Inside Vanguard: Leadership Secrets From the Company That Continues to Rewrite the Rules of the Investing Business

by Charles D. Ellis

This rare intimate look at the world’s fastest growing investment manager provides invaluable lessons for investors and business leaders.

One of the world’s largest and most trusted investing institutions, Vanguard serves over 30 million clients, manages more than eight trillion dollars, and is an influential industry disruptor.

Now, Charles D. Ellis―referred to by Money magazine as “Wall Street’s wisest man”―reveals the story behind Vanguard’s rise to the top of the investing world. Provided unprecedented access to Vanguard’s leaders, Ellis explains why Jack Bogle started Vanguard and how he and his successors developed it into an investment industry disrupter that became the global leader

Ellis includes in-depth interviews with the executives and key leaders of Vanguard, clear takeaways and lessons from their experiences, a primer on ETFs, and Jack Brennan’s Leadership Principles. From the emergence of index funds to the success of exchange-traded funds, Inside Vanguard is a near-Shakespearian drama of individual human struggle and triumph.

Genres: Business, Finance, Biography

369 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 25, 2022

About the author

Charles “Charley” D. Ellis is an American investment consultant. In 1972, Ellis founded Greenwich Associates, an international strategy consulting firm focused on financial institutions. Ellis is known for his philosophy of passive investing through index funds, as detailed in his book Winning the Loser’s Game.

Reviews

[Avril · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part 1 the beginning was very interesting. Part 2 was also interesting but disjointed at times. Part 3 was less interesting and more disjointed and the final part reads like a promotional piece.

[E · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was indeed "okay." I thought it good to know more about the inner workings of a firm that has nearly all of our retirement and HSA monies! I did learn some (and my confidence was confirmed/increased). But this book has a very unclear focus. There is a good bit of history, some discussion of market indexing, a smattering of "leadership secrets" here and there. But I hardly felt like I got "inside vanguard."

The book is too brief to be a history of Vanguard or its legendary founder, Jack Bogle. It is certainly too terse to be something any aspiring MBA grad should read. And no one's going to formulate an investment strategy after reading the work. Maybe it tried to be everything to everyone, and succeeded in being nothing to anyone? That's a bit harsh, perhaps. I did enjoy the paean, and am glad to put a bit of weight behind my blinding sending them money every so often.

[Nick Lincoln · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull.