“By the late 1990s, Soros had no doubt as to which side of his persona should dominate. He wanted to be a thinker, a statesman, a great public figure; he did not want to be a neoimperialist and smasher of small currencies. Inevitably, there was a risk that this preference might color his investment views: In a discussion with David Kowitz and Rodney Jones during the Hong Kong meetings, Soros declared confidently that the time for shorting Asian currencies had passed, even though Mahathir’s outburst against markets had triggered a new sell-off in the region. The lieutenants had doubts about the boss’s rosy prognosis, but Soros was not in the mood to listen. Although he would not micromanage the funds’ decisions—he would leave these to Druckenmiller and the team—his optimistic bias was evident.”
Excerpt From: Sebastian Mallaby. “More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite.”