INNOVATION VIEWPOINTS The final word: Building a culture that enables innovation Part of my job is to make sure the resources are in place for our equity teams to provide the highest value for our clients’ hard-earned capital. We are constantly evaluating new quantitative tools, data, risk systems, and software to improve our decision-making. Yet the ingredient that is most critical to the ongoing success of our business is ironically the only constant in the formula. Ann Miletti Head of Fundamental I see it going up and down the stairwells every day. Equity Teams It’s no secret that building human capital begins with selecting the right people, but a significantly more challenging aspect of this pursuit is protecting a culture that can retain and develop talent to its true potential. Protecting the freedom to ask questions and challenge common assumptions is key to this development, and I think its benefits can be realized at the earliest stages of one’s career, as it did mine. In a prior life, I was an educator. I remember vividly my first days of work in our offices in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, in the 1990s. I was excited about the change in my career path but nervous about the knowledge of my new teammates seated next to me. Many were newly minted finance graduates and others had some industry experience at respected firms. I recall thinking, how can I compete? 23