6 Figure Career Management

Below is an old banking joke doing the email rounds in the City. I’ve heard it before, but it still brings a smile to my face.

A man flying in a hot air balloon realised that he was lost. He spots a man down below and descends. ‘Excuse me’, he shouts. ‘Can you help me ? I promised a friend that I’d meet him half hour ago, but I’m lost. Where am I ?’.

‘You are in a hot air balloon’, the man below replied. ‘You are hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees north latitude, and between 58 and 60 degrees west longitude’.

‘Thanks’. replied the lost balloonist. ‘You must work in Operations’.

‘I do’, said the man below. ‘But how did you know ?’.

‘Well’, answered the balloonist, ‘Everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of it all, and the fact is that I’m still lost!’.

‘And you my friend’, said the man below, ‘must work in Front Office’.

‘I do’, said the balloonist. ‘But how come you knew that ?’.

‘Well’, replied the man with his feet on the ground, ‘you don’t know where you are, or where you are going. You made a promise which you are not going to keep, and you are now looking to me to solve your problems. And the fact is that you are in exactly the same predicament you were in before we meet, yet somehow all the blame is now being laid on me!’.

I’m not a huge fan of reality television or talent shows in general, but for some reason, I do enjoy Simon Cowell’s The X Factor TV show - the UK equivalent of American Idol.

It’s the usual talent show format - members of the general public audition, get selected to perform in front of a live TV audience and one by one, the public vote and eliminate one person each week until there’s a winner who receives fame and a multi-million pound recording contract.

Last weekend saw the surprise elimination of 21 year old Laura White – a talented singer tipped as one of the favourites to win the overall competition. It was quite a shock. Such a shock that it was even discussed in the UK Houses of Parliament by the Culture Secretary earlier this week!

And in fact, Daniel Evans who is by far the weakest singer left in the competition, amazingly survived. Based on singing ability, even a partially deaf person would realise that Daniel, should have been exited from the show.

But this is the X Factor. Members of the public vote to keep you in, not based on who is the best singer, but on who they feel most connected to. Laura was voted off, not because of a poor singing performance, but because of poor marketing and poor branding.

The same point applies to keeping your job during the current spate of restructuring and redundancies across the banking sector. It’s not just talent and ability that will keep you in your job - you also need to be able to market yourself to your internal audience.

I’m no expert on the music industry, but with my career management hat on, I can speculate as to why Laura was voted off and how the same points relate to you and your career during the current downsizing activity across the industry:

1. No clear personal brand

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“More asset managers are hiring than are firing staff, according to new research, despite the downturn in markets and investor confidence that has led many in the fund management industry to start cutting costs.”

I think the headline and the first paragraph of this article are a somewhat misleading. The survey in question says more asset managament firms which took part in the survey were hiring (25%) than those that were letting staff go (20%). But there is no data for the absolute numbers hired and fired in the last 3-6 months – data which would I’m sure paint a very different headline.

I sense that a large proportion of the firms in the 25% that are hiring a niche boutique houses as opposed to larger fund managers. From what I’m seeing in the market place (certainly in London), the larger asset management firms are now laying people off to cut costs which means that on absolute numbers there is  probably more firing going on across the asset management sector than hiring.

Nonetheless, the survey does confirm the relative stability within the institutional asset management area inspite of the poor performance of most funds at the moment - something you would expect given the longer term view tyoically held by the trustee boards of pension funds. The number of firms in the survey confirming that they are hiring is also an strong indicator for those leaving jobs from investment banks that asset management (and to a greater extent, Private Banking/Wealth Management) are better hunting grounds in the current market. 

To read the article, click here

I’ve had a request to mention the following event at the London School of Economics. Aimed at young professionals, the conference boasts an impressive list of speakers including the CEO of Deutche Bank, Josef Ackermann. The event takes place in January at the Marriot in London’s Grosvenor Square - so if you know anyone who would be interested, feel free to forward this on. 

Greetings from London School of Economics,
 
The LSE Alternative Investments Conference (AIC), the world’s largest student-run conference on private equity and hedge funds, will be held on the 19th and 20th of January 2009.  We are currently accepting a limited number of junior finance professionals, ideally in their first to third year of an analyst program, for participation.  The opportunity to hear pressing market issues discussed by internationally recognized leaders and participate in break-out sessions facilitated by senior private equity and hedge fund professionals will be most beneficial to those interested in transitioning to the alternative investment sector in the near term.
 
In previous years, we have been proud to host leaders from firms including The Blackstone Group, KKR, TPG Capital, Apollo Management, Man Group, Lansdowne Partners, Goldman Sachs and Abraaj Capital.  Confirmed speakers for AIC 2009 include:
 
Hedge Fund Day, 19 January

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Following on from Goldman Sachs laying off 10% of it’s workforce in recent days, media reports this week suggest that the newly formed Bank of America / Merrill Lynch group is gearing up for a 15% cut across its global workforce. Like Goldmans, the lion’s share of redundancies are rumoured to be in New York and London.  With further reports of Morgan Stanley and UBS planning further cuts and the dire economic predictions from the IMF this week, there’s plenty of bad news around.

If I wanted to, I’m sure I could fill the pages of this blog daily with news stories of job cuts, dire predictions and gloomy announcements. But if you keep following all these stories, they just consume you, paralyse you into not doing anything out of fear or an attitude of “well what’s the point?”

