Bridgewater Is Having a Bad Year. David McCormick Has a Plan.

电子邮件，正式和不平衡，在3月2日星期一上午9:38降落。

“当你有一秒钟谈话时，你能打电话给我吗？”Bridgewater Associates员工询问。

The call, the email’s recipient knew, would not be good: Karen Karniol-Tambour, the hedge fund’s head of investment research, was scheduled to be a lunchtime speaker at an investment conference at Washington, D.C.’s Watergate Hotel just over 24 hours later. But at that moment, on March 2, a man in Westchester County — a mere 30 miles from Bridgewater’s two main campuses in Westport, Connecticut — was undergoing treatment as the first Eastern Seaboard case of Covid-19 with an unknown origin. Karniol-Tambour wasn’t going to make it, the conference organizer feared.

Bridgewater had been on high alert all weekend. The firm’s health security “posture” was the subject of ongoing discussions. Already, anyone who had traveled to certain areas — including the West Coast of the U.S., where Covid-19 had already killed individuals in Washington state — or lived with someone who had traveled, was barred from the offices.

That morning, Bridgewater’s posture changed. On the advice of chief administrative officer Richard Falkenrath — a former member of George W. Bush’s administration and a former leader in New York City’s counterterrorism unit — senior executives would immediately cease travel, including to conferences. Amazon accounts let Bridgewater employees order anything they needed to furnish home offices. Company helplines went live. Bridgewater secured private Covid-19 testing capabilities for a small number of employees it planned to keep onsite. Bimonthly companywide virtual meetings hit employees’ calendars. Research chief Karniol-Tambour would still attend the conference — but only via Zoom.

Nearly ten days before companies up and down the Eastern Seaboard abandoned urban offices, restaurants, schools, and the trappings of normal life, Bridgewater — a hedge fund renowned for macro analysis — emptied its campuses and sent employees home to Connecticut, New York, Colorado, and elsewhere.

The company’s operations were prepared; its portfolios weren’t.

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Bridgewater is the world’s largest hedge fund firm,and its most fundamental job is to produce investment returns for clients.

The problem in March, though, was that it wasn’t doing that.

The firm’s largest and flagship fund — Pure Alpha II — had lost 23 percent in the first three months of the year due to a “long tilt,” or bias toward rising markets, as Covid-19 hit, according to founder and co-CIO Ray Dalio. At the end of July, the fundhad lost 20 percent of investors’ money, despite stock markets’ astounding rebound from their March lows. These losses were following an abysmal 2019, when the公司的旗舰基金损失了0.5％随着标准普尔500指数率恢复了29％。（虽然2018年更好，纯粹的alpha II，股票市场沉没了15％。）

If a hedge fund’s primary job is making money, its secondary one is arguably to avoid negative news: Clients don’t want to read about their scandals in华尔街日报或者说，亚博赞助欧冠。

但这已经发生了两次，因为布里德沃特遥远。7月1日法律申请revealed thatBridgewater had gone after two former employees- 劳伦斯大道和泰克商业管理的佐卡王乡 - 有效地失去了。桥沃特指责他们“挪用商业秘密，违约，不公平竞争”;仲裁小组不同意，并指示布里德沃特支付年轻的Duo的法律费用。

然后是身体打击。7月底，Eileen Murray - 这是一个长期的共同体首席执行官left in April并以前是该公司最高级的女性起诉。她据称布里德沃特扣留了持续性别歧视，不平等薪酬和对金融业监管机构（Finra），华尔街自我监督机构的违约争议后扣缴了赔偿，她现在椅子。在她的诉讼中，Murray被指责“肆无忌惮的虚伪”的桥梁，并抨击她的前雇主以“公开宣传透明度”，因为它适合其利益，但寻求严厉惩罚那些公开报告事实的人，这是建议沃特沃特对其形象造成损害的侵害。“

Enter David McCormick, unintentional crisis junkie.

