I awoke at 7AM, had a ride with Guillermo to Marketing class, it was our last class. The next class was Corporate Communications; when I walk in, late, the teacher marvels at "what a smart lady" I am (I had balls to make an impromptu speech which he said had bumped my grade significantly). I like that guy. I didn't get around to making my next speech about the influence of personality on the type of leader you become, but I figured I'd do it next time.
After class I went prepare for the hedge fund presentation we had to make for Jan Simon's Alternative Investment class. For 3 months, I volunteered in my first real leadership position in the MBA program, to lead a hedge fund team and manage alternative investments. At times it was a difficult task, and most of the team members I did not know much about personally, but by the end of the term we became quite close. I think I big part of it was because I enforced structure in the beginning, then autonomy afterward. I was not a micromanager or a bulldriver. I basically showed my team my own strengths and vulnerabilities, and I entrusted the team to express their own in order to cooperate and contribute fairly and effectively. This was a huge investment in trust. Usually, I have a problem with leadership, because I lack the confidence to make decisions, but in this class I took it easy and let my intrinsic love for Finance drive my choices.
For me, although a professional life is important, one's personal life should never be taken for granted. If someone had another commitment, we'd cover for him, and sometimes I had these commitments too. But what surprised me though, is that those who had to skip meetings always volunteered extra work for next time. I know that does not always happen. It showed respect, and I appreciated that. I know that not all the other teams was as cohesive as ours. They'd nominate 1 or 2 people to complete the investment ideas for that week so that the others could have a break. I know I could have done the same, but I wanted everyone to be involved in the whole process, even if it did take up more time. I also remember some people making horrendous trading errors (me included, I had accidentally bought Legg Mason instead of Lonmin, after which I promptly assigned the trading job to someone else), but my first reaction to that was not to worry, inform Jan of the mistake, and to remind everyone that these things happen - we are human. If we lose our ranking, getting angry won't help us get it back. I don't want anyone to ever be afraid to be completely themselves around me, to show me the good and the bad, or to express their creativity. I believe in this way they will give me their best, unedited, work. I found in this class, everyone's true strengths became apparent, and we ended up having a very complementary, well rounded team.
As my friend Matthew stated before, our fund "ate it" at the beginning, moving to second to last place, but then we jumped up to 3rd in the final results for absolute return. Well today we had to give our presentation. Steven and I would speak. I had on a pinstriped Zara suit and Massimo Dutti scarf, my power combo with a touch of femininity. I introduced the fund, our team, our investment style and process, then turned it over to Steven who explained the financials, a case study, risk management and other technicals. Then I closed and asked for the money. The judges were former IESE financial professionals and investment managers, and they were in charge of the monetary allocations to each of the 8 funds in the class, which would equate to 40% of the overall grade.
The Team at Work (missing: Yang Jin)
Now I will be honest: I am not a compelling speaker. Most of my speeches fall upon deaf ears with my audience looking down to check their blackberries as I enthusiastically speak about Law, trading or mutual funds. Apparently these topics are boring to most. (But hey, action movies are boring to me but apparently not to half the world population!) However I found that when speaking about Finance, to Finance professionals, I have found my niche. I guess I always thought of my speeches as boring, but that day, I was "professional." It was nice to hear.
After the speech, we had the annual "Copa de Cava" with the Dean in the new building. I listened to the Dean's heartfelt Christmas speech, then had some cava with the exchange students. This was a very happy moment for me, because I was around people I loved - and most of them had been the exchange students. They were all so open and appreciative of their time here. We all became so close. Although some had already left, it will be sad to see them go.
And as my professional life was finally fulfilling, my personal life was finally as well. I ended up having a nice dinner and some wonderful conversation, which I enjoyed very much. And at the end of the night, my Brazilian wish came true.
I came home and checked my email to find the following email from Jan:
Hi Ann,
Your final allocation is USD 280 Mio. With the distribution being as follows:
1. USD 280 Mio
2. USD 230 Mio
3. USD 200 Mio
4. USD 190 Mio
5. USD 90 Mio
5. USD 90 Mio
7. USD. 60 Mio
7. USD 60 Mio
As said in class I think this year has been the strongest so far. A testimony of this is that all teams got money allocated. Other years we had between 2 and 4 teams which left without any allocation. So for the entire class it is a job well done. I was very pleased with the quality of yours and others presentation.
Many thanks and all the best to your team members.
Merry Christmas,
Jan
We got top allocation! I really couldn't believe it. And that's when I thought, this must be what happiness feels like, just for me.
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