Zen Jain is an MBA candidate and a CFA charterholder with a passion for exploring the interconnections between global businesses. His professional background is in management consulting and financial services, most recently working as a Corporate Strategy Manager at a FinTech firm, where he formulated monetization road map and fostered investor relations. His goals while at Ivey include continuing to evangelize tech mindset, nurture his leadership style, and focus on solving tough problems that offer disproportionate returns. In his blog below, Zen writes about lessons learned from Prem Watsa, MBA’74, CEO and Founder, Fairfax Financial who spoke to students on July 9 for the MBA Teachable Moments Virtual Speaker Series, a program designed to provide Ivey MBAs with unprecedented access to accomplished leaders.
Strong education offers possibilities beyond imagination
Coming from humble roots in India, Watsa neither had invested in stock nor knew business fundamentals. It was the Ivey education that first introduced him to key business principles, an experience that he regards as the best thing that ever happened to him. He fondly remembered Professor Fred Jones who made finance and investments come alive and advised students to value Ivey’s strong education since it will continue to be rewarding in years to come. It was such experiences that also forged his primary motivation for building great businesses and inspired him to learn from great mentors such as Sir John Templeton and Ben Graham. Our class was inspired by his passion when he shared that he even named one of his sons Ben. As we navigate through our current MBA journey, we will continue to seek mentors and invest in our passions to unlock opportunities beyond our imaginations.
Integrity is doing the right thing even when it is painful
Watsa attributed his company’s superior track record to practicing integrity in all aspects of a business. From negotiating deals to treating his people, Watsa explained how integrity is the cornerstone of all his activities so much so that Fairfax stands for Fair and Friendly Acquisitions. For example, he shared instances when his team, after committing a deal price to a counter party, saw opportunities to offer lesser price in subsequent meetings and leverage negotiations to their advantage. In such cases, Watsa prioritized long-term commitment over short-term profits and achieved the loyalty of the leaders whose organizations were being acquired. These leaders always remained loyal to Fairfax, exceeded expectations, and generated significantly higher returns. Irrespective of which careers we choose post-MBA, integrity, and fairness should serve as building blocks of our leadership style.
Prosperous businesses are built on rich guiding principles
On top of integrity and fairness rest team spirit, transparency, and entrepreneurial hustle. Watsa mentioned that any business can be prosperous in the long term only if it is based on a strong set of guiding principles. He encouraged everyone to keep these simple yet often forgotten values close to their hearts in every personal and professional decision. For instance, Watsa spoke about how he takes pride in disclosing not only positive but also negative aspects of business in annual reports to shareholders. As future leaders, we will often come at cross-roads and may be presented with easier and unethical options. It will be our responsibility to base our decisions on these guiding principles and maintain the reputation that we have built over the years.
Great leaders set the right culture, build trust, and attract investments
While looking at potential acquisition targets, Watsa focusses on the leader of the target organization because according to him leader sets the culture of the organization. A great leader, according to Watsa, is someone who treats others the way they want to be treated and is mainly motivated to build a great company for creating real value for society. By doing so, a leader fosters trust and builds confidence in investors that the investments will be used towards the right causes. Fairfax is even willing to pay a slightly higher price in acquisitions if they find such a trustworthy leader with strong values. This strategy again highlighted the long-term mindset of Watsa, who is one of the most successful value investors ever.
Business should do good and pay it forward
A firm believer in the power of good businesses, Watsa said that businesses are what builds a country and provide economic freedom. But it is the responsibility of leaders to take the next step and contribute directly to the community. From removing slums in Kenya to empowering students in a blind school in Poland, Fairfax continues to invest millions in humanitarian projects and pay-it-forward. Such an active role in improving the community also results in higher employee satisfaction for Fairfax, as the employees realize that there is a higher purpose behind their efforts. Just like investment returns compound over time, our class realized that even goodwill compounds and that kindness should be central to all our endeavors.
