While his trading and quantitative evaluation strategies have been scrutinized, he has also shared some management and leadership lessons over time. In 2010 he laid five “Guiding principles“:
1. “Do something new; Don’t run with the pack. I’m not that fast a runner. If I’m one of them N If everyone is working on the same problem, the chance of me winning is very slim. When I come up with a new problem in a new area, it gives me a chance.”
2. “Surround yourself with the smartest people you can find. If you see such a person, do everything you can to get them on board. It expands your reach and it’s usually fun to work with great people.”
3. “Let beauty guide you. This is true, of course, when you do math or write poetry, but it is also true when you build an organization that runs brilliantly and fulfills its mission with excellence.”
4. “Don’t give up so easily. Some things take much longer than you initially expect. If the goal is worth achieving, just stick with it.”
5. “I hope for good luck!”
During a speech in 2022 at an event of the Abel Prize for MathematicsSimons reiterated these five principles and in addition noted that RenTech employed statisticians, physicists, astronomers and mathematicians in its early years, adding: “I like to say that you can teach a physicist finance, but you can’t teach a finance person physics.”
In fact, RenTech rarely hired to fill a necessity and as an alternative sought top talent on the belief that they’d find ways to enhance its quantitative trading, they said Wall Street Journalis Gregory Zuckermanwho wrote a Book about Simons. But his ability to motivate all these good minds also stood out. A former executive told Zuckerman, “That’s not his genius. It’s his ability to handle genius.”
Zuckerberg also said Simons maintained a flat organizational structure at RenTech that encouraged collaboration and transparency. This philosophy prolonged to RenTech’s compensation, where employees were paid based on Medallion Fund results fairly than specializing in individual performance.
“By Wall Street standards, Jim was not greedy,” one other former executive told Zuckerman. “So for the most part the older boys were very happy and didn’t argue with each other.”
Simons stepped down as RenTech’s board chairman in 2010 and retired as chairman in 2021 while focusing more on his philanthropy.
In one Lecture series at MIT in 2019, He reflected on his profession and highlighted the people he brought along the best way.
“My biggest contribution has been attracting great young people to the company,” he said. “We have great leaders and they kept going. They didn’t miss a beat.”