经过十年的布里德沃特，麦考克斯于四月成为默里出发后的唯一首席执行官，就像大流行，表现不佳，宣传不良宣传的三十年一样，争夺着着名的对冲基金。对于麦考克，时间是典型的。在1987年毕业于西点之后，他加入了军队的第82次空中司作为美国朝着第一个海湾战争。在Mckinsey＆Co.的管理顾问麦肯锡公司之后，他于1999年加入了软件公司FreeMarkets - 在Dot-Com泡沫爆发之前。他搬到了华盛顿加入乔治W.布什政府，在全球金融危机之前进入财政部内部圈。

这一次，随着大流行的袭击，麦考克斯搬到科罗拉多州亨克拉多队与新的妻子迪娜鲍威尔队一起追捕 - 她自己是一个更大的D.C.和华尔街发电厂 - 以及他们的六个女儿。但到8月初，麦考克斯回到康涅狄格州，意图提前推动公司的新战略。在多次访谈中II, McCormick laid out that blueprint for returning Bridgewater to what many employees and clients consider its rightful place atop the world of finance.

McCormick speaks in bullet points.If interrupted, no matter for how long, he will return to his point before diligently proceeding to his next. Depending on whom you ask, this structured way of speaking is a product of the military, McKinsey, the Washington political fishbowl, or 11 years’ steeping inPrinciples，Dalio的管理层和投资圣经引导他的公司。无论来源是什么，麦考克斯都是宗教的，特别是当被问及公司最近问题的一连串的内部时。

“The clients certainly would’ve hoped we’d had better performance,” he admits. Pure Alpha II, for example, which aims to return 18 percent regardless of broader markets, has delivered negative 2 percent over the last five years as of July, net of fees. Firmwide assets have fallen from a peak of more than $160 billion to $140 billion, which McCormick says is “primarily a consequence of our performance.” Yet he says the money is flowing back in. “One of the things that we were able to offer our clients in March and April was liquidity. Some clients pared back their positions for liquidity; some smaller clients have eliminated their hedge fund buckets altogether in this period, and that’s affected us. But there have been pretty significant inflows.” Since March, he estimates clients have added $8 billion and “something like 45 commitments of additional inflows between now and the end of the year.”

Some outsiders are skeptical. “You probably aren’t going to see an exodus from Bridgewater, but maybe the things that people read now will lead to redemptions six to 18 months from now,” says one consultant, who has at least one client invested with Bridgewater. Powerful advisory outfits funnel direct pension funds and other institutions to invest capital in blue-chip firms like Bridgewater, which means any decision to pull investments happens slowly, the source says. “I suspect that people may be putting them on watch.”

Regarding the Tekmerion and Murray legal wrangling, “We have a process that we agree to for disputes and disagreements,” McCormick says, adding that in his 11 years at the firm, it has gone through closed-door mediation and arbitration “a handful of times” with former employees. “The reason for the confidentiality provision is because we want to actually be able to go through that process with an objective judge and arbitrator — and not have it mediated through the media.” (Two other disputes did end up in the public eye. In 2016,纽约时报报道称，在据称对据称性骚扰他的男性老板性骚扰之后，现在，现任员工提出了康涅狄格委员会的人权委员会，并且在2010年的布里波特起诉一个试图在竞争经理Pimco工作的前雇员。）

Tekmerion和Murray的代表拒绝发表评论这个故事。

麦考克没有特别涉及默里的“崎岖不起症”的索赔，而是说他“并不认为这一点不一致”，以便在它之外的坚定和保密中寻求激进的透明度。“雷始终表示：激进的透明度不是完全透明度。有些事情是我们对此并不透明，有意识地。“例如，人员和薪资讨论。尽管如此，一个行业内部内幕表达了为什么布里德沃特为何“通过所有这些混乱而猛拉艾琳”，称这种情况“小便”。内幕补充说：“很多诉讼都不依靠案件的优点，但谁有更深的口袋。”和桥梁的口袋很深。

