KKR’s ‘apprenticeship culture’ is fueling its ambitions to reach $1 trillion in assets

Good morning.

KKR became famous in the 1980s as the leveraged buy-out pioneer that acquired RJR Nabisco—a nail-biting drama chronicled in the book Barbarians at the Gate . Today it’s the world’s third-largest alternative asset manager that, as my Fortune colleague Shawn Tully notes, “boasts the industry’s hottest stock and biggest ambitions.” Tully spoke with co-CEOs Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall about their strategy to move beyond a traditional capital-light, fee-based business to a buy-and-hold model more akin to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway . Shawn’s new story, published today, details how they plan to reach $1 trillion in assets by 2030 and become a much more profitable company along the way.

At their heart, most successful investment firms try to foster what Nuttall calls an “apprenticeship culture” in which leaders teach and test and create a state of constant learning. Bridgewater’s founder Ray Dalio called it “radical transparency;” Berkshire Hathaway’s Charlie Munger talked about being a “learning machine.”

Another way top leaders encourage learning is by making themselves extremely accessible to up-and-comers. While Ken Chenault learned a lot in his 17 years as CEO of American Express , he embraces the freedom he now has to do deeper dives as chairman and managing director of venture firm General Catalyst. “I loved being CEO of Amex but I was scheduled two or three years out,” Chenault says. “The terrific thing now is that I can spend four or five hours with a founder in a way that would have been really hard before.”

Mark Sotir, who runs Equity Group Investments, the investment firm founded by the late Sam Zell, told me earlier this summer that “the environment Sam created was one where you have to grow; you don’t run out of things to learn or things to try. You have to experiment.”

It's a worthwhile lesson at a time when many are lamenting how to educate the next generation in an age of AI. Some of the greatest insights, of course, come from learning about the experiences of others. We compiled a special digital issue (story links below) that’s out this morning with half a dozen recent and new features that we hope you’ll find instructive.

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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com