Neil Woodford
The Steward
Legacy, values and the long now, leadership as care and continuity.
Neil Woodford presents throughout this interview as a Steward: someone whose central identity as a leader was defined by obligation to those who entrusted capital to him. Woodford repeatedly frames every major decision, from resisting TMT pressure at Perpetual to backing unlisted science spinouts, as an act of fiduciary care rather than self-interest. He is candid that underperformance weighs on him daily, and he distinguishes sharply between the losses he owns and the forced liquidation he believes was imposed on him. His multi-decade holding periods, deep company relationships, and championing of patient capital for UK science all reflect a conservator instinct. Even his combativeness toward Invesco, BAE leadership, and the FCA is framed as protecting the interests of investors or underlying companies rather than personal ambition.
“There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about the poor investment returns that investors who back me endured. It weighs on me, I would say, every single day.”
“I didn't want to be a small cog in a very big machine. I knew that by going to Perpetual, I could carve a sort of role for myself where one day I would be a fund manager on a fund I could express my views in.”
“The unquoted outperformed the broader part of the portfolio. This idea that I had too much in unquoted, I couldn't liquidate them, therefore the fund had to be suspended, is just wrong.”
Money Maze Podcast: “From Triumph to Trauma: The Dramatic Investment Arc of Neil Woodford, Founder of Woodford Investment Management”
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