Getting out of the corporate world

The corporate world is absolutely not all bad

You have a pretty handy pay packet, and don’t have that much accountability. Yes, you can get in trouble (sometimes deep trouble) from your boss, and it will feel like your world is imploding – but the business will still go on, and the share price won’t move.

(Note: If an error you’ve made does affect the share price of your multinational business, you’re far more senior than people I dealt with…or you’ve made one hell of a fuck-up)

There were just things that weren’t for me

Given we’re going to be required to work for 40+ years of our lives, I just felt that I should search for more than I was getting. The things that gnawed away at me were:

• Requiring ten layers of management to approve an idea you have;
• The sign of being important is to make sure you have a calendar full of meetings. If you ever get to use the phrase “sorry, can we push it to next Tuesday?” then you know you’ve made it;
• The single best way to get ahead is to look busy and always tell people just how busy you are. George Costanza was smarter than we thought;
• The empty feeling of being a tiny wheel in a large cog. A friend of mine went to the movies at 10:30am one day, and decided not to go back to work. The next day his boss had no idea he wasn’t in the office;
• I watched The Inside Job about 20 times, and while I don’t want to make generalisations here, a lot of bankers aren’t in the role to make society a better place;
• The corporate structure doesn’t exactly lead to the ‘one team, one dream’ type attitude from most people. Even though my playing sport days are gone, I still want to be part of a team that supports each other, challenges each other and celebrates together (when applicable).

The one thing that makes me angry still thinking about it 5 years later is:

• Banks are not at all focused on the customer. When I worked in the margin lending business, an interest rate increase would be passed on that day. An interest rate decrease would take 30-60 days to be applied. I strongly believe that customer focused businesses can be the most successful. It should not be about extracting value from a customer, it should be about shared creation of value.

Too idealistic?

Simply put, I wanted to be involved in something where you could see a direct and positive impact on the business, and hopefully people and the world. If you work harder, more efficiently and smarter, you’ll see the reward within your business, and your business will have a direct, and real impact on society.

I wanted a place that felt like a sports team when you get to work, you work hard and for each other towards a common goal. A place where you can work autonomously, but be surrounded by smart people who challenge your thinking. And a place that celebrates a job well done together.

Maybe it’s too idealistic, and I didn’t know where I’d find it, but I knew it wouldn’t be at the bank. So finally, it was into the bin for the baggy suit.