#75 Vicky Lay: The Importance of Empathy, and the Artesian Approach to Impact Investing

Vicky Lay is a partner and Head of Impact at Artesian Alternative Investments. She’s been a central architect of the firm’s embracing, of their impact potential, and she’s engaged with the startups they invest in.

Artesian are specialist investors in two broad areas: fixed income and venture capital, and of course these are two asset classes that are ideally suited to an impact approach. Vicky explained some of the nuance of their strategies, as well as how they’ve managed to engage with institutional investors like super funds.

Good Future · Vicky Lay – The Importance of Empathy, and the Artesian Approach to Impact Investing

On this episode…

We dug into Artesian’s impact journey, and how they drive positive outcomes through both fixed income and venture capital.

Vicky explained the importance of investing with a gender-lens, but also the arbitrage opportunities it offers, as well as the alpha.

And, Vicky gave us a deeper insight into the way she helps startup founders and CEO’s alike to achieve peak performance. So stay tuned for the second half of the conversation when Vicky offers us her number one lesson for overcoming imposter-syndrome.

My key takeaway this week…

“I believe that the future of business models, the future of investing, needs to incorporate empathy.

Because we’re now at a very unique time in history, we’ve seen it through the pandemic, we’ve seen it through all of the racial justice issues that have been popping up. It’s all shining a light on how broken our systems are, and how we have to change as a world and how we have to put our heads together to try to come up with new ways of doing things.”

Good Future’s Good Books

A New Earth

By Eckhart Tolle

My book recommendation is actually a new earth by Eckhart Tolle just because we were talking about quote, coaching. So definitely a book to pick up if you are trying to stay your beast in the face.

Deep Work

By Cal Newport

Another good book is deep work by Cal Newport through lockdown right now. I think a lot of people have been talking to me about their struggle to stay focused and not be distracted while they’re at home or you know, don’t have the routine of going into an office every day. So that’s also a good one if you’re trying to get through the motivation blues.