First Impressions - Wrong Again

Elle Woods: I can't take it anymore! I'm going back to LA. No more boring suits, no more trying to be someone I'm not...
Emmitt: What if you are trying to be someone you are?

I was having another bad day, everything was going wrong as usual. Frankly my life had been so empty until Capital Markets came around. Today was an explanation of the IPO process: a day in the life of my old job... minus all the details like underwriting spreads, late night dinners with lawyers, and the fight for the Left Lead role.

My campaign speech for section A student Representative was nominated for the COW: "I didn't prepare a fancy speech and I won't deliver grandoise promises, but I can promise you this: I will do whatever you want..." Well I was completely aware of it's meaning, but I was trying to get at the point that an elected official is here to serve its constituants. And in Marketing today, we had the Propecia hair loss prevention marketing dilemma, and I tried to explain how a testimonial ad was not appropriate for this product because frankly, who cares if Dick Cheney for example suffers hair loss? It is too evident, & common. Testimonials work best on personal issues people are afraid to acknowledge, and a famous one is Bob Dole's ad on ED.... Whoops. Why did I mention ED? From one COW nomination to another, I bet.

I left class feeling down. I wondered about my purpose in life. Everything was going wrong for me as usual, as evident by my midterm grades for Decision Analysis. The worst grades I've ever received in my life. But I was numb. I couldn't do anything about it now; it was a sunk cost.

We had our Morgan Stanley group interviews today. I ended up being 15 minutes late because I was talking to Sebastian outside about Private Banking. He was wearing a pinstripe pantsuit with a red tie, and I was wearing a pinstripe pantsuit with a red scarf. Great minds think alike.

Anyways, so I was 15 minutes late for Morgan Stanley. This day just couldn't get any better. One of the worst things you can do in banking is arrive late. And 15 minutes late is the kiss of death. I figured I should prepare to get slaughtered, especially after the horrible first impression I had with the last Morgan Stanley sales & trader at the career fair. I was certain that guy would be there to rip my face off for being late...

But it turned out my first impression wasn't a bad one at all. They even stopped the presentation to introduce themselves to me. The 2 bankers were interviewing people by picking out resumes at random. When one of the bankers suddenly decided to pick one of the resumes of his choosing, I knew it would be me. It was a pressure tactic to see if my tardiness had flustered me.

Being experienced in Wall Street, it didn't. I did my pitch, and explained my story. They actually liked it. They said they could really believe my love for the capital markets, and my sincerity. And they especially liked how positively I talked about my experiences. Which was interesting, because I didn't feel positive at all. I felt tired, worn out and insecure. But when I spoke about the markets, my passion definitely showed, naturally, even when I was trying to subdue it in the face of professionalism.

And afterward, the banker actually came up to ME and gave me his business card. He said, "It is evident that you truly enjoy Finance because you had so many chances to get out... and you always came back." For once in my MBA career, I felt that something "fit just right." Despite first impressions, I look forward to applying to Morgan Stanley.

And outside, I was surprised to get so many compliments of my interview. As I walked to the bus, random students would come up to me saying I looked radiant somehow. But I was dead tired. I guess that when you really love something, it shows, and it can be beautiful.

I caught the bus to head to Zara to buy a new suit. Spent a couple hours trying them on, nothing seemed to fit right. Some were obnoxiously pinstriped, some were twead professor-looking, some were sexy fashionista... but I found myself gravitating towards dark, conservative cuts. The banker suits. When I saw the dark charcoal style with faint raised white pinstripes, I picked it up and bought it without trying it on. When I got home I found that it fit perfectly, no adjustments needed, and made me look, well, really really ridiculously good looking. I was made for banker suits. And when all is said and done, when you find the right one, whatever it is, everything just fits together perfectly...