My Philosophy

A few days ago, I was sending out the daily Capital Markets update to my team when my email crashed. When I reopenned the mail, I received the latest Career Services interview update... turned down for another Private Wealth Management internship.

I like my signs loud and clear. I, like the markets, do not like uncertainty. And it seems like something is telling me that I am meant to be in Sales & Trading. So far I've got 100% return on interviews in Sales & Trading (even from ones with glaring errors in the cover letters) and 0% return on Private Wealth. Okay, I get it.

And then I took the StrengthFinder 2.0 (cue dramatic music) and the results confirmed my suspicions.

My main 5 strengths were:
Woo: Ability to win people over. Woo sounds like this: "I have made best friends out of people that I have met passing in the doorway. I mean, it's awful, but wooing is part of who I am. I call people and say, 'I love you' and I mean it because I love people easily. All my taxi drivers propose to me." Oh yes....
Communication: Ability to influence & persuade
Positivity: Always looking on the bright side
Empathy: Putting yourself in another's shoes
Includer: An instinctly accepting person. Regardless of race, sex or nationality you cast few judgements.

And then I saw that this was basically the characteristics of a very good Salesperson. Just another sign that I was on the right track. Things were beginning to fall in place.

I think that most people concentrate on 'fixing' their weaknesses, instead of developing their strengths. My philosophy is that I'd go a lot farther in life by simply investing in my strengths.

Mark Twain once described a man who died and met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. Knowing that St. Peter was very wise, the man asked a question that he had wondered about throughout his life.

"St. Peter, I have been interested in military history for many years. Who was the greatest general of all time?"

St. Peter responded, "Oh, that's simple. It's that man over there."

"You must be mistaken," responded the man. "I knew that man on earth, and he was just a common laborer."

"That's right my friend," assured St. Peter. "He would have been the greatest general of all time, if he had been a general."

So I've decided that I'm not going to rip my head off trying to understand Decision Analysis. I've studied with many engineers, consultants, and even the professor. But I will never be able to compete with all the smart people in my class for a top grade in DA, or ABP. So I am going to spend my weekend focusing on my strengths, ie studying Accounting, Managing People & Capital Markets, because these are the things that will be more useful in my career... where I'm meant to be.