"There is a vital investing lesson to take away from this still-evolving story: pride goeth before a fall," he says.

"Ego and ignorance are at the core of nearly every investment blunder.  As un-shocked as most of us were to find that an investment management bigwig making $200 million a year [Gross' reported compensation] had an ego problem, ego is at the core of the Pimco dilemma."

Success feeds the ego, Maurer says.

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"When everything goes right for an extended period of time, we often mistakenly allow ourselves to believe that our success is disproportionately attributable to us and not outside forces," he writes.

"We attribute our success to our innate traits and our mistakes to external circumstances while assuming that the errors of others are due to internal shortfalls, like a lack of character or intelligence."

In the end, humility wins out over hubris when it comes to investing, Maurer says.

Eric Jacobson, a senior analyst at Morningstar, told The New York Times that there's no questioning Gross's investment prowess. But he said investors may have a problem with Gross' intense management style now that Pimco's bond portfolios are so large and the market is so complicated.

"A lot of it comes down to the question of how well he’s using all of those other folks at Pimco and whether their best contributions are getting to him."

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