing infrastructure portfolio. [00:31:37] The Next Decade: Thematics Endure, Discipline Differentiates: Why Kuchel expects today’s big themes – digital, data, power, and deglobalization – to remain in place over the next decade, and how the real test will be which investors paid sensible prices and executed well versus those who overpaid for strong stories.
Transcribe →S8E2: Mark Wiseman on Long-term Capital in Short-term Systems
Dec 100:42:05Tap to summarizeOn this episode of the Going Long Podcast, Sarah Williamson welcomes Mark Wiseman, co-founder of FCLTGlobal and currently a Senior Advisor and Chairman of Lazard Canada. Wiseman unpacks why long-term capital is still up against short-term limitations, how private markets and geopolitical risk are reshaping portfolios, and what today’s investors must understand to build durable value in an increasingly unstable world.Topics Include: [00:01:00] Why FCLTGlobal Was Created Almost a Decade Ago: How the global financial crisis triggered recognition that short-term market behavior was structurally misaligned with long-term savers.[00:02:30] The Core Mismatch Between Savers and Markets: Why individuals save for decades while institutional capital and corporate decisions operate on quarterly timeframes, and how this gap drives short-termism.[00:08:00] Private Markets: Long-Term Solution or New Risk? How private equity and infrastructure enable longer-term decision-making — and how liquidity innovations are starting to make private markets behave more like public ones.[00:21:00] Governance, Culture, and the Cost of Short-Term Thinking: The dangers of a “trading mentality” — and why long-term investing requires tolerance for underperformance.[00:33:40] Geopolitics, AI, and the Next Era of Investment Risk: Why geopolitical risk has become central to long-term investing, and how AI and critical resource scarcity could reshape value creation over the next two decades.
Transcribe →S8E1: Mark Machin on The Scientific Mindset Behind Long-Term Investing
Nov 1700:45:06Tap to summarizeOn this episode of the Going Long Podcast, Sarah Williamson welcomes Mark Machin, co-founder of Intrepid Growth Partners and former CEO of CPP Investments. From neuroscience at Oxford to leading one of the world’s largest pension funds — and now investing in transformative AI companies — Machin shares how an analytical, data-driven mindset shapes his approach to long-term investing and innovation.Topics include:[00:02:00] From Science to Strategy:How Machin’s neuroscience background shapes his data-driven, probability-based approach to long-term investing and how early models of AI drew from our understanding (and misunderstandings) of the human brain.[00:04:00] Founding FCLTGlobal to Fix Short-Termism:The research that exposed corporate short-term bias and inspired FCLTGlobal’s creation, and why the mission to realign incentives for long-term value remains just as vital today.[00:08:00] Market Evolution: Private, Public, and Geopolitical Shifts:Machin’s perspective on the merging of private and public markets, the rise of liquidity tools, and how U.S.–China tensions are reshaping global capital flows and risk.[00:14:00] Investing in the AI Economy:Inside Intrepid Growth Partners’ focus on enterprise AI companies with measurable results, examples like StackAdapt and Skin Analytics, and how value is moving up the stack from chips to applications.[00:30:00] The Future of Finance and Work:Why AI may flatten traditional hierarchies, make advisors smarter (not obsolete), and change how young professionals enter finance, all while creating new opportunities for human creativity.[00:41:00] Looking Twenty Years Ahead:Machin’s long-range themes: a rebound in biotech, underappreciated Canadian and European tech, a potential commodities super-cycle, and the coming wave of quantum computing.
