JULY 2024

All-Time High

I’ve been at Jefferies for 34 years. Like many other companies, our shares have been doing well and in fact recently hit an all-time high. Here are my thoughts:

  1. You are never as dumb as you feel when your stock price is low. However, you are also not as smart as you think when your stock price is high.
  2. While it is wonderful to receive words of congratulations and respect when values are up, it is the people you work with, the clients and all the critical constituencies that you rely on every day, that reflects the real value and durability of a company.
  3. One of the many major factors that affect stocks values are overall market conditions. Never forget that stocks (especially ones in the financial sector) are generally higher when capital formation and liquidity are strong and investor sentiment is favorable. Lots of boats get lifted in strong operating environments. Don’t believe your own press or confuse a higher stock price with an increase in your own IQ or personal capabilities.
  4. When things are going well, that is generally the time when things are most dangerous. These are the times when arrogance, complacency, laziness and greed can sneak into your persona and company.
  5. Great pride should be shared by everyone in a company when the market validates their collective hard work over time, especially when the company also has purpose as well as profits.
  6. Competitors pay more attention and focus harder on beating you when they see you doing well.
  7. Clients and co-workers rightfully expect more from you when things are going well. Striving to meet these increased expectations is hard work and a privilege.
  8. Generally, the best and most valuable lessons are learned when things are not going well. The best lesson that can be learned when things are good is humility.
  9. There are not enough hands to count the number of larger competitors who had much higher stock prices than ours, but are no longer with us. Never confuse high equity values with invincibility or a predictor/guarantee of additional future success. Everything is, and will always be, incredibly fragile. The only difference is that now we have even more responsibility to protect our home.
  10. It is OK to step back for a moment and reflect on the hard work, loyalty, tenacity, integrity and countless accomplishments that define the entire team and are the primary reason why our share prices have reached a new high. If you cannot smell the roses once in a while and appreciate all you have, the battle is not worth having. That said, a moment (or two) are all that are allowed. Great firms and people who experience moments of success are driven harder to keep proving themselves to all of their constituencies every single day. What goes up in the short-run also goes down in the short-run, and that is OK. It is always the long-term that defines us.

RICH HANDLER
CEO, Jefferies Financial Group
1.212.284.2555
[email protected]
@handlerrich Twitter | Instagram
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