On January 7, 2009, I was sitting in the office as part of the newly-formed Nomura Asia ex-Japan Credit team and hoping my day would start well. It was an important day as it was our first day back in the office after Lehman Brothers’ Asia operations were acquired by Nomura in October 2008, and I recall experiencing a fair amount of performance anxiety.

And then the phone rang. In the space of the next hour, I remember selling 1 million of an Asian sovereign bond to a regional bank, an account I had previously covered at Lehman. I can never forget the client telling me that because it was my first day back, he was going to give me my inaugural trade at Nomura. This was a client who was carrying a significant loss from the Lehman bankruptcy. It was neither a large transaction nor a complicated structured product. It was a vanilla bond trade, yet one that filled me with a mixture of gratitude and relief after the emotional roller-coaster of going through the bankruptcy and trying to reboot my career.

It’s been almost 12 years since that Wednesday in 2009, but it and the preceding months after the collapse of Lehman on September 15, 2008, will remain imprinted in my memory.

Some of my personal reflections from that time:

Integrity
I realize that this is an over-used word in the modern business lexicon. For me, integrity means doing or striving to do the right thing every time, even when it is not convenient. It means to perform at our best because we never know which moment in our lives we will be judged on. Integrity is paramount to building any business and client relationship/franchise. We leave a little bit of ourselves with everybody we come in contact with, and over time, clients trust us only if we have integrity. Not every trade we do with a client will make them money, but we need to deal with them consistently in good faith so that in the long term, it’s win-win for everyone.

Passion &Performance
It is sometimes hard to be always emotionally invested in your work. However, it is important to have passion for your job, your team, internal stakeholders and clients. Another way of putting it is that you need to be a long-term optimist, but a short-term realist.

Personal Reputation
I was initially worried that clients would always remember me as the salesperson from the firm that went bankrupt. After all, a salesperson’s reputation is more integrated with the image of a firm than any other role. However, not every situation can be foreseen or anticipated. The Lehman episode teaches us that if we strive to consistently do the right thing when times are good, we as individuals or as a team, will be able to navigate the rough. In fact, the cultures of the top companies of the world depend on the innate goodness and professionalism of its employees which more than make up for systemic deficiencies. Our reputations are made on a daily basis. These are the little incremental things – worthwhile efforts, moments you were helpful to others, times you worked extremely hard over a weekend doing something important but not necessarily urgent – which after a lifetime, add up to something.

Balance
“Flutteringly, Floating in the breeze, A single butterfly,” is a beautiful haiku by Masaoka Shiki, the modernist and Western reformer during the Meiji period. Our Asia ex-Japan Credit business is ranked among the top 3 on the street, and one reason for our success is our laser-like focus in creating a sustainable, profitable business. Like the evocative image of the butterfly in the haiku, this is all about fine-tuning balance while working in consonance with the elements. While we can delight in the beauty of the butterfly, we must never forget the changes it has undergone to achieve that beauty. We should always focus on offering clients a product or service that has value for them. To achieve this, we should never shy away from making it known to them that both parties need to benefit from the relationship for it to be sustainable in the long term.

Five lessons from my first five years in banking
An acute feeling of imposter syndrome seemed ever-present in my first year in banking. The journey began in 1996 at Credit Suisse in London on the emerging markets fixed income trading desk, having joined straight from Manchester University.

Being the only non-Oxbridge and non-Ivy League graduate among my peers, I was impressed and stressed in equal measure at the mathematical brilliance of my peer group. I knew that to survive I had to bring my A game every single day.

Here are critical lessons I learnt in those first five years, all of which helped me get ahead.

1. Words are just as important as numbers

The banking industry is associated with numbers, and the complexity of some financial instruments requires some of the best mathematical minds. But never underestimate the importance of words. A trader is expected to know every nook and cranny of his trading book, what all the scenarios mean for each trading position and the tiny margins between success and failure. The trader who stands out will be the one who can communicate and articulate these clearly, concisely and in a well-structured manner. People love to be educated. People love to have their knowledge enriched. People love to make money.

2. Keep it simple

Very often in a bank, you will be the only expert for a particular job. So whether it’s a trade idea or a particular market nuance, get the message across clearly, concisely, and using simple, jargon-free language that everyone understands. This will make your audience want to partner with you. Rambling communications, being overly technical or taking forever to get to the punch line will get you nowhere. At the core of financial markets is the quest to understand imbalances between supply and demand over a given time period, as this is what makes prices move. Remember that when communicating.

