The Exchange

Mubadala

How do long-term decisions actually get made? The Exchange is a podcast about the thinking behind investing, leadership, and institution-building at scale. Set inside Mubadala — a $330 billion global sovereign investor active in over 80 countries, from the energy transition to the AI revolution — the series goes beyond the headlines to explore honest conversations with leaders on how they navigate volatility, identify generational value, and build institutions designed to outlast the business cycle.

Episodes

  1. Khaled Al Shamlan Al Marri: The Risk Castle - Discipline, Humility, and Long-Term Investing

    1D AGO

    Khaled Al Shamlan Al Marri: The Risk Castle - Discipline, Humility, and Long-Term Investing

    What does disciplined investing look like when essential real assets and resilience sit at the heart of your strategy? In this episode of The Exchange, Khaled Al Shamlan Al Marri, CEO of Real Assets at Mubadala, explains how infrastructure and real estate serve as the stabilizer within a diversified global portfolio, delivering consistent returns through structured risk, cash flow visibility, and disciplined execution. Khaled introduces what he calls 'the risk castle': structuring investments around downside protection, alignment, and durability across cycles. He shares why real assets investors must stay grounded in fundamentals, especially during periods of hype driven by AI, digitalization, and decarbonization, and why conviction must always be balanced with humility and adaptability. Reflecting on a 20-year journey through Mubadala’s evolution, Khaled speaks about building institutions that endure, investing with a long-term mindset, and laying the right foundations for the generations that follow. From the summit push on Mount Kilimanjaro to building platforms that underpin everyday life, this conversation reflects on preparation over motivation, resilience under pressure, and the discipline to see things through.  Episode Chapters: (00:00) The role of real assets as a portfolio stabilizer (03:30) Infrastructure, essentiality, and long-term value (07:10) Building the “risk castle”  (12:40) Data, judgment, and building conviction (18:15) Investment process over individual talent (24:00) Future-proofing strategy and institutions (29:20) Mubadala’s evolution and economic diversification (35:45) Agility, humility, and staying the course (40:10) Leadership lessons from Kilimanjaro (44:30) Meaning, impact, and long-term legacy Listen to the full episode here: Spotify: https://bit.ly/4sJ4TPB Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/4jGcslU Watch on YouTube: https://bit.ly/49A6zC9

    34 min

About

How do long-term decisions actually get made? The Exchange is a podcast about the thinking behind investing, leadership, and institution-building at scale. Set inside Mubadala — a $330 billion global sovereign investor active in over 80 countries, from the energy transition to the AI revolution — the series goes beyond the headlines to explore honest conversations with leaders on how they navigate volatility, identify generational value, and build institutions designed to outlast the business cycle.