Transcribe →S7E8: Wafra's Adel Alderbas on Building Capital Constellation and the Future of GP Staking
May 27, 202500:37:40Tap to summarizeOn this episode of the Going Long Podcast, Sarah Williamson welcomes Adel Alderbas, Chief Investment Officer of Wafra, to discuss how the firm is redefining the landscape of alternatives and pioneering new investment models that benefit both asset owners and emerging managers. For listeners interested in the intersection of long-term investing, alternative assets, and entrepreneurial innovation, this episode offers valuable insights into how to navigate these areas successfully.Topics include: [00:02:04] – Introduction and background on Wafra: Adel Alderbas introduces Wafra’s 40-year history and its evolution from a parent-focused firm into a $28 billion global alternatives manager. Their differentiated strategy includes 3 main pillars: strategic investments, real assets, and their real estate investing program. [00:04:21] – The GP-Staking model explained: Alderbas describes Capital Constellation as a partnership of global investors working together to support emerging asset managers. Wafra’s unique institutional DNA, combining “LP humility” with “GP rigor,” enables it to innovate and lead in alternative investments. [00:07:46] – The challenges of balancing long-range liabilities with keeping portfolios vibrant: Alderbas emphasizes prioritizing investor entrepreneurs who can build sustainable, value-adding businesses that will outlast their own leadership. [00:10:39] – The importance of relationship-building: Alderbas highlights the emotional loyalty and stronger alignment that comes from backing investor entrepreneurs early, emphasizing the strategic benefits for asset owners – particularly early co-investment access and valuable market intelligence. He highlights the value of transparency, open dialogue, and intentionally collaborative relationships, contrasting this with the industry’s typical disengaged LP-GP dynamics. [00:22:14] – Alderbas credits Wafra’s CEO for fostering a culture of transparency and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Alderbas emphasizes breaking down traditional investment silos—like between GPs and LPs or asset classes—which requires top-down commitment, cultural redesign, and a long-term mindset that persists through initial efforts and delayed results.[00:29:02] – Reflecting on the dual nature of financial innovation in private markets: While tools that increase liquidity enhance accessibility, they also introduce volatility, particularly in stressed environments. Wafra maintains a long-term conviction-based approach, resisting reactive selling to rebalance portfolios when public markets dip.
Transcribe →S7E7: Brookfield’s Connor Teskey on Digitalization, Decarbonization, Deglobalization
Apr 29, 202500:35:10Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Sarah Williamson speaks with Brookfield’s Connor Teskey on several key trends affecting the global economy, investment strategies, and the role of private capital in shaping the future, ranging from technological advancements and decarbonization to the growing importance of private real assets. This discussion offers valuable insights into the opportunities and challenges investors face in a rapidly changing global landscape.Topics include:[00:05:00]– The role of technology in investment and AI’s emerging influence on industries like energy, transportation, and manufacturing.[00:09:30]– Renewables, particularly onshore wind, solar, and battery storage as the dominant low-cost energy solutions, and the geopolitical benefits of domestic renewable energy sources.[00:19:00]– Short-term vs. long-term investment horizon and the stability of real assets during periods of market volatility.[00:24:00]– Liquidity in real assets, and the growing investor interest in real assets for their inflation-hedging and stabilizing qualities.[00:28:00]– Growth of private capital, particularly the shift towards partnerships with large corporations.[00:34:00]– Future trends in asset allocation, market volatility, and how private markets will continue to expand.
Transcribe →S7E6: Thomas Buberl on The Evolution of Insurance: From Response to Prevention
Feb 18, 202500:29:17Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Going Long, Sarah Williamson sits down with Thomas Buberl, CEO and Director of AXA, one of the world’s largest insurance companies, to discuss the future of insurance, risk management, and developing the next generation of leaders.Topics include: [00:01:35] Balancing short-term pressures with the mindset of building a company that people will rely on for years [00:04:16] Geopolitical tensions and Europe’s competitiveness [00:09:52] Mispricing and risk prevention [00:18:21] Vision 2030 and the future of insurance [00:25:21] The importance of having long-term shareholders
Transcribe →S7E5: C.S. Venkatakrishnan on Reviving the UK’s Equity Culture
Oct 8, 202400:44:24Tap to summarizeSarah Williamson sits down with C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Group Chief Executive of Barclays, to gain his perspective on long-term opportunities for the UK economy, the importance of fostering a thriving investment culture, and the role of banks in the transition to net zero. Topics include: [00:02:08] Restoring investment culture in the UK: How the UK has lost its equity risk culture over time and the need for pension reform, education, and improved accessibility. [00:14:16] Reworking the industrial economy: The role global banks have to play in building a low-carbon economy and the future of the UK's new sovereign wealth fund. [00:24:37] Globalization: Particularly in a year of multiple elections, reflecting on the past 30 years of global political disruptions and developing a sense of what trends will take shape over the next 30. [00:31:24] Trustworthiness as the key to long-term success: In an ever-changing world with so many technological advancements, core values and the relationship with the customer must remain front and center.
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