Being a good private equity investor is more complicated than it seems. I would say that there are a few characteristics that are important. If you look at the skill set that you need to ultimately be a successful private equity investor, at least at the senior level, you have to be, in this business, a good investor. You have to be able to help companies perform and you have to have judgment around exiting investments. If you look at the skill sets there, they include some things you can teach and some that you can't.

Every deal is a regulated deal. Regulators will tell you how to take your money home.

When governments are selling, you should be buying. And when governments are defaulting, we should look at that as an opportunity.

A good default, like Portugal or Greece, would be very good for the private equity business.

Generally speaking, you like to dance with the girl that brung you, and if you can't sometimes you have to shoot her.

Some of the very best private equity people, in my experience, are people who start out as stock pickers - people who really understood value, how to take a company's financials apart and couple that with good judgment about businesses, macro trends, and where things are going.

Don't do something you don't like. Look for a job that makes you excited to get up and go to work everyday.