To achieve superior returns, Limited Partners should abandon a passive role and adopt a General Partner's proactive mindset. This means actively sourcing opportunities, building a network, and cultivating deep relationships, rather than just waiting for managers to pitch them.

Many LPs focus solely on backing the 'best people.' However, a manager's chosen strategy and market (the 'neighborhood') is a more critical determinant of success. A brilliant manager playing a difficult game may underperform a good manager in a structurally advantaged area.

The most successful multi-generational family offices treat their operations with the same rigor as a formal business. This includes defined structures, clear missions, and motivating family members, rather than just passively managing wealth.

Exposing the enormous fees paid to external managers forces asset owner boards to ask, "Is there another way?" This transparency is the key driver that prompts them to consider the strategic benefits of building internal investment teams.

Great investment ideas are often idiosyncratic and contrary to conventional wisdom. A committee structure, which inherently seeks consensus and avoids career risk, is structurally incapable of approving such unconventional bets. To achieve superior results, talented investors must be freed from bureaucratic constraints that favor conformity.

Boards have a finite 'governance budget'—their collective time, skills, and capacity. This budget must be sufficient to oversee the portfolio's risk. A board with limited capacity cannot effectively govern a high-risk, complex strategy like private equity, creating a critical misalignment that jeopardizes returns.

Family offices and PE firms have fundamentally opposed directives. A family office's primary goal is capital preservation ('don't lose money'), influencing everything from governance to hiring ex-private bankers. In contrast, PE firms seek leveraged returns, hiring 'running and gunning' fund managers to take calculated, asymmetrical risks.

The key question for institutions isn't "how do we access the best managers?" but "what is unique about us that facilitates privileged access to assets or managers?" This shifts the focus from picking to leveraging inherent advantages.

Temasek's partnership philosophy prioritizes acquiring new capabilities over simple risk diversification. The fund actively seeks partners who possess specific skills it lacks for certain investment opportunities. This approach treats partnerships as a strategic tool for enhancing internal expertise rather than a purely financial mechanism for spreading risk.