Episode 1 – Ten Lessons from a Career in Banking
- Every mistake is an opportunity. If after each mistake you fail to take the opportunity to learn, to get better, and to move forward, you’ve wasted your pain.
- We all have a lot to learn, and always will. If you approach your career (and life!) as an endless search for truth and wisdom, you may find them.
- If you’re ever tempted to think you’re the smartest person in the room, first of all, you probably aren’t, but even if you are, there are things that the other people in the room know that you don’t. So approach everyone with humility.
- Listen more than you talk. Really listen, without a plan or agenda. Just listen, to the words and also to what’s said in the eyes and body language.
- You will have some bad days both in your professional life and your personal life. Some may be very bad. Decide now, when you might be feeling unbeatable and at peace, to handle the tough days with courage and perseverance and hope.
- Learn to compartmentalize. Be completely present with your family and friