A week ago I asked for some interesting investing follows that think creatively. Here are some of my thoughts…

I like this quote:

'Knowledge has become much more commoditized because of greater transparency and more training. To get a real alpha edge, you have to go from knowledge to insight. To do that, you need imagination; you get paid for imagination' - Michael Hintze

To me, being imaginative involves mental representations of things that aren’t necessarily real, for example visualizing fantasy characters that don’t exist. JK Rowling is a good example of someone that’s an imaginative thinker

Being creative involves using existing knowledge in new ways, for example connecting the dots in a different manner (similar to the idea that it’s not what you look at, it’s what you see). Elon Musk is potentially a good example of someone that’s a creative thinker

To make this example more clear, think about an artist. Someone that blends multiple styles to come up with something unique, for example Stevie Ray Vaughn in blues guitar, is what I would consider to be creative

Someone that comes up with something that doesn’t resemble anything that’s been done before is more imaginative. Mozart might be a good example of a musician that was very imaginative

Perhaps someone that’s imaginative must also be creative (ie has influences), but someone that’s creative isn’t necessarily imaginative. There’s also a spectrum of creativity and imagination, and there’s correlation and blends. It’s not ‘black or white’, there’s a relationship…

In investing, being too imaginative can mean being so disconnected from the most likely future scenario that a view might be completely unrealistic. I think that being a creative thinker is probably more useful for public market stock picking for that reason

That being said, if an imaginative view is correct (for example thinking of a very successful new product that's not even created yet, and therefore not at all incorporated into prices), it probably leads to more meaningful upside. Perhaps good VC investors are more imaginative?

There’s a paradox for creative thinkers. People that are creative are often independent & confident, and perhaps don’t naturally conceive ‘consensus’ views. And because consensus views are often right in markets, creative investors might make more/big mistakes

You must have self-awareness and a process for improving and/or dealing with mistakes to end up with a superior track record. That might involve being abnormally patient/selective. It might involve portfolio construction (sizing, stop losses) etc

Here are some follows that to me seem to show both creativity & humility. It’s a rare combination. @GavinSBaker @BluegrassCap @HardcoreValue @ElliotTurn @LennyIce @HaydenCapital @CliffordSosin @GWInvestors @ArtkoCapital @John_Hempton @modestproposal1 @yesandnotyes @AlexRubalcava

I’ve probably overlooked some people here. Would appreciate any other adds on to this list, or ideas on the subject! Would also be interested to hear any views on creativity, especially from those that are most creative
Thanks!