It is much wiser (and so much more effective), to instead focus on solutions instead of all the problems. That means strengthening your network internally and externally, doing some self analysis to get really clear about all the skills and talents you offer, understanding what value you offer employers then reinventing and re-packaging yourself to meet the changing needs of your current and future employers.

That’s what every forward thinking business is to doing right now to survive - revaluating itself and then repositioning the business to meet changing needs of the market. As the CEO of You Inc / You Plc, that’s exactly what you should be doing to succeed in the current market. 

Individuals who are proactive enough to take meaningful action and make changes can potentially thrive and be the winners in this market. For these individuals, the economic downturn could in fact be the best thing that ever happened to their careers. On the other hand, those that sit around watching and worrying about the bad news stories will unfortunately find themselves become the victims of the downturn.

So it’s a choice - focus on the problems or on solutions.

What are you choosing….?

To coincide with National Stress Awareness Day in the UK tomorrow, Wednesday 5th November, I’m pleased to have a guest article below from an international expert on executive stress - Carole Spiers

After twenty years as a stress consultant to blue-chip companies, I could fill about half the internet with my reflections about the present credit-crunch and the countless workplace stressor-elements we can expect to see afflicting everyone right up to boardroom level, in the coming weeks and months.

Instead, let me pinpoint just five less-known stress-symptoms which I believe we shall see bulking-up over the coming months, for all of which there are formal training initiatives for HR staff as part of the stress-management agenda.

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“I have to go to work today…”
“I have to go to the gym today…”
“I have to go to vote today…”

What if you were to replace all of your “Have To’s” with “Get To’s”…? So the above statements became:

“I get to go to work today!
With so many people being have been laid off this year, I am priveleged to be able to go to work. I have the opportunity to do something of value for clients, colleagues and the local community - no matter how small. I have the opportunity to learn and grow in some way - and get paid for it too!”

“I get to go to the gym today!
I’m so fortunate to have all my limbs in good working order and be in relatively good health. I get to go play in the pool or have fun in a class or run on a treadmill whilst listening to my favourite music. It would be an insult to people with disabilities for me not to excercise”

“I get to vote today!
Unlike certain groups from previous generations, unlike people in certain parts of the world today - I am in the priveleged position of being able to vote today. So many people have made sacrifices to be able to vote. How can I not go and vote today?”

If you’re struggling to get moving - making some small changes to your langauge can be very empowering.

When you replace your “have to’s” with “get to’s”, life becomes less of a chore and much more fun. You become more grateful and get inspired to take action. Actions which in turn get you results.

When large numbers of people start making small changes to their language and taking action - that’s when we start seeing big changes in the world.

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I’m growing a Mo. That’s right I’m bringing the back the moustache I used to have in my younger days to help tackle men’s health issues and be proactive in the fight against prostate cancer. You can sponsor me by clicking here.

What is Movember?

Movember is a moustache growing charity event held across the globe during November each year.

At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache and along the way raise as much money and awareness about male health issues, in particular prostate cancer as possible.

Which ever way we look at it, men are far less healthy than women.

Why?

Men lack awareness about the very real health issues they face. There is an attitude that they have to be tough - “a real man” - and are reluctant to see a doctor about an illness or go for regular medical checks.

Movember aims to change these attitudes and make men’s health fun by putting the Mo back on the face of fashion and in the process raise some serious funds for key men’s health issues including depression and prostate cancer.

Prostrate Cancer – The Facts

In the UK: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK with 35,000 men diagnosed every year. 1 in 11 UK men will be diagnosed in their lifetime.

In the US: Prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in the US with one in six American men developing the disease and more than 28,000 men dying of the disease every year.

In Canada: Every year around 24,700 Canadian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 4,300 die of the disease, making it the number one cancer threat to Canadian men.

In Australia: Every year 2,900 Australian men die from prostate cancer and over 18,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

In Other Countries: The rates of prostrate cancer continue to grow in every continent across the world

Where does the money go?
The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men’s health issues and donated to The Prostate Cancer Charity which will have an enormous impact on many men’s lives and the awareness will help us to fight prostate cancer on every front - through research, support, information and campaigning.

Making a donation
You can donate to my Mo by either clicking on this link and donating online with your credit/debit card or PayPal account. 

Thank you for your support!

If you have a warm home, a soft bed, food in the fridge, clean clothes, family and friends – then you have a lot to be thankful for. Two-thirds of the world’s population would think they’d won the lottery if they were in your shoes. If you have a college education, own a car, a phone and have internet access then you’re far more privileged than about 90% of the people on the planet.

Keep that in mind the next time you find yourself complaining about the state of the economy, the job market and your prolonged job search. No matter how bad a day, week or year you’re having, you’re still in a pretty privileged place right now.

This is far more than a ‘you gotta stay positive’ message. Developing the right attitude is the foundation of your job search - without it, you will struggle to get back into the right job in the current economic climate.

Click here to read the rest…

“Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.”

Washington Irving, 1783-1859, Author

“We’re all f****d!”…… “We’re screwed…”…..”It’s all over”
 
That’s a series of statements I’ve heard in recent weeks when talking to people across the financial services industry about their career prospects over the coming year.

 Whilst the statements reflect the level of anxiety and nervousness caused by what we have seen in the markets, the banking sector and the economy in recent weeks, they are based on the (false) belief that your level of success is solely reliant on what happens in the environment. That you and your career are merely pawns in the events around you.

The truth is that your success is based on how you choose to REACT to what happens to you and the environment around you - not on what events do to you.

Over the coming months, you have two broad choices to make - are you going to act or are you going to be acted upon.  

a) Choose To Act

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