The Nature of Investing: Resilient Investment Strategies Through Biomimicry

by Katherine Collins

Overview

We are all investors. We invest our time, our energy, our money. We invest every single day, as citizens, as consumers, as businesspeople. At its core, investing involves connection, exchange, and mutual benefit. Lately, however, the primary, beneficial function of investing has been overshadowed by ever-more mechanized iterations of finance. We have created funds of funds, securitizations of securitizations, and entire firms whose business is based on harvesting the advantage of microseconds of trading speed. The Nature of Investing calls for a transformation of the investment process from the roots up. Drawing on the author's twenty-plus years of leadership experience in top investment firms, the book connects real-world finance with the field of biomimicry. Citing real-life examples and discussing principles from the natural world, The Nature of Investing shows how we can create an investment framework that is different from the mechanized one currently employed. Readers will discover an approach that re-aligns investing with the world it was originally meant to serve. An approach that values resiliency over rigidity and elegant simplicity over synthetic complexity. This is the true nature of investing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781937134945
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/22/2014
Pages:	226
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Katherine Collins is Founder and CEO of Honeybee Capital, a research firm dedicated to the pursuit of optimal investment decision-making. Katherine has previously served in numerous capacities at Fidelity Management and Research Company. As head of US Equity Research, she led one of the largest buy-side research operations in the world. As Portfolio Manager, she was solely responsible for investment decisions for the multi-billion dollar Fidelity America funds while based in London, and for the entire range of Fidelity Mid-Cap Funds while based in Boston.

After a career in traditional equity management, Katherine set out to re-integrate her investment philosophy with the broader world, traveling as a pilgrim and volunteer, earning her MTS degree at Harvard Divinity School, and studying the natural world as guide for investing in a valuable and integrated way, beneficial to our communities and world.

Katherine serves on the boards of the Biomimicry Group, Last Mile Health, and Common Impact, a nonprofit that facilitates collaborations between global companies and local nonprofits. She is an active volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, and has held numerous volunteer positions with Wellesley College and its Business Leadership Council. She is a member of the Harvard Divinity School Dean’s Council and of the Sprout Lenders group, and an advisor to Criterion Institute, the PopTech Impact Fund, and the Massachusetts chapter of the Trust for Public Land.

Table of Contents

Part I Preparing the Ground

Saved By the Bee 3

The Roots of Biomimicry Investing 13

The Roots of Biomimicry Practice 19

Part II Re-Rooting Investing: Six Transformations

From Efficient to Effective 27

From Synthetic to Simple 49

From Maximized to Optimized 71

From Disconnected to Reconnected 95

From Mechanical to Mindful 117

From Static to Dynamic 137

Part III Cultivation and Care

Biomimicry Investing: Resilient, Regenerative, Reconnected 159

Timshel: The Power of Choice 165

Notes 169

Resources 181

References 187

Acknowledgments 197

Index 201

About the Author 209

Editorial Reviews

“Nature is our ultimate teacher and a powerful source of wisdom and resilience. This book can help everyone bring that bounty to our financial lives.” - Andrew Zolli, author, Resilience: Why Things Bounce Back

“The Nature of Investing is a quiet revolution, shimmering with insight about bees, sea slugs, and the ultimate ‘why’ of finance. In generous and uncannily wise prose, Collins reminds us that we are all investors, and that our time, effort, and yes, our money, can be a nutrient, perpetuating that which makes life worth living. As an experienced biomimic who is now eager to invest, I had an ah-ha on every page.” - Janine Benyus, author, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature; cofounder, Biomimicry 3.8

“Katherine Collins has done it! She turns modern portfolio theory on its head while explaining the nature of investments. A seasoned and highly successful portfolio manager, Katherine shares her insights with both a sense of humor and irrefutable logic, while knocking down many of Wall Street's sacred cows. By applying the laws of nature, particularly the wisdom of the honeybee, she opens the investor's mind to a whole new way of making money.” - Amy Domini, founder, Domini Social Investments

“The Nature of Investing is refreshing, thoughtful, and compelling. You will become a more successful investor and a better citizen of the world if you heed Katherine Collins's call to ask questions, pay attention to your environment, and think.” - Michael J. Mauboussin, Head of Global Financial Strategies, Credit Suisse

“To an investing world obsessed with speed, abstruse metrics, and hyperactive transactions, Collins offers a simpler path inspired by nature. Starting with a mindful look at the purpose of investing, this book provides a framework for making wise choices.” - Joel Tillinghast, Portfolio Manager, Fidelity Low-Priced Stock Fund

“From thistle-inspired Velcro to sharkskin-inspired airplane fuselages, there's a growing global buzz around biomimicry. But what lessons can the economy of money learn from that of honey? Like a scout bee returning to the hive, Katherine Collins signals the nature, direction, and scale of the evolving opportunities. The smart swarm—and the smart money—will follow her lead.”
- John Elkington, co-founder of Environmental Data Services (ENDS), SustainAbility and Volans; Originator of the triple bottom line; author, The Zeronauts: Breaking the Sustainability Barrier

From the Publisher