Why Carlyle Group’s Culture Is the Basis of Good Building and Investing

Billionaire buy and hold investor Ron Baron says he invests in people, not companies.

Before he opens his investment war chest, he dives deep into a company, actually meeting the leadership and seeing the tone they set from the top. No matter how “successful” a company looks on paper, it’s the meet and greet and getting to know the people involved in the organization and their culture that seals the deal for him. Peeling back his 25 billion investing portfolio, one of his investing jewels is The Carlyle Group.

Baron started investing in Carlyle before its IPO on May 3, 2012. But it wasn’t the possibility of getting in on the ground floor of the IPO that appealed to him, it was the company’s co-CEO and co-founder David Rubenstein.

Culture starts at the top of an organization. It is cultivated and nurtured and examples are made from the corner office to instill and fortify. Managing around $190 billion from 32 offices around the world it is imperative for Rubenstein to have a culture that can withstand spanning oceans and bridge the cultural divide that could exist amongst its foreign offices. After all, a company’s culture is the essence of how managers and employees approach and execute plans. And for a detail-oriented Rubenstein, to help connect his teams from all corners of the globe, he says the secret to having strong culture comes from what they proudly call the “One Carlyle” culture.

“We have a ‘One Carlyle’ culture, which means everyone is truly a member of one firm and they are incentivized to make sure they work as one firm, or they will be penalized if they don’t,” Rubenstein explains. This framework provides the comfort of inclusion and the guidelines employees need to thrive. The result of this framework he says is a culture that fosters innovation and performance the same way in every Carlyle office around the globe.


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