Investment Counselor: Like Doctor, Lawyer

 John M. Templeton, M.A. (law) Balliol College, Oxford, has been president of Templeton, Dobbrow & Vance, Inc. for twenty years.

 The firm’s three founders, Templeton, Dobbrow and Vance, were not law partners, however, as the name might suggest, but rather investment counselors.

Forty-five minutes from Times Square via express subway and a commuter bus to the suburban community of Englewood, N.J. — across the Hudson from Spuyten Duyvil — is the headquarters office and research center of the firm.

Here, again, there is much that resembles a law office, for in the large house converted to offices there are some 20 rooms where men are hard at work preparing analyses of companies not unlike the way in which lawyers might go about preparing briefs. There is a large reference library to the right of the entrance as well as smaller collections of reference materials in the respective offices. One clue to the research center’s connection with matters financial is the “banker’s green” carpeting in office, reception room and library.

The semblance between investment counseling and the practice of law was affirmed by Mr. Templeton himself. “Our role as investment counsel in not unlike that of a doctor or a lawyer—except that there are no midnight emergencies,” he added with a twinkle in his eye.

“Much as a law firm has its specialists in various phases of law, we have specialists in the different types of investments: electronics, steel, transport, petroleum, etc. And our clients regard us as they would their doctor of their lawyer, with confidence. We, in turn, respect their confidence and confidences and treat them and their investment needs in an individual manner just as a doctor would treat the needs of those who come to him. The relationship between counselor and client is, and must be, highly personal since each client’s problems differ from those of all others,” he said.

There was something of a clinical atmosphere in Mr. Templeton’s office itself: leather covered furniture, white walls, unobtrusive décor. Yet the one desk in the room had a pile of reports nearly six inches high which Mr. Templeton said is about a normal day’s reading for him. Many of them are abstracts or summaries prepared by his staff.

One is impressed by the intensity with which everyone does his work. Mr. Templeton keeps up a rapid pace. He had just returned from seeing a client in Montreal and would have met his interviewer as early as 8 a.m. in downtown Manhattan if that had been preferred. The firm maintains consultation office in New York City and in Philadelphia for the convenience of its clients. Mr. Templeton is also president and director of the Axe-Templeton Growth Fund of Canada, Ltd., in Toronto, and five other mutual investment funds.

While Mr. Templeton and his family, plus a niece and two nephews, toured Europe this summer by Volkswagen bus (a party of ten!) he received periodic reports and digests from his office and tried to keep himself constantly informed of the investment markets at home and abroad.

The European tour itself was organized not unlike his own company—with “specialists” in charge of various phases of the operation. His son Jack planned the itinerary and chose the hotels. His niece Jill (a Wilson senior) handled the budget and currency side of the trip. His daughter Candy wrote the account of their journey. His two nephews, Harvey and Handly, were in charge of packing the bus, seating the passengers, and keeping the bus clean. His step-daughter Wendy took charge of food purchases. His step-son Mac was the tour’s photographer. And his son Kit, was appointed head of the “No Grapes” detail, otherwise known as the Ambassador of Better Relations.

“The children really took us on this trip,” Mr. Templeton explained. “It was theirs. The hardest part was for my wife and me to sit back and keep still.”

And did the children make mistakes?

“Well, the biggest mistake was really mine. They asked if they saved money on the food budget whether they would be allowed to keep the money they saved. I consented. As a result, we had too many picnic meals instead of eating in restaurants,” he admitted.

Investment counselors, such as Mr. Templeton, are primarily for those with $100,000 and more to invest. But for those with smaller investment capital, Mr. Templeton and others head up such mutual investment funds as Templeton & Liddell Fund, Inc., Nucleonics, Chemistry & Electronics Shares, Inc. and the aforementioned Axe-Templeton Growth Fund of Canada, Ltd.

Mr. Templeton has been a member of Wilson’s board of trustees since 1952. He is vice-chairman of the finance committee. To this group he brings his philosophy of investments, and, as one member has said, he also, from time to time, points up lessons in economics.

In addition to serving Wilson as a trustee, Mr. Templeton is also a trustee of Princeton Theological Seminary and of Englewood Hospital. He is a graduate of Yale, Class of 1934, and took his degree at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

More today on this concept of orderliness that Templeton touches upon in Step 9 of

Pretend you are sending a cable; that is one of the best methods for learning economy of speech. Cables are charged for by the word. Soon you will eliminate extraneous clauses, unnecessary words, and other forms of fuzzy thinking. You’ll begin to drive your points home with a force you never realized was within your power.

The persevering person will learn that in speaking and writing it is important to keep an outline in mind: This is idea one, idea two, idea three, and this is the basic point I’m making. By using such a technique, you will be sure to present your ideas in a logical sequence. If you use the loose style of normal conversation, your audience will be left wondering what you were trying to say.

The outline approach is particularly useful when making business telephone calls. In the years when Templeton was working eighty-four-hour weeks, he was dealing with literally hundreds of stockbrokers by telephone. The ones who said what they had to say succinctly and got off the phone quickly were the ones he tended to call back. He knew that dealing with them wouldn’t waste valuable time.

[Editor's note: for a good example of Sir John's style of speaking, watch any of the videos in the menu on the right. You'll see that he really does have a deliberate sense of economy in choosing his words. Also note: 84 hour weeks! That's perseverance!]

Though Step 9 of

Perseverance in all your daily activities leads to the formation of an orderly mind instead of one that is full of loose ends. It leads to a mind that is purposeful and capable of planning ahead. It leads ultimately to success in life, because the habit of sticking to a given task, having now taken an interior form, helps you to convey facts more accurately and quickly.

If your thoughts are organized, you can explain more clearly to a customer the advantage of purchasing a particular stock. If you have an orderly mind, you can marshal your facts, present them with forceful logic, and persuade your client that one market position is superior to another…

…Persevering people will teach themselves to speak with economy, because they are the kind of people who persist at a given task and try to accomplish it with a minimum of waste. What we take a hundred words to say often may be said in ten well-chosen words. Practice paring down your speech. You will find that you are presenting your ideas more logically and that the information you convey is more accurate. You will be surprised, and pleased, at how attentively people listen to you when your delivery is crisp and to the point.

In today’s post we continue our look at

Young Templeton’s ability to guide his own life was put to a severe test on his very first paid job away from his hometown. For a shy young man, selling magazine subscriptions door-to-door was agonizing work. He felt totally unsuited and wanted to quit. But it was the summer before he was to enter Yale; he was seventeen and in real need of money.

Few people in 1930 had money to buy anything, let alone “extras” such as magazines. For that reason, selling magazines required more than just a hard sell; it required all the skills of persuasion and all the perseverance and patience one possessed. The sales supervisors even told the salesmen to run from house to house so they would seem breathless with excitement when they approached a prospect—just to make the sales impact greater.

For Templeton, it was a true test in perseverance. By temperament, he was all wrong for the job. He was uncomfortable in the role of salesman, and he considered the high-pressure methods unfair to both the customer and the salesman. But it was the only job he could find that summer. So he not only took the job but threw himself heart and soul into the challenge.

The company’s policy was to give each salesman one dollar for each two-dollar subscription. And if a salesman happened to last through the entire summer and hit the two hundred-or-more subscription mar, he would receive a bonus of two hundred dollars over and above his commissions.

Templeton managed to stay the entire summer and he won the bonus as well. Perhaps equally important, he learned the value of perseverance. He knew that once he had decided to sell magazines for the summer, he had to sell them as well as they could be sold. That meant putting his total self into the job; it meant being willing to make sacrifices, if necessary, to achieve his goals. It meant learning to persevere.

Today we continue our look at

Quote 1:
“The difficult we do immediately. The impossible may take a little longer.”

Quote 2:
“He who floats with the current, who does not guide himself according to higher principles, who has no ideal, no convictions—a thing moved, instead of a living and moving being—an echo, not a voice.”—Swiss philosopher Henri Frédéric Amiel

Today we continue our look at

If there is a leading clue to Templeton’s outstanding success, it is that he always finishes what he begins. He perseveres. Unfortunately, the world is full of people who start a project and then, as it presents difficulties, either postpone it or abandon it entirely. Thus they have gained nothing from the work they did.

Some people will even go so far as to finish 90 percent of a project and then, distracted, move on to something else. Try to train yourself not to commit to a project lightly; then, once committed, finish it! Excellent results and a solid reputation come from the follow-through.

We have been highlighting John Templeton’s theory of “Investing the Extra Ounce,” found in his book

1. To be outstandingly successful you must work just a little harder than those who are moderately successful. Learn to give one extra ounce and your rewards will be all out of proportion to that ounce.

2.  The extra ounce results in producing higher quality in all lines of work.

3.  If you give the extra ounce, your morale will be high and the teamwork you can achieve with fellow workers is bound to be extraordinary.

We have been highlighting John Templeton’s theory of “Investing the Extra Ounce,” found in his book

To make others believers in giving the extra ounce and producing better quality, it’s imperative that you have high team morale. Your staff must be motivated to work together with pleasure and enthusiasm. Contrary to the popular romantic notions about business, the successful executive is not a loner. Give credit and praise to others. Be quick to point out how much help you’ve received from others and what a central role they have played in your accomplishments. Whenever any praise comes to you, that praise is due to all of your fellow associates. Make sure you’re right down in the trenches with them at all times.

In order to promote an attitude of the extra ounce, it has been John Templeton’s practice for more than thirty years to pay employees about 20 percent above the current trade salary levels. That is not the result of kindheartedness, Templeton is quick to point out. Rather, it is his belief that if you pay 20 percent more than normal, you will gradually accumulate a superior team; for 20 percent more money, you will field a team that is 50 percent more effective. “You get what you pay for,’ Templeton says. “The old adage is true.”

In the spirit of this time of year, when summer vacations wrap up with children and young adults heading back to school and working adults refocusing their energies on professional tasks, we wanted to share a very applicable piece of advice from John Templeton as highlighted in 

Even the overachievers, though, must follow certain rules. First of all, when you promise a result, make sure it’s realistic and that you can deliver. Even better, give more than you promised. This is especially true in managing corporations that are involved in long-range planning. If you are constructing a building or an airplane, you are going to have a budget extending two or three years or even more into the future. A budget is a powerful kind of promise. If your work comes in ahead of schedule and below budget, you’ve exceeded your promise. Then, on top of that, if your work is of the highest quality because you gave the extra ounce, you are a prime candidate to move ahead in your company.

Always underestimate what you can accomplish; this is a key success tactic. There is a temptation among ambitious executives to overstate their abilities and what they can produce. Even in risk situations, they will say, “Don’t worry. I will have this done in such and such a time.”

If there is any doubt in your mind, refrain from grandiose promises. Present the case factually and your ability to handle it realistically. Then work as hard as humanly possible to better your promise.

If someone asks you what you can do for them that John Doe can’t do, give a careful and reasoned answer. Big words, brag words, can come back to haunt you. Don’t say you’ll produce 15 percent a year in your mutual funds. Say, instead, that you will do everything within your power to produce a superior result. If you then do more than promised, everyone is happy. But if you make exaggerated claims, you will create a group of discontented clients, and that can hurt your career.