3. Be an expert

Whatever your role is, know it inside out, back to front, upside down. You are the bank’s expert in your area/market. Live and breathe it. Make sure you are able to answer any questions that come from clients, colleagues or your boss.

4. Get to know people well

Banking is no different from any other industry in that you cannot achieve much without others. Getting to know the people around you makes a real difference. When you understand people, their character traits, what makes them tick, whether it be clients or colleagues, you will be able to get the best out of them, and them you.

5. Solutions not problems

Every job encounters obstacles on a daily basis. People do not need you to add to theirs. Do whatever you can to present a solution first before you flag a problem. It is human nature to avoid those who complain and bring problems. Conversely, people will always gravitate towards positive energy and a ‘can do’ attitude. The more willing business partners you have, the quicker you can get ahead.

If you observe some of the most successful people in business, such as Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, you can’t help but wonder how they are able to fit so many different ventures into their life and career.

Managing one’s time is an important skill in the financial services industry too. Each person has to find what works for them and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. For example, one of the most productive people on the planet, Elon Musk, allocates his whole day in 5-minute blocks which is certainly a unique approach.

I’ve been fortunate to learn from some fantastic managers over the years, and also been influenced by many great books like Seven Habits of Highly Effective People . Here are some time management concepts that have worked for me:

#1 Urgent vs. important: The Eisenhower Matrix

Everyone should prioritize urgent and important tasks (quadrant 1). But we have to do a certain number of non-urgent, less important “hygiene” tasks as well (quadrant 4).

The key is how to spend time between quadrant 2 and 3. The most effective people minimize the amount of time they spend on urgent, less important tasks by delegating or saying no. This won’t be easy, especially when you are early in your career or in a new job – but is essential. Instead, allocate your time to important, non-urgent tasks that typically take longer and will be more difficult to find time for, but have greater impact.

#2 Weekly or monthly goal setting

We all have to set objectives at work each year. But a year is a long time and it’s easy to lose track of priorities. So try setting your goals monthly or even weekly. On a Sunday evening or Monday morning, try spending 10 minutes to write down the key things you want to achieve that week - including possibly an activity that’s not urgent but important - that you’ve been putting off for later. Then when you inevitably get sucked into something urgent, you won’t lose track.

According to David Allen, inventor of the Getting Things Done methodology, “Self-management is about knowing what to do at any given moment.” I keep a post-it note by my keyboard with the top 6-8 focus items for the week, and whenever I have a few minutes to spare, I scan through it to make sure I’m staying on top of each item.

#3 Do the most difficult thing first, don’t procrastinate

Most people always have one or two items on their priority list that they really don’t want to tackle, and so leave it to the end. This can often lead to procrastination. Try tackling the most difficult things – tough conversations, difficult presentations or analyses – first and leave the more fun and easy tasks to the end. You’ll be able to get things done a lot faster.

As Mark Twain famously said: “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

#4 Plan ahead – and look backwards

Plan what you want to achieve before you go into meetings and discussions. If you spend some time thinking about what you want to get out of each conversation, every meeting will be far more efficient.

Finally, at the end of each day or week, it is important to see how you did. Did you actually accomplish what you set out to get done? By tracking progress, you will soon get a clearer sense of how much you can get done in a given time. Over time, your ability to create a realistic schedule for yourself will get fine-tuned.

Time management is a skill that one can learn and get better at over time. And if you do, it will allow you to be significantly more productive and impactful in your career and life.
 

For the first time in over a century, the world has been dealing with a global pandemic that has shut businesses, upended lives, and disrupted and challenged our way of living. Through this period, I have had many insightful conversations with friends and family on what gives them true meaning.

Coping with such changes is what is commonly called a life transition and learning to master these challenging periods is probably the most essential life skill we need now. Massive life disruptions strike people at their very core, creating meaning vacuums in which it is common to feel frightened, overwhelmed and stuck. These life disruptions may be voluntary or involuntary. However, the transition process should be voluntary as we choose the steps we need to take as we turn some of these fears and anxieties into opportunities for growth and renewal.

From my experience over the last 20+ years in financial services, here are five simple tips to make whatever life transition you are experiencing go smoothly.

Be courageous

• The word courage came from the Latin word cor meaning heart – and the original definition was to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart.
• People with this virtue, very simply, have the courage to be imperfect.
• As Winston Churchill once said, “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things."

No one is perfect and it’s impossible to have an unblemished life. But what is critical is how you front up to things, make peace with your mistakes, learn from them and then capitalize as you catapult yourself in a different direction.

