Shane Clifford has a story to tell you. It begins during his years at Permal Group, the global investment management firm focused on hedge and private equity funds, where he learned this time-honored lesson: People are far more likely to remember stories than a recitation of hard, sterile facts.
It was then Clifford started telling stories rather than using a dizzying blizzard of numbers and other data to promote his organization’s products and capabilities. Fortunately for Clifford, he was born Irish, a people renowned for their storytelling culture and skills dating back to time immemorial.
That realization took Clifford to a higher station of professional life and, among other things, paved the way for his current role as a managing director, partner and head of global wealth at Carlyle.
“If you’re in a seat like mine, you’re in the storytelling business. I do think Irish people generally are good storytellers,” says Clifford, his Emerald Isle accen