Update on the HBR

Earlier this week, I wrote a fairly scathing and bitter criticism of Lynn Stout's blog post over at the Harvard Business Review, entitled "How Hedge Funds Create Criminals". This sparked a comment from reader "Joe", which I believe warrants an update on the topic.

It turns out that since my original post here, Ms. Stout made some significant edits to her post, removing much of the semi-slanderous language that I found so offensive. In particular, Ms. Stout's categorical statement that "hedge funds are 'criminogenic' environments that can turn even ethical people into conscienceless sociopaths" was removed almost entirely, as was her suggestion that "a large slice of the hedge fund industry" was behaving illegally.

The new version of her article is (in my opinion) much more fair and balanced, and does a much better job of raising questions without pointing fingers. I think that's important if we're going to have honest and productive discussions as to the future of our economy and investment community.

As in the past, I stand ready to applaud those who either amend decisions that I have criticized, or behave in ways that pleasantly surprise me. If you'd like to read my entire response to the initial comment that brought the edits to my attention, you can do so here.

Thanks, Joe, for your criticism, and for alerting me to the fact that Ms. Stout had changed her story. I might regret some of the bitterness that I displayed in my original post (I was fairly angry), but I stand by my characterization of her initial story as irresponsible. Luckily, this story seems to have a happy (or at least, happier) ending.


[Harvard Business Review]