Judson Reis is president and founder of Sire Management. Over half a century ago, Jud started at Morgan Stanley in New York. While there, he played a leading role in the largest takeover in American history of the time: Dupont’s acquisition of Conoco. Later, Jud was fortunate enough to become friendly with and invest with Julian Robertson. He’s also invested with Stan Druckenmiller and other legends. By investing in hedge funds and being forced to endure multi-year lock-ups, Jud learned that talented managers, given enough time, will sort things out and generate outsized returns. If you feel discouraged about declining returns, consensus trades, excessive diversification, and other gloomy statements of this kind, you’ll find this conversation a healthy boost of contrarian confidence. Outsized returns are still out there. And the talented managers generating them exist too. You simply have to know where and how to look. And you have to be willing to take the right risks. To measure whether you are taking the right kinds of risk in your portfolio, and to perform in-depth research on managers, check out novus.com.