Sometimes being an expert on a topic can be a detriment — at least when large changes are afoot.
This may seem like a surprising statement, but the logic is pretty straightforward: You get so used to one set of circumstances that when the status quo is altered, it can be difficult to recalibrate your point of view.
It’s for this reason that so many seemingly entrenched ideas have found themselves uprooted over time, often to the chagrin of those tasked with predicting and avoiding those very shifts.
Dennis Lynch realized this early in what’s shaped up to be an immensely successful investment career, and made a move that’s informed many of his biggest decisions ever since — he hired a “disruptive change researcher” to insulate his portfolios from this phenomenon.
It was 2004, and the recruit’s name was Stan DeLaney, who’d just finished up his MBA at Stanford.
