10 Lessons from Analyst Training

Recently I made the transition from education to employment, I joined a global consulting house in their London office.The training was two weeks in Chicago. This was the company’s renowned analyst training programme and below are the ten lessons I learnt from other analysts, the faculty and self-reflection.

1. Character matters

It doesn’t matter how much of a genius you are, your character matters. To be extreme- it is better to be nice and know nothing rather than nasty and know everything. Business is about people and people like nice people. People are motivated by and want to work for and with people with good character rather than people who are difficult or have bad character.

What is good character?
Good character means you are valued by the people around you- you are genuine, you care about them, you are nice and not 100% self-orientated.

2. People’s perspective is their truth

People view things through the lens that their nature (environment) and nurture (upbringing, education) have equipped them with. Some perspectives are more right than others but they are always relative. Even if you disagree with someone’s views does, your truth is not always their truth. Keep that in mind. The key is to show them your perspective and reach a common understanding between the way they view the situation and the way you do. You can’t just wish you had different team members because in the real world, effective teams respect and work with the difference.

3. Give things a chance

This is especially important to those of you who are impatient like myself. Don’t be quick to write off people, situations and things based on surface judgement or shallow interactions. There were so many people who I didn’t think would be ‘my type’ of people because of first impressions who later surprised me with how much we had in common.

4. Good mentors are rare

I had a very knowledgeable faculty in one of my weeks of training who I thought had potential to be a good mentor but later changed my mind. This faculty was not very willing to share his knowledge and did not care to nurture us as future talent of the firm.

In another week of my training, I had an amazing faculty who made sure to equip us with as much tools and knowledge as he could. He wrote up book recommendations, explained things beyond the textbook requirement and made time to answer additional questions about the firm and career progression that we had. He was a good mentor.

When you find a good mentor, treasure and keep hold of them.

5. Things are not binary

Humans like to classify and box things. This is hugely due to the way our brain works (I wrote an article about it here). Number 5 is what an American analyst with an engineering background told me. I think it is so true and I keep reminding myself this on a daily basis. Most things are much more than yes or no, right or wrong, black or white.

I have a great tendency to feel like now is the only opportunity. If I don’t travel to certain countries now, I will never do it. If I don’t take up certain opportunities now, I will never get the chance to again. This mentality made me very frantic and anxious. When I allowed myself to start accepting that things aren’t just good or bad, do it now or never, I found that I had more room to breath. And just live.

6. The actions of others is not a reflection upon you

There are lots of times in life when it is hard to explain the actions of others. Sometimes we might think we might have done something wrong. It is our fault they are acting this way. It is something we did or didn’t do. NO. This is not always the case. People’s actions reflect their perspective and view of the world. Don’t be hurt by your friend not greeting you one day or seeming a bit cold. They might just be having a bad day.

7. It is important to build good habits

The decisions and actions we make daily are mainly habits that we have formed over the year. It is very hard to change bad habits so start by building good habits if you can. Good habits are what gets successful people across the line. Good habits give you a healthy routine to do all the important things like eat well, exercise and see friends.

8. As well as maintain a good balance

Everything comes down to a good balance. Just because alcohol is bad for you does not mean you should abstain completely because this means you impact the social element which is important in your life too. And just because doing lots of good work will get you promoted/noticed doesn’t mean you bury your head in work. Seeing friends, sleeping well, eating well, relaxing are all very important.

Balancing the important things is key to a good life.

9. It is okay to make mistakes

Life is an iteration of getting as close to your ideal state as possible. You will make mistakes along the way but it is fine. Just take note of it, learn and keep going. To minimise making mistakes, surround yourself with mentors and advisors- reach out to ask people for help when you need to but accept that you may still make mistakes. It is all part of the learning process.

10. Learn your priorities

Learn to know what is important to you- what interests you and what do you value? Start to learn this, know what you want and put yourself in a position to get there.