A Day in The Life of a Money Maven

C H I C A G O, March 8, 2002 -- Proving the adage that time is money, Mellody Hobson gets up at 4:30 in the morning to begin her day as president of Ariel Capital Management, a Chicago-based investment management firm that handles $8 billion in assets.

With a busy schedule ahead of her, Hobson has simply found that there isn't much time to waste.

"I have to get up early in order to get everything done," said Hobson, who is also Good Morning America's financial contributor. There is no disputing that there is a method to her early morning madness.

At age 32, Hobson is now president of the same company where she bore the title of "intern," when she was still an undergraduate at Princeton University. Observers pegged Hobson as a mover and shaker 10 years ago, when her name first started surfacing on media lists of accomplished people.

In 1992, Ebony magazine recognized Hobson as one of the "30 Leaders of the Future." Working Woman magazine named Hobson in its "20 under 30"list of young leaders, and Crain's Chicago Business cited her as one of the city's young leaders in its annual "40 under 40" feature.

In 2001, came international kudos, with the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, naming Hobson a "Global Leader of Tomorrow" and Fortune magazine recognizing her as one of 25 "Next-Generation Global Leaders."

How does she do it all? A Good Morning America crew followed Hobson on a typical day to find out.

'Perishables' Come First

First thing in the morning, Hobson heads to the office, where there are stacks of daily newspapers and magazines to read. With phone calls and e-mails to return, Hobson has her work cut out for her from the word go.

"We call reading material and phone calls perishable," Hobson said. "You have got to get them done before the day is over, or basically, they go bad."

As president, Hobson oversees the servicing of the firm's corporate, public and non-profit institutional clients as well as the marketing of the firm's four publicly traded mutual fund products: Ariel Fund, Ariel Appreciation Fund, Ariel Premier Growth Fund and Ariel Premier Bond Fund. She also has management responsibilities at the 52-employee firm, and is in charge of strategic planning.

In her first meeting of the day, with her marketing staff, Hobson has some good news for the team.

"We are on the billion dollar watch for the appreciation fund and we have to think of something clever," she said. The marketing team brainstorms on how to present material to Ariel's clients.

Breaking the billion-dollar mark on the Ariel appreciation fund is a very big deal for the company.

"That is a milestone we have been working towards for a very long time and it makes it one of the more successful funds in its category," Hobson said.

Away From the Frenzy

After the marketing meeting, Hobson moves on to a meeting with the research team, which focuses on the investments that the company will make. The research staff meeting is where it all happens.

Hobson and the research team start looking into stocks Ariel is interested in investing in, and reviewing current stock holdings. This meeting is where many of the "big money" decisions are made, where the pros and cons of every move are carefully weighed.

"The first pro I see is that all the bad news is out with this stock," Hobson said of one stock.

Hobson isn't glued to the stock markets' opening and closing bell, and she stays away from the most hectic time of the day by design. The company's motto is that "slow and steady wins the race."

"We have the turtle for our logo. Buy and hold is a mantra for Ariel," Hobson said. "Everyday we are making changes on the margin, but we are not making big huge changes. There is no frenzy; there is no rapid fire of investing. It is a very patient and deliberate way of investing."

While Hobson's investing is not filled with frenzy, her schedule of activities certainly is.

At 4:30 pm, Hobson headed out to a Chicago Public Education Fund board meeting. It is one of about 10 civic and professional that Hobson is involved with.

Keeping It Simple

Finally, 14 hours since Hobson began her day, she enters her final meeting, with the Ariel Capital Management Board of Directors Meeting.

Her workday is busy, and her schedule is hectic, but Hobson says her formula for keeping it all together is simple. Who needs a Palm Pilot? Other than her Blackberry wireless email device, Hobson keeps track of her day the old-fashioned way.

"It's a pen and a it's a legal pad," Hobson said. "Those are the two things that I need to get my job done every day so I can keep a list and continue to check things off the list."

Setting up rigorous goals helps, too, Hobson said.

"I would say a third important thing is discipline - to be able manage a heavy workload and a lot of information," she said.

After a two-hour meeting with the board of directors, Hobson packs it in for the day at 8:30 p.m.

"I am finally leaving work, I'm done!" she exclaims. Until the alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m., that is.