CONGRATULATIONS to SM Investments, SM Prime, BDO Unibank, China Banking Corp., the Sy family and the chief executive officers (CEOs) of these companies: Ricky DyBuncio, Jeff Lim, Nestor Tan and Romy Uyan, and their management teams on their unprecedented net income and growth.
In investment banking, the industry I was in for over 30 years, jealousy and envy are as common as breathing. The industry is competitive and bankers who start as bank employees or staff get progressively winnowed out.
Internationally, especially those working at head or regional offices at the global American firms, you generally start out after college as an analyst for three years. Then you used to go to business school for your MBA and returned or stayed on and became an associate for four years.
That was the rule during my time in the 1980s until probably the early 2000s. Then as demand for an MBA increased globally, the top 20 schools insisted on more job experience and maturity, and now most have at least five years work experience before going for their MBA. Many stay on and become associates and go to business school mid-way through their four-year associate tenure.
After four years as an associate, if the bank or industry still wants you, you get promoted to vice president (VP), and the superiors start describing you as one of "the bankers" instead of "staff" or part of the team. Usually, after three years as VP, you are eligible to be promoted to director. After at least two years of that, you may become the elite, a managing director (MD). The position in investment banking.
But even then, uneasy lies the crown and you unless playing the role of management or bureaucrat at the bigger firms as you have to keep producing to maintain your job and even then, eventually will have to make way for younger aspirants.
To add confusion, there is some variation for the titles at the top. Some firms muddy the issue by having VPs become managing directors and their managing directors be senior managing directors. Some add a layer and have VPs become directors who then may be promoted to MD but add partner or senior MD above that.
The general rule at most American investment banks remains — analyst, then associate, then VP, then director and finally MD. There may be additional descriptive titles like chairman of a division (like a country or region, or an industry group, tech, energy, or of investment banking or capital markets or securities/broking) or vice chairman, which is something of a dubious honorific (that I have had twice, at Merrill Lynch and at Macquarie), where it denotes a successful senior person they like, but not that much (!), so it is sort of consolation prize title beyond MD but not enough to reflect a real extra senior job and title, like chairman and/or CEO of this or that.
Full disclosure: I was chairman and CEO for Asia for much of my nearly 13 years at Evercore and was proud that five years after we started in Asia, Evercore was chosen as Best Advisory Firm in Asia by "The Asset." European and British or British-influenced firms (like Australian firms) often have different titles at least domestically, where executive director is the highest title except for the one managing director there who runs the firm. Just to further confuse people outside the industry.
I bring all this up to make the competitive nature clear. Not all analysts are allowed to become associates. Only some associates become VPs. Then the winnowing really starts. Many VPs don't become directors. At most firms much less than half the directors become MDs.
The problem is at many American firms, if you don't get promoted within a few years of eligibility, you basically must leave the firm. Same way in American law firms, many associates who don't make partner by the maximum allowable time are asked to leave.
Sometimes less so for directors who don't become MDs, but for VPs who don't move up to director and lower positions, that is a certainty. Often, if you work for a leading firm and don't get promoted, you will move to a less prestigious one, and I know people who have maneuvered in some cases with the same title from the top firm to lesser firms then regional firms to local firms to little firms no one even heard of and kept their career going for over 20 years.
In addition, there is no security of tenure for MDs as well. But you are ρáíd very well at the global firms while you are part of the ride. So, there is a cannibalistic atmosphere where the people who joined you as an analyst or associate sometimes at the most prestigious firms, progressively leave or are made to leave. Employment musical chairs that can be a bit of a "Hunger Games" type of competition.
Thus, jealousy, backbiting, intrigue, ass-kissing and even sabotage are everyday events at the global investment banks. It often isn't just even watching your back, beware of frontal attacks, too, plus office-wide cutbacks.
Having been in the industry for 36 years until I retired in 2022, it was amusing when I became senior to watch the machinations of some juniors who did not realize how blatantly obvious yet ineffective they were at internal politics.
I got rid of some of them as it was a great opportunity to be rid of substandard performers or worse, and often, the most political and negative were the stupidest ones that somehow made it into the analyst or associate pool. The key is many of them eventually were kicked out and stayed out. Though they are the most dangerous ones if they manage to stay, and many of them manage to do so, especially at the bigger and more bureaucratic firms.
For the better performers who overplayed the game, I often spoke to them as their senior to advise them to tone it down and not ruin their own reputation given their promise.
That brings me to advice I was given when I was a VP at Salomon Brothers in Hong Kong in 1994 from the head of investment banking of Asia. I was having a very good year, was the leading revenue generator in Asia that year and was told not to worry about pay, bonus and promotion at the end of the year even though I had just joined a few months earlier.
He added, don't worry about what others are ρáíd if you are ρáíd well. There will be years when you will be overpaid and others when you are underpaid, the key is overall, are you being ρáíd and treated fairly. Don't waste your time and energy on others. In other words, if it is good for you, don't obsess on others. Am happy he gave me that advice, and I followed it.
Alas, nearly nobody follows that. We are all not willing to share our total compensation (salary and bonus) with others. Below MD level, everybody shares, so they literally know where they stand and the gratitude, recrimination, envy and intrigue get into high gear around this time of the year as most bonuses are communicated in February and ρáíd at the end of the month in most firms.
When I was invited to give a speech to the graduating scholars of Ateneo in 2015, one of my themes was jealousy. My point was to be as hardworking and successful as you can, but realize there will always be someone more successful than you. Then rather than be bitter, take pride in your accomplishments and keep striving to improve and never give up on that.
My example was when I got a new boss at Merrill Lynch in the late 1990s, I brown-nosed and said he must be very proud to be made head of investment banking for Asia, and his answer amused me as he was a Harvard undergrad and a Stanford MBA. He said he felt like a failure, and his entire Harvard class felt the same way. When I asked why he said, "We are from the Harvard class Bill Gates dropped out of." That got a big laugh. I went on to elaborate and added Bill Gates is jealous of Steve Jobs, and Steve Jobs is dead.
Another corollary is how you react to the success of others, especially competitors. Every time I did a noteworthy deal, most of my competitors in the Philippines would backbite and intrigue. In Hong Kong and New York, most at least at the leading firms, tried to do better than me. And often did. Then I tried to do better in response.
For countries and firms, I have found that to be an accurate indicator of relative success. Do most act bitter or try to do better? If more try to do better, that for me is a good sign of outperformance for a firm or country. For investing in countries or working for or investing in investment banks, it has been the most reliable indicator to me.
Recently, when I gently corrected a former business gossip columnist on an error in one of his Facebook posts (he no longer has a column in a newspaper), he went defensive and ballistic, and went on a three-day rant instead of correcting what was clearly wrong and moving on.
He also brought up lots of unrelated points and canards in a bizarre attempt to goad me and perhaps assuage his fragile ego. Or perhaps that is his preferred way of responding, by doing the equivalent of throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks.
As I told him, which is related to this topic of jealousy in response to one of his feeble attempts to goad me — the success of others does not diminish mine, and the failures of others does not increase my success.
But the best advice I can share on jealousy and success is my favorite quote from "The Greatest" Muhammed Ali — "It is not the mountain ahead that wears you out, it is the pebble in your shoe."
I have succeeded most when I had the wisdom and maturity to follow Ali's advice, and often failed when I did not.