Exchanges ‘Culture is Everything’: Sixth Street’s Alan Waxman on Flexibility and Alpha
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Oct 24, 2025 
Alan Waxman, Co-founder and CEO of Sixth Street, dives into the significance of firm culture and flexibility in investment strategies. He discusses the innovative Tau strategy, which optimizes risk-reward across multiple platforms. Waxman shares key lessons from the financial crisis and underscores the importance of collaboration and open communication in teams. He identifies exciting opportunities in real estate, AI, and sports investments, emphasizing that a strong culture is essential for driving success in multi-strategy investing.
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Chance Meeting Launched His Career
- Alan Waxman described meeting former Goldman partner Jody Lanassa on a plane which led to his interview and entry into Goldman Sachs.
- That chance encounter shifted his career from a mailroom role to the Special Situations Group and launched his finance path.
Flexibility With Capital Protection
- The Special Situations Group's mandate was complete flexibility combined with capital protection and yield.
- That structure enabled investments across asset classes like real estate, infrastructure, lending, and private equity.
Three Crisis Patterns To Watch
- Major crisis patterns are siloed organizations, tunnel investing, and mismatched assets/liabilities.
- Sixth Street uses cross-team visibility to detect risks early and avoid those failure modes.
