Joe Reilly is no stranger to the family office community. He has been in and around the space for 20 years working in various capacities for family offices themselves and then as co-founder and president of the Family Office Association. Through it all, he has been fascinated by intellectual thought leaders in the space — which led him to his latest venture: The Inheritance Podcast.
Let’s start at the beginning. How’d you get your start in the family office space?
I’ve been in the family office space for 20 years. I started and ran a family office. When I was asked to help them out, I thought it would be easy and straightforward. It proved to be much more complicated than that. I didn’t understand the concept of dealing with custodians, and they had a foundation, so I learned a lot about philanthropy.
I eventually joined the Institute of Private Investors [IPI], and I met Charlotte Beyer, and it provided all these resources for me. It helped connect me to fund managers that I needed intros to at the time, but that’s all very different now. I also learned all the tricky family stuff like dealing with tax issues and changing your mindset. A family office mindset is so much more long-term.
Families in Greenwich in the various hedge funds and venture funds had all the same problems I had, which was the origin of the Family Office Association.
So, how did the podcast come about?
When I went into family office consulting, I realized I’ve always been interested in interviewing people. I’m trying to figure out what drives intellectual curiosity, and if you can tap into that, you’ll have an amazing podcast. I’ve talked to so many people over the years and didn’t record it.
So that’s where the Inheritance Project podcast came from. I’ve spoken to people like Tony Guernsey, formerly of Wilmington Trust. I view it like I’m doing book interviews and research.
I’ve always liked podcasts, and I noticed how listening to podcasts and using media has changed. Now I can discover people through Twitter or a friend’s recommendation, and it keeps you on the edge of the learning curve by staying within the information loop.
When you put a piece of content online, your audience will find you. It was all done one referral at a time; but now you put content up, and people will find you. The whole point is finding interesting people and get them talking.
I’m constantly trying to figure out the perspectives of others, and I don’t have time to dig deeply into AI or what’s going on in West Coast real estate, and here’s someone who’s in the thick of it. People like stories and narratives.
Break it down for us. What’s the prep look like for creating an episode?
I probably overprepare. I’ve interviewed hundreds of managers over the years and have learned how to leapfrog their bullet points by asking broad, open-ended questions and seeing where they go. Many of these people I know. But if I don’t know them, I will spend at least two or more hours delving into their background, reading things they have written and listening to them on other podcasts to get a feel for their demeanor. I usually have far too many questions, but it gives you the confidence to just start them off and see where it leads.
Once they realize you are playing the role of colleague, they are all interesting people, and it gives them permission to stretch out a bit and realize that I really am interested in what they are thinking. Most of these people have spent their lives thinking about their decision-making process and really love an excuse to expound on it.
What have you taken away from podcasting?
I've recently delved into the concept of epistemic networks, essentially a sophisticated term for knowledge-sharing. It's heartening to hear that people enjoy the podcast and even speed it up to squeeze in more episodes during their workouts. It's a testament to their quest for efficient knowledge extraction. Podcasts, in a way, serve as contemporary executive summaries infused with personality. Listeners are seeking epistemic legibility — insight into what others are thinking.
We all inhabit epistemic networks and seek to customize them, especially in the realm of investment. Constantly in search of fresh and valuable information, even if it's not immediately actionable, successful investors tend to be inherently curious individuals who relish sharing their insights.
They know that in our noisy environment, the key to attracting attention lies in presenting their ideas first, ahead of extolling the virtues of their companies or products.
The more your content leans toward providing information rather than promoting, the higher the quality of the audience you'll attract. The best podcast guests grasp this dynamic, making conversing with them a true delight.