Thank My Lucky Stars!

Tuesday 9:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m.
Wednesday 9:00 a.m.-3:00 a.m.
Thursday 9:00 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

Wow what a week. Lots of good stuff to cover. First, I accessed this "via email" thing per a viewer's request. So you will notice to the right of the screen a link where you can get my latest blog. Honestly I don't think I am that popular to have people subscribing to my blog, but I really am glad people are reading it. Most importantly, those interested in banking because I would have died for material like this--I always have to remind myself that I need to add detail so interested future bankers know what its like.

This is going to be a long post, mostly because I have a little time to write something good. It is July 4th and I don't have to work thank goodness. But it looks like I will have to work on Sunday, maybe even Saturday. We have a deliverable we have been working on all week. The MD is going to give us some last comments Sunday night, and we have to have things looking sweet for Monday morning when the MD visits the client.

So I got staffed on this live deal (the deal I was talking about in the preceding paragraph) with an associate who is known for being difficult to wok with. I new this going in and was determined to really make sure I got on his good side. The best way to approach this guy is to be really positive (because he is not so enthusiastic) and humble. English is his second language and he makes no effort to pronunciate. Fore example, we (the analyst and I) threw together the shell (the shell is exactly that, its like the skeleton for the presentation, the outline without any specific detail) for the presentation on Monday. As the Associate went through the slides and made comments he mumbled everything. I wish you could audibly hear me reenact this. The analyst was frivolously taking notes, and from time to time would ask questions.

This in one guy you don't want to ask dumb questions to. At one point he raised his voice to the analyst and said, "Read the damn slides, Q!" All the analyst was asking for was clarification on what slides he wanted first.

For most of the interactions with the Associate, I would sit back and observe how the analyst reacted. For example one time the AS (for typing sake AS=Associate, AN=Analyst) came to us as we were working on some slides and was like, "You almost done?"

The AN said, "It will be another hour, I am on some other things too."

AS: "What? Like what?" and then he would pace in circles and just walk off without an answer.

Then the AN, AS and I went to give an update to the MD. The AS was completely different! He was nice and pronunciated well. When the MD was giving instructions on where to go the AS was all ears and just the nicest guy. It blew me away how completely different he acted.

Let me shed some light on what MDs are like, and maybe even juxtapose MDs with ASs and ANs. An analysts desk looks like crap is small and in a cube shared by other bankers. An Associate's office is small, shared and is stacked from floor to ceiling with pitchbooks, PIBs and other documents. Seriously the office of an associate are twice as messy. I can't believe they know where to find stuff. Now an MD has nothing on their desk. In our building the MDs have corner offices with a balcony. On a couple of shelves you see their trophy case, it has all the tombstones customized by each particular deal. For example, you may have seen collectors items that are clear plastic or glass cubes with a 3D image laser cut into the center...image about 100 of those in all shapes and sizes with company names and deal totals lasered into them. That is the shelf of the MD.

We sat down in this MDs office and he had the deck of slides we had been working on. He just started talking about how he envisioned the presentation looking. The three of us frantically took notes. I glanced at the MDs copy--he hadn't even looked at it. At the end of the meeting as me and the AN were walking back to our desks I could tell he was frustrated. I asked why and he said, "The MD basically just told us that our first version you and I put together is the way he wants it." Up to that point me and this AN spent hours reworking the slides to the taste of the AS and in 2 seconds we were back to our first version. Another interesting point to make is that we had scheduled to meet with the MD 3 different times and when we finally met with him, the meeting lasted 5 minutes.

Wednesday morning I get to the office and the AS come approaches me and he is pissed! He looks at me and says, "Why did you delete the folders?"

I said, "I am sorry, I don't know what you are referring to?"

"Someone deleted the Software and Solar folders."

I said, "Was it me? Is that why you are asking? Because I really don't recall doing something that blatant."

He just walked away. A couple hours later all the summer interns got an email saying, "We gave you a training in drive management and now someone has deleted the entire software and solar folders. IT is trying to recover the folders. If you need another lesson in drive management we need to talk."

As I pondered how serious this is, I realized that it takes a conscience effort to delete these folders because you have to click, "Do you really want to delete these folders?" I am 99% positive it wasn't me, in fact I was a little disappointed to see that only summer interns got the email. I know the likelihood of it being an intern is high, but with how fast I have seen some analysts whipping through the drives, I wouldn't be surprised if one of them had inadvertently done it. Lesson: DON'T DELETE SOMETHING YOU DIDN'T CREATE

The longest day thus far has been Wednesday. This was the first time I really had to do a juggling act. When things got really difficult to manage I had the analysts duke it out. For example-one analyst said, "Hey how soon will you be done with what I sent?" I responded, "Well I am working on some slides that we need to have done tonight."

AN(1): "Well I would really like to get this done before the weekend, its due Monday." So I turned to the other AN(2) who happens to sit close to AN(1) and said,

Me: "I know we need this done tonight and I am willing to stay late to get both done. (And then turning to speak to both of them) I am not familiar with how to prioritize these assignments so what do you guys think?" Then they talked it over and my priority was set.

Not only did I finish both but another assignment surfaced and the AN(3) wanted me to spread some comps. So I stayed late to get all of it done. The truth is I had in my mind the correct prioritization--I just wanted that clear in the ANs' minds so that I wouldn't overpromise and underperform.

I am going to try to be better at being more specific about what I do all day. The only way I can do that is if I write everyday. Its tough because I get home late, and this post that I am typing took 1 hour. So to stay up an additional hour kills me. But this weekend I will really think of some valuable stuff to post. I will even try to describe what is going on with the deals I am on without breaking confidentiality. Hope everyone has a good 4th of July!