Skip to main content
  • Wealth management
  • Asset management
  • Wealth management
  • Asset management
  • Individual investor
  • International
  • MyRathbones login
  • Financial Planning login
  • Donor Advised Fund login
Home
  • Funds and strategies
    Funds and strategies

    Visit our fund centre for our full fund range

    Funds and strategies
    • Equities

      Our 4 UK-based stock-picking funds with investments in the UK and abroad

    • Fixed income

      Our 4 bond funds offering different risk levels, returns, and markets

    • Multi-asset

      6 genuinely active, globally unconstrained, directly invested strategies

    • Sustainable

      Our 3 sustainable funds come in equity, fixed income and multi-asset varieties

  • Literature
    Literature library

    Search our full library for information about a specific fund

    Literature
    • Assessment of value

      See the assessment of value reports for our funds

    • Consumer duty

      Our target market information can help you meet new Consumer Duty requirements

    • Glossary

      Search our A-Z for definitions of industry terms and acronyms

  • About us
    About us

    An active management house, offering a range of investment solutions

    About us
    • Our people

      Search our peoples directory

    • Awards

      See our fund awards from rating agencies and trade publications, dating back to 2002

    • Responsible investment

      Our responsible investment principles ensure that the companies we invest in operate in the long-term interests of shareholders

    • Media centre

      Read the latest Group news

    • MIFIDPRU 8
  • Insights
    Fund insights

    Listen to our fund managers discuss market news and investment opportunities

    Insights
    • In the Know blog

      Read market commentary from our fund managers

    • Review of the Week

      Search the latest market news and insights

    • The Sharpe End podcast

      Listen to the monthly news and views from the Rathbone multi-asset investing team

Let's talk

Search

Beware the guru

15 October 2018

Elon Musk has got himself in hot water with the SEC after months of erratic behaviour. Our head of multi-asset investments, David Coombs, ponders the effects of hubris.

One of the biggest risks in investment is arrogance.

Sometimes, company managers – and fund managers – surround themselves with yes-men and become autocratic in the worst possible way. The best managers enlist people they respect and trust to advise them. And they listen to that counsel, especially when they raise doubts. Perhaps Gerald Ratner could have saved his jewellery empire, if only a trusted consigliere had suggested back in the early ’90s that comparing Ratner earrings to a prawn sandwich was unwise. As it was, his eponymous listed company shed £500m and, eventually, him.

For superstar company managers, this hubris can manifest in different ways, but they tend to end the same way: with large losses for investors.

Martin Sorrell led WPP for so long that he became almost indivisible from the advertising empire he built. It appeared to become his personal fiefdom. Sir Martin was so entrenched in the company that investors didn’t stop to question whether his leadership was best for shareholders and the firm. It wasn’t until he left in a whirlwind and under a cloud that investors pondered whether WPP had been managed as well as it could have been over the past few years.

Or take Tesla’s Elon Musk, a rock-star manager feted by the market, he could seemingly do no wrong. Tesla’s market capitalisation soared above that of industry stalwart Ford (despite producing as many cars in a record-breaking week as Ford does in four hours). Then Mr Musk got sidetracked with an all manner of projects that were in no way linked to making his electric car business a success. He started a bleeding edge tunnelling company, funded by selling flamethrowers, tried to save Thai teenagers with a miniature submarine that was too big for the situation and still had time to send unhelpful tweets that torpedoed Tesla’s share price.

The rise and rise of Tesla and the hype that accompanied it created a huge story that many investors fell in love with. But the losses keep mounting. It turns out that antics considered “kooky” when a company has many billions of dollars in cash increasingly become seen as “dangerous” when the cash level gets closer to empty. Same investors, same company, same craziness. Money really does focus the mind.

There is one rock-star chief executive we do invest with, however: Jeff Bezos, the disruptor-in-chief. Like Mr Musk, Amazon’s chief executive is held in awe by many – including us, as shareholders. Mr Bezos built his world-beating e-commerce titan from an online book depositary. When he launched back in the ’90s, pundits said he would be crushed by Barnes & Noble. How wrong they were. So far, Mr Bezos has resisted the lure of becoming a celebrity chief executive. He’s relatively quiet, he sticks to what he knows and he has a laser focus on improving customer service and innovation.

Mr Bezos has also shown a knack for delivering what shareholders want. In the second quarter, at just the moment when investors began pondering whether Amazon was simply growing for its own sake, it threw off a truly phenomenal amount of profit. This sent the share marching steadily higher.

We are watching closely for any sign of guru-mania at Amazon, but at the moment we see only stone cold professionalism.

Let's Talk

Ready to start a conversation? Please complete our enquiry form, we look forward to speaking with you

Enquire
Rathbones Logo
  • Important information
    • Terms and conditions
    • Modern Slavery Statement
    • Accessibility
    • Privacy
    • Consumer Duty
    • Cookies
    • Update cookie preferences
    • Sitemap
  • Important Information
    • Complaints
    • Voting disclosure
    • Assessment of value reports
    • TCFD Reports
    • Financial Ombudsman Service
    • Financial Services Compensation Scheme
    • Status of our websites
Address

Rathbones Asset Management
30 Gresham Street
London
EC2V 7QN

Rathbones Asset Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and a member of the Investment Association. A member of the Rathbone Group. Registered Office 30 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7QN. Registered in England No 02376568.

© 2025 Rathbones Group Plc Incorporated and registered in England and Wales. Registered number 01000403

Follow us
  • LinkedIn
Welcome to Rathbones Asset Management Adviser Site
This site is designed for financial advisers and investment professionals only. If you are not a financial adviser or investment professional, please visit <a class='affirmation__decline' href='/en-gb/asset-management/individual-investor'>our homepage</a>.

The value of your investments and the income from them may go down as well as up, and you could get back less than you invested.