Category: Transforming yourself

Words of wisdom about Wall Street

Published on by Tim RaganLeave a comment

I just came across this short little summary statement from the HBR’s “Shortlist” weekly summary (which sadly, is being discontinued).  It’s by Michael Lewis, the highly regarded author of various Wall Street oriented books, along with gems like “Moneyball”. My favorite Lewis book is “The Big Short” which is a fascinating look at the shenanigans behind the 2007-2009 financial meltdown. Lewis does indeed seem to know his stuff:

Michael Lewis knows a little something about Wall Street. And getting past the usual employee complaints about the financial sector (long hours, for one), he offers several often-hidden occupational hazards for the stellar university graduates who think they can make it in the industry while also holding on to ethics and personal responsibility. One: “Anyone who works in finance will sense, at least at first, the pressure to know more than he does.” And many of the things you have to pretend to know can’t even be known in the first place, he argues. “You will be paid a lot more to forget your uneasy feelings.” Two: Working in finance does not involve joining “a team of professionals committed to the success of your bank.” Instead, most who work on Wall Street and are successful “have no serious stake in the long-term fates of their firms.” And three: “Anyone who works in big finance will feel enormous pressure to not challenge or question existing arrangements.”

So for those embarking on a career in finance, Lewis has one last piece of advice: “Watch yourself, because no one else will.”

The full article from Michael Lewis is here. Enjoy. Or cringe. Depending on your view of where Wall Street fits into the scheme of things.

 

Dan Pink: On personal roadmaps and plans…

Published on by Tim RaganLeave a comment

The following short extract is taken from Dan Pink’s recent 2014 Weinberg College convocation speech, given at Northwestern University earlier this year. It’s a great summary of the “got to have a plan” approach versus the “just gonna do it” approach that many of us struggle with throughout our professional and personal lives. For fully committed Dan Pink fans, I’ve also embedded the actual commencement speech, which clocks in at some 15 minutes…

Sometimes you have to write to figure it out…

This advice wasn’t just savvy guidance for how to write — it might be the wisest advice I know for how to live… The way to be okay, we all believe, is to have a specific plan — except may it’s not…

The smartest, most interesting, most dynamic, most impactful people … lived to figure it out. At some point in their lives, they realized that carefully crafted plans … often don’t hold up… Sometimes, the only way to discover who you are or what life you should lead is to do less planning and more living — to burst the double bubble of comfort and convention and just do stuff, even if you don’t know precisely where it’s going to lead, because you don’t know precisely where it’s going to lead.

This might sound risky — and you know what? It is. It’s really risky. But the greater risk is to choose false certainty over genuine ambiguity. The greater risk is to fear failure more than mediocrity. The greater risk is to pursue a path only because it’s the first path you decided to pursue.