Game Changer

Don O’Neal

A few years ago, I went to a fundraiser where famous Bay Area professional athletes picked the coach that made the most difference in their lives, and honored them by bringing them to the event, televised on ESPN. A wide variety of individual coaches were chosen – pro, college, high school, and sometimes their own father. Both player and coach spoke about what the other meant to them. Called the Game Changer Awards, it reminded me of the good that can be done in people’s lives, and the individual stories often brought a tear to my eye. I was sitting there, and it hit me: Jack McDonald is my Game Changer.

I showed up at the Stanford GSB as a nuclear engineer with an interest in business, because I thought engineering would be too narrow. At the time I knew absolutely nothing about finance or investing. I remember someone telling me they worked at Morgan Stanley before the GSB, and I replied “Oh, I’ve never heard of them, what do they do?”

Classmates will remember we had to bid for classes after the core was over, and at the time Investments and Touchy-Feely were the two most popular and were offered the same quarter. So popular that you could only afford to bid on one. I chose to go for Investments, partly because I thought it would be a good fit, and partly because I was quite intimidated by the concept of Touchy-Feely. I was skeptical – there was no way such an expensive class would be worth it. But I was wrong. As it turned out, Jack completely changed the trajectory of my life. Investing did turn out to be a good fit. Jack introduced me to the Capital Group, where I’ve worked since. I will be forever grateful. And because he was on the Board there, I got to see him and work with him quarterly. Everyone on the Board looked up to him. It would be hard to imagine anyone more dedicated to the craft of investing and to the craft of teaching. He cared so deeply about excellence in both, it makes me ache to think about it. I watched and appreciated his focus on personal touch and “doing the right thing”. He was also a devoted family man. For me, he was a role model, personally and professionally. I miss him. I look forward to seeing him in heaven one day. I want to tell him he was my Game Changer.