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.

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

Private equity capital in each of those markets Europe and Asia - while those markets have very different characteristics - fills a niche where either strategic investors or the public markets don't go, or don't want to go for some particular reason. I think that's going to continue to be the case going forward.

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.

The private equity world is a relatively small one. There are currently probably a few thousand professional jobs worldwide. In private equity, that's probably about all there is. So in the scheme of things, the firms are all relatively small.