与默里的冲突似乎合法地生气勃勃的麦考克。

“I’m sad about it. I’m sorry that we’re in a disagreement with her, and I wish we weren’t,” he says. The two joined Bridgewater at the same time 11 years ago, and spent three years together as chief executives before Murray left. “During our co-CEO time, we probably talked every day 99 percent of the time. She was a constant force in my life.” Bridgewater watchers share two competing theories sotto voce: either Murray and McCormick were close partners before her departure, or the two ruled over distinct fiefdoms, with McCormick victorious in an internal political intrigue. Of these theories, McCormick simply says, “Not the second.” There is sadness in his voice.

For every turmoil, there is a principle. Whether you’ve read John Cassidy’s masterful纽约人profile of Bridgewater, devoured an early bootlegged PDF of the firm’s management doctrine, or been subjected to promoted tweets and LinkedIn posts featuring the firm’s management-speak, you know that almost any scenario can slot into at least one of Dalio’s mantras. And for the five months of McCormick’s sole-CEO reign, the most obvious guiding principle is also one of the most well known: “Pain plus reflection equals progress.”

“If you look at the history of Bridgewater since 1991, we’ve had five drawdowns — including our drawdown of March — of equal magnitude,” McCormick says, referencing the firm’s dreadful pandemic performance. “And if you look at the period that followed each of them, you’ll see a pretty significant compounding of return over that period.” The dark periods also spur “reflection, innovation, a series of things that came as a consequence of reassessment. That’s the process we’re in now.”

Because McCormick is not himself an investor — co-CIOs Dalio, Bob Prince, and Greg Jensen lead those efforts — his “reassessment” largely focuses on the client base. (He also notes “new research, new markets traded, and the whole innovation loop that is happening in our research and investment organization.”) And it’s changes related to that client base — whom the firm manages money for, and how they engage with Bridgewater — that McCormick will be judged on.

“转变了，”他说。“该转变的部分是缩小我们在这些自定义咨询关系中更深入的客户的范围。即使我们的资产大幅增长，客户的数量也可能会降低。“他说，BridgeWater目前有大约300个客户，他说，其中许多人获得咨询服务免费 - 如果支付了多雇员亿万富翁的投资管理费用可以考虑免费。“在早期，Ray是我们最大的客户的客户顾问 - 现在我们正在与较窄的客户套装的关系增加。”目前尚不清楚这种Winnowing如何发生，无论是积极切割联系还是根本不替代离开的客户。

但在削减现有的客户基础,Bridgewater is also looking to expand its client breadth. “Part two of the strategy is developing a much more robust distribution network that will allow us to access investors that we would typically not serve,” says McCormick, referring to other firms that aggregate clients on a massive scale — platforms, in industry jargon. This, perhaps, is the most significant departure from Bridgewater’s past, where it preferred to control direct relationships with the individuals overseeing the institutional assets that make up its client base. “It’s a choice,” McCormick says. “We could have decided to build it; we could have decided to buy it.” Bridgewater settled on something between the two: choosing to partner with a few “discrete” firms to deliver products in Latin America and Asia. “We were always a little bit tentative because it was somebody else telling our story — but I think what we’ve convinced ourselves is that with the right partners, and the right investment of time and energy on both sides, and the technology, frankly, our ability to generate longstanding partnerships is higher,” he says.

