eFinancialCareers

Most City trading floors have at least a few grey-haired old men hanging around – people like me – who, given half a chance, are only too willing to share war stories with a generation of youngsters who have never known hard times. Until recently, nothing really bad had happened in the City since the 1998 debt crisis, which old Russia hands would wax lyrical about. In my case –... Read more

Maybe I’m just a grumpy old man. But at least I’m not alone. An old corporate finance colleague told me a few months ago that he’d officially passed his sell-by date. He had now reached his give-away date. He knew because he had attended a management committee and finally reached the point where he really could not understand much more than half of what the teenagers round the table with... Read more

“Failure isn’t falling down. Failure is not getting up again.” This advice came from a friend and colleague who knew big time what it was like to come unstuck. He made the front pages not just of the business news, but of the main sections of all the newspapers. He found himself in a position where he risked being a corporate fall-guy, his name and reputation destroyed, his ‘friends’ no... Read more

What causes crashes and crises? Conventional wisdom used to be that markets reflected fundamental shifts in economic realities. When the economy steamed ahead too rapidly, stresses and strains in the system would eventually trip us up and the market would crash. But never too far. When it looked overdone, reality would kick in and markets would turn around. It all made sense in a comforting, reassuring way. Today we’re more... Read more

In the City, technical competence is taken for granted, sometimes wrongly. It’s regarded as a commodity that can be bought by the yard, a bit like the people who provide it. What turns the workforce into individuals who stand out, get noticed, promoted and paid, is the confidence and skill with which they do what they do. Confidence – though not over-confidence – is a key differentiator, and it can... Read more

Political correctness is getting to the stage where it’s harming the careers of minorities in the City and elsewhere, says David Charters. Q: When is a joke not a joke? A: When it can cause offence (real or imagined) and justify a six-figure claim for compensation. We live in a strange world. It is a world where investment banks send teams away for expensive bonding weekends and encourage them to take part... Read more

Give up what makes you unique and you’ll end up no different to any other pizza-d out pitchbook pony, says David Charters. When I first started work at what was then called S G Warburg, one of the senior directors took me aside and offered some words of wisdom. He told me that there are three things that matter in life, and the key is to get the balance right between... Read more

Banking isn't just about being decisive and imposing. Try to be pleasant in the process, says David Charters. During my career as an investment banker, a few people (very few, actually) gave me genuinely good, disinterested advice that has stayed with me down the years. Some saved me money, like the head trader who was firmly of the view that “The first cut is the least painful.” When I had a... Read more

Now’s the time to get a grip, says ex-author and banker David Charters. It’s back to work time. The holidays are over, the end of year celebrations long forgotten, and the only thing that’s certain in everybody’s mind is that there’s an ambitious budget for the year ahead. However well (or badly) you did last year, this year has to be better. It’s easy under these circumstances to put your head... Read more

Whether your bonus is big or small, it is at least a kind of closure, says David Charters. Make the most of this. Everyone is smiling. In the words of the song, it’s another year over, and you’re smiling through the hangover from the team Christmas party, trying vaguely to recall if you really did say to the cute girl from the presentations team what your friends are swearing you did,... Read more

You’ll turn your boss off with slavish devotion and turn him on by doing his bidding. It’s a hard life says ex-banker and author David Charters. Life at the bottom of any corporate food chain is tough. In investment banking it’s particularly so. Brownie points are hard to come by; excellence, timeliness and hard work are taken for granted. Beneath the gloss of high pay and high living, investment banking has a... Read more

Don’t underplay your achievements, says ex-banker and author David Charters. And don’t high five your boss when your bonus is less derisory than anticipated. It’s that time of year again. Team leaders, senior managing directors and members of the Management Committee are huddling together in glass-walled meeting rooms at the edge of the trading floor, poring over lists of names and numbers. From time to time they pause and look up,... Read more

Once upon a time, the people at the top of the banking hierarchy were nice, says ex-banker and author David Charters. Not any more. What kind of people make it to the top in investment banking? As an industry it certainly produces great egos. Everyone who makes it to managing director is either a star or a super-star; if in doubt, just ask them. But are they good leaders? The rewards in... Read more