Optimizing Investment Performance through Human Capital

Matt Breitfelder is a Partner and Global Head of Human Capital at Apollo Global Management, where he focuses on attracting and developing extraordinary talent and creating an innovative, high-performance culture. Matt previously served as Chief Talent Officer and member of the Operating Committee at BlackRock and is the co-author of numerous Harvard Business School case studies on leadership.

Our conversation covers Matt’s upbring at the intersection of business and psychology, lessons from high stakes negotiations working for the US Department of Commerce, and path to a career focusing on the intersection of business performance and unlocking human potential. Along the way, we discuss techniques to optimize teams, individuals, and organizations that Matt has employed at Blackrock and Apollo and close discussing how to apply these tools to smaller organizations and to assess human capital in investment firms.

Show Notes
04:26 Background
22:19 Tools for effective collaboration
23:47 Methods to assist with a difficult negotiation
25:14 Hacks to deescalate emotion
26:53 Maximizing individual performance
30:54 Lessons from sports psychology
40:46 Mitigating poor performance
44:50 Measuring performance
49:01 Blackrock vs. Apollo
53:08 Onboarding new team members
57:06 HR tools for small organizations
59:32 Creating successful long term organizations
1:01:53 Best new HR tools
1:04:26 Closing questions