Be adaptable

• On many levels, Covid-19 will draw a clear divide between those who are adaptable and those who aren’t.
• To survive and thrive, you need to be adaptable. We have to constantly change, challenge ourselves, be open to new ideas and respond (not react) accordingly.
• As Jordan B Peterson says in 12 Rules for Life , “No one standing still can triumph, no matter how well constituted.”

I have often witnessed first-hand how crises shape leadership, the creation of new opportunities and how only those businesses who stay relevant by pivoting through change, ultimately thrive.

Ask for help when needed

• Contrary to what many may believe, asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It reflects resoluteness and an unyielding will to never give up.
• Your true friends will encourage you when you do well for yourself and punish you carefully when you do not.
• They will not tolerate your cynicism and destructiveness.

Be honest

• Honesty is not about just telling the truth – it is about being real with yourself and others about who you are, what you want and what you need.
• The worst type of dishonesty is self-deception. More often than not, it is an excuse to misrepresent one’s own shortcomings or to compensate for something.
• I have found that honesty cuts through bureaucracy, distraction, frustration and indecision. Stay with the facts – it will get you to where you want to go faster because you live how you really feel.
• As we go through transitions, we shed things – mindsets, routines, delusions, dreams. This is the way to clear out some unwanted parts of our lives to make way for the new parts to come.

Be kind

• As the author Charlie Mackesy says in The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse , “one moment snow is falling and the sun shines the next, which is also a bit like life – it can turn on a sixpence.”
• So, always be kind and considerate – you never know what life’s twists and turns will bring next. Karma can often be very painful and you may need the shoulders of the person to whom you gave a listening ear before.

My first exposure to economics was in grade 11 and I took an instant liking to it because I found the subject very intuitive. I ended up majoring in economics more by accident and wanted to join a data analytics firm, but got rejected. I was disappointed then, but in hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise. I joined a firm focused on macroeconomic research and have been doing that since.

Below are a few tips from my career journey on how to motivate yourself, bring your A-game to work every day even after decades of doing the same thing, and how to deal with disagreements on your views. For those in the early stages of their careers, there are also a few easy suggestions on work and life in general.

On interest in economics and keeping the passion going:

What has kept me going is my passion for the subject. I enjoy what I do. This is important no matter which field you are in – you need to enjoy the work to be able to sustain it for long. There has also been constant learning that has kept me going – first about India, then more on Asia and global economy/markets. There is still a lot to learn. I enjoy interacting with different clients and policymakers, because you can make a difference. Finally, it is also important to find the right mentors. I found some good mentors early on and that helped keep my subject interest alive.

On what it takes to be successful in a competitive field:

Sell-side research is very competitive and clients receive hundreds of emails on the same subject, so the question is why should they read what you write?

• Content is key. You have to differentiate yourself and your product by adding value
• Communicate clearly and succinctly
• Be client-centric and approachable
• Stay ahead of the curve by anticipating what comes next
• Take risks. Being out of consensus can be difficult at times, but if you are convinced of your view, then it is worth the risk
• Have good policy contacts
• Build your credibility over time; it doesn’t happen overnight. Be consistent and people will start to trust you
• Don’t be complacent and constantly think of how you can improve. Ask for feedback and keep raising the bar for yourself

On dealing with disagreements with your views:

There are always different views on an issue and disagreements can be challenging to deal with. Before I form a view, I try to think through both the expected global economic backdrop and then the country nuances. So formation of the view itself is a comprehensive process which takes into account all possible outcomes to arrive at the most likely one. When people disagree, remember that they are rational and they are disagreeing with your view, and not you. You should ask the person why they disagree. Ask yourself whether this information requires you to re-assess your view. If yes, then change the view. If no, then explain why. In my work, I have to constantly re-assess my view as new information arrives.

Things I believe in and general advice for people in the early stages of their career:

• Work hard and be patient. Success comes over time.
• Work smart. Focus on the important quadrants – both urgent and not urgent (Stephen Covey).
• Never give up. Perseverance pays.
• Stand up and take your chance. If you are not ready to fail, then you are not ready to succeed.
• Health is wealth. Stay fit. No excuses.
• Invest in upgrading yourself. Read. Never stop learning.
• Invest only in what you understand. Be greedy when others are fearful, and vice versa.
• Spend time with those who really matter.
• Don’t compromise on your values. People should respect you, not your position.
• Be nice. Be fair. Be humble.