McCormick战略的第三站是多年的制造：“通过技术与客户联系的基本不同方式。”近年来，局外人估计公司面向客户的技术达到约1亿美元，但桥翼不会确认金额。然而，麦考克斯很乐意讨论技术推动的核心目标 - 推动，竞争对手说，即使性能没有，旨在使公司成为必要的必要条件。

Blackrock有阿拉丁- 它的全部包含风险测量系统 - 和两个西格玛有venn。BridgeWater有其“风险预算工具”，内部为“RBT”。根据McCormick的说法，作为一种“帮助客户的独特复杂方式，帮助客户提供投资组合规划和理解风险”，技术平台基本上允许客户分析他们的投资组合 - 不仅仅是数亿或数十亿美元，他们与桥水有数百万个。

“In seconds, we can apply hundreds of thousands of slices of data, hundreds of unique stress-test scenarios, and dozens of specific reports on parts of our client’s portfolio,” according to an internal document, which also claims that 90 percent of the firm’s largest clients use the tool. The RBT is also touted as “the basis of our dynamic publishing capability, the Bridgewater ‘Daily Observations’” — the daily written analysis that many professional investors consider unequaled. According to the document, the firm’s 2020 publishing schedule has been blistering: 100 pieces of “new media,” including 30 to 40 videos and podcasts, strategic and quarterly reports, interactive “Daily Observations,” and microsites focused on topics like Covid-19.

“投资于技术而关注宗教on clients” isn’t exactly cause for a new Harvard Business School case study. What might actually merit that level of attention, however, is the larger question looming over McCormick: How do you manage the world’s largest hedge fund firm when the man who founded it, and remains one of the most famous personalities in finance, still comes to the office every day?

Except for the whole not-an-investor part,McCormick运行丰信的完美感觉。他的简历是婆婆的梦想的漫画：西点，战争资深，科技首席执行官，高级政府服务，带着一个伟大的头发头发。他甚至看起来like a hedge fund manager: A self-described fitness fanatic, McCormick took home meetings from Colorado in the obligatory branded fleece vest. But he is not an investor — and he is not Ray Dalio.

直截了当，谦虚，认真，常识，致力于使命。这就是Dalio在八月后的采访中描述了McCormick。“我认为大多数人会说我可能会更加对抗。戴夫 - 每个人都认为戴夫是一个好人。也许我一直不遇到一个好人。所以我认为这是我们风格的重要差异。“

Those differences in style are partially why, with the help of a headhunter, Bridgewater brought McCormick on board in 2009. “There are different styles and common values,” Dalio explains. Common values are essential for any functional relationship, Dalio believes, but different styles — in work as in life — can complement each other. McCormick’s onboarding, however, was difficult. “It’s rocky for everybody!” Dalio explains. “People either love it or hate it” at Bridgewater, “and it takes getting used to.”

While hedge fund succession is rarely executed well, the rationale for McCormick’s role seems clear. “I think a lot of CIOs learn that you come in, you’re an investor, and you build a business,” Dalio says. “And when you build a business, you’ve got to be CEO too — and that stretches you. It’s way too much to be both; it’s an impossibility.” For comparison, he points to Netflix’s leadership. “Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos: they’re very different types of people,” Dalio says. “Reed explains it well: ‘Ted is the artist; he can pick things and he’s got the touch.’ Reed is the businessman. They’re both half of the whole.”

As such, “My day-to-day is thinking about the world and investing and so on,” Dalio says. “David’s day-to-day is thinking about running the business. And I’m still chairman — so in that capacity, we talk about what are his biggest issues, worries, and so on. We have our clear decision rights, and I basically offer thoughts if asked.”

But is the man who has been referred to as the史蒂夫的投资乔布斯really just like any other employee? Yes and no. “So, it’s obviously of their choosing if I’m still there,” Dalio says. “Not just Dave, but about Bob’s and Greg’s choosing. And of course, it’s a mutual choosing: I love to play my game. But if they don’t want me to be there, I sure as hell wouldn’t.” Still, he remains the undisputed power center of the firm.

那个离开麦考克的地方？按下时，他承认欣赏CEO同行：微软的萨迪亚纳德拉。“我已经想到了这一点，”他说。微软还拥有一个大于生活的创始人，他们对公司仍然很重要，但在麦考基的观点中撤下了“非常成功”的领导力过渡。

“You look at the role that Bill Gates played, the phenomenal visionary,” he continues. “Now, obviously, Satya wasn’t the CEO immediately following Bill Gates. There was the [Steve] Ballmer era, obviously. But you look at the way that’s landed — Satya has been uniquely successful, really a model CEO. He’s completely different than Bill Gates. He’s not the same DNA in any way. He values Bill Gates’s advice; he’s constantly seeking it. Bill Gates is still very closely aligned with Microsoft, but Bill Gates has a brand that’s huge and looms large.” The comparisons to Dalio are obvious.

“David came across as someone that, broadly, had a bit of humanity from him,” says one former employee, who asked to speak anonymously. “He came from outside, had run a large company, and had senior leadership experience from the military. He knew intuitively about building morale and rapport.” The source adds that McCormick’s background set him apart from some of the firm’s other executives, who spent much of their career at Bridgewater living and managing by Dalio’s principles.

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军队给麦考克里克他的第一个味道的美洲歧管人口 - 与他长大的小宾夕法尼亚州的小宾夕法尼亚州镇的鲜明对比，这是一个截至上一个人口普查的城镇是近90％的白色。

“这是全国各界不同部分的介绍，来自纽瓦克和阿拉巴马州的乡村男孩的非洲裔美国小孩的多样性以及来自波士顿的大学辍学，你将他们屈服于一个单位，”他说。

当战争爆发时，第一中尉麦考克斯在阿肯色州培训。他的团队接到了在北卡罗来纳州加载其设备和前往布拉格堡的装备。该集团清理了其设备，收集了弹药，飞往沙特阿拉伯，受到伊拉克部队的入侵威胁。McCormick的单位是第一个部署在那里的部署，只有在萨达姆侯赛因的军事入侵邻近的科威特之后的几天。

“Remember, at that time, there were no cellphones, no email,” McCormick says. “This was 1990. I called my folks from the base before we left and said, ‘I’m headed out. I’m not sure when we’ll be back.’” McCormick was gone for nine months, communicating with family almost exclusively through letters.

McCormick补充说：“我觉得这种巨大的责任感。”他记得告诉他的单位要写下他们的家人，以便如果发生了一些糟糕的事情，他们的父母会抓住他们的信件。军方预计大量伤亡，令人担忧地使用大规模杀伤性武器。

一天晚上，Scud导弹 - 侯赛因的恐惧战术弹道武器 - 被击落在麦考克的单位之上。化学报警出现了。麦考克的团队很快就落在了保护齿轮上。

“这是一个超现实的经历，我认为自己识别我，”他说，补充说，他感到幸运的是大多数人都没有受伤。“我回顾了这个限定的时间，”他说。“我感到非常自豪地成为军队的一部分，幸运的是。我觉得这是一个服务的机会。“

The opportunity to serve came again during the Bush administration — and was offered once again in 2016. According to Reuters,McCormick was offered but declinedthe role of deputy secretary of defense in the Trump administration. That’s not to say it’s a permanent refusal.

“我没有任何雄心壮志 - 但这不是我完全排除的东西，”他说。“如果你被要求在某个地方服务，你当然考虑它，真的很难思考它。我希望我的孩子看到这一点。我担心的是，当你让你的孩子在康涅狄格州费尔菲尔德县长大时，你如何将那个服务的服务进入国家？这是我脑子里的东西。“

What about being Treasury or defense secretary? Both could be possibilities in a Republican administration, given McCormick’s background.

他暂停了。“我会给你一个诚实的答案，”他最终说。“我在Bridgewater有未完成的业务。而且我认为这是一个实际问题，它有助于为这些事情进行规划 - 因为这些事情没有那些计划的人。那些东西从空中出来，因为一定的情况汇集在一起​​。如果任何总统呼叫您，那将是绝对的情况，并要求您思考如何为该国服务，在您认为您能够有所作为的角色中，您必须考虑一下。并将被问到令人难以置信的荣誉。“

But today, McCormick remains in Westport, more hedge fund powerbroker than Washington politician.

For now.