Core Principles Leading the Way, Always

Dear Clients, Team Jefferies, and Friends of our Firm,

We are in the home stretch of an exhausting and complex year.  We have spoken about the tale of two halves, the complications from geopolitical strife, tariffs, possible/perceived/potential inflation, and interest rate policy.  Whether you are managing capital, running a company for stakeholders in an ever more complex operating environment, or striving for decades to keep building the best global full-service investment banking firm, we believe it is critical to reflect on the guiding principles and foundational goals that you believe are your true competitive long-term advantages.  In the hope that this note will cause a few of you to pause for a moment to reflect upon your own defining core principles, we will share ours:

(Please note when we say “Always,” that is our idealized goal)

1. Prioritizing Clients, Always.  We wake up (and go to sleep) thinking about our clients.  We learned a long time ago that, if you properly prioritize your clients’ best interests consistently over time, all the other important metrics take care of themselves.  Jefferies is basically the sum of the quality of the advice, products, and services we provide our clients and, equally important, their willingness to trust us with their most important business objectives.  We view each day as an opportunity to build upon existing client relationships and develop new ones.  That is it.
2. Prioritizing People and Culture, Always.  We have financial capital, our brand, offices all around the world, products, services, and technology.  Each are a very important part of the Jefferies puzzle, but nothing is more valuable than our people and our culture.  We never forget this and while nobody and no firm is ever perfect, we know this fundamental belief permeates the ~6,000 people throughout our global firm.
3. Delivering the Best of Jefferies, Always.  To deliver our best to our clients means working in partnership across our firm and even beyond our firm.  We must always put the right and complete Jefferies team on the playing field for our clients to win.  We have leveraged and extended our firm through great strategic partnerships with SMBC (Jefferies), MassMutual (Jefferies Finance), and Berkshire Hathaway (Berkadia).  We strive to maintain a culture of partnership, transparency, alignment, and communication to ensure our clients receive Jefferies’ best advice and execution, always.
4. Meritocracy, Always.  Wall Street serves the world’s governments, businesses, and investors as they seek to achieve their objectives, overcome their challenges, and pursue success for their stakeholders.  To serve them best, we need to be the best we can be and hence we need the best team possible.  This entails selecting great talent, retaining and promoting our best performers, and consistently winning for our clients.  Meritocracy means letting everyone achieve their fullest potential and rewarding each of us based on the value we respectively contribute, while always keeping in mind that it takes a united and motivated team to truly win.  We are blessed that Jefferies is a pure Wall Street firm that, to the greatest extent possible, operates as a meritocracy, always.
5. Rational Thinking, Always.  We try to be as rational and clear-headed as possible in our advice and decision-making.  Politics, emotion, alternative agendas, short-term thinking, and bureaucracy destroy organizations and must be snuffed out relentlessly.  Sometimes it turns out that common sense is really not that common.  An abundance of it throughout Jefferies is one of our best secret weapons.
6. Truly Global, Always.  Jefferies was founded 63 years ago tomorrow in Los Angeles on the strength of our execution for clients in the stock market.  Thirty-five years ago, we began our mission in leveraged finance with a taste of research and investment banking.  In the past 25+ years, we have evolved into a trusted advisor based on deep industry knowledge and a truly full-service sales, trading, and research platform.  Today, we are truly global as Jefferies serves clients in more than 60 countries from our 49 offices.  We recognize how special it is to be a full-service global firm that is flat, client-focused, relationship-oriented, and capable of satisfying any client need with exceptional execution by talented people who really, personally care.  The two of us count our lucky stars for being at Jefferies, always.
7. An Integrated Investment Banking and Capital Markets Firm, Always.  Wall Street is defined first by the markets.  Advice of almost every type is best formulated with direct access to the daily trading of everything relevant.  Integrating Investment Banking and Capital Markets in one full-service firm is the only way to serve clients best.  We have no silos or “tug of wars” at Jefferies.  We all pull together and the client is the beneficiary.
8. Insight First, Always.  We encounter our clients when they are focused on their highest priorities. Their need is for ideas and advice and delivering insight therefore is the essence of what Jefferies delivers to our clients.  We have plenty of capital and use it appropriately to support our clients, but ideas and creativity are what truly make the difference.
9. Long-Term Greedy, Always.  Patience and perseverance have been the essence of our outlook for the 25 years we have led Jefferies.  One year or three years is nice, but five, 10 and 20 years are the periods over which great progress can be made.  Good things come to those who have the foundation, patience, and durability to achieve it.
10. Sense of Urgency and Action, Always.  Complementing our patience and perseverance is our sense of urgency and propensity for action.  Moss doesn’t gather on Jefferies, as we are in constant motion to serve our clients.  There is no “tomorrow” when it comes to serving Jefferies clients.  We prefer “today.”
11. Strategic and Opportunistic at the Same Time, Always.  We have always had a plan.  At the same time, Jefferies has been blessed to be a leader in embracing change and opportunity, and we try to be best positioned to jump at every relevant opportunity that arises, so long as it fits our strategy.  Awareness and urgency when things come our way have helped us build Jefferies.  It is also okay to admit when you are wrong and pivot.  That is a sign of strength. 
12. Partnership and Caring for Each Other and the World Around Us, Always.  Partnership is about being responsible for and accountable to everyone around us, both inside and outside Jefferies.  We view Jefferies as a living organism with a soul, and that soul has regard for all of our partners and their families, as well as the communities in which we live.
13. Humility, Always.  Arrogance leads to mistakes and upsets.  Humility drives care and focus.  We take nothing for granted at Jefferies and embrace the fact that we have to prove ourselves worthy every single day to every constituency that we are so fortunate to serve.   

We remain deeply appreciative of the opportunity to partner with and serve all of you, always,

Rich and Brian