How Long-Term Thinking and Better Data Strengthens Manager Oversight

The Problem with Short-Termism

A Harvard Business School study recently highlighted how short-term corporate behaviour can raise a firm’s cost of capital, increase volatility, and dampen returns. The same risks apply to institutional investing. When allocators over-prioritise short-term performance, they inadvertently penalise high-conviction managers for doing exactly what they’re supposed to: invest with discipline and depth.

This pressure also filters down to managers. If they feel performance must be justified every three months, they may avoid the types of calculated risks that deliver outperformance over time. This undermines not just return potential, but trust across the allocator-manager relationship.

Patience as a Performance Strategy

Patience is often seen as passive, but in allocator-manager relationships, it’s anything but. Giving managers time and space to execute - especially those in complex or volatile markets - is a deliberate strategy that allows long-term value to emerge. It’s how allocators move beyond surface-level performance and into real insight.

Matthew Burrows puts it well: the strongest relationships rely on shared expectations and honest dialogue.

"The best meetings are the ones where you sit in front of each other and really chew the fat… Out of conversations come questions that you never really knew that you wanted to ask."

It’s not that data and documentation don’t matter - they do. But conversations, especially the kind that happen outside formal reports, reveal the real picture, helping both sides stay on the same page, even when things get bumpy.

Technology Can Help - If Used Right

There’s a place for digital tools, and it’s not in replacing relationships. Burrows notes that automation can help remove administrative barriers, allowing allocators to focus more on strategic insight. Platforms like Dasseti COLLECT help institutional investors track structured manager data over time, enabling deeper analysis and reducing the reliance on short-term performance metrics.

But the value of technology goes beyond data storage. It lies in its ability to transform fragmented reporting cycles into a continuous, transparent view of a manager’s strategy, philosophy, and execution. With the right tools, allocators can surface patterns, identify early signs of consistency or drift, and engage in more informed, forward-looking conversations.

Technology can also reduce duplication of effort - for both allocators and managers - by eliminating repetitive document-based processes and creating a shared source of truth. This not only saves time but reinforces trust, because both sides are working from a common, validated information set.

Final Thought

The allocator-manager relationship is, at its core, a partnership. And like any successful partnership, it depends on trust, time, and transparency. For allocators seeking lasting value and real alignment, patience isn’t a virtue. It’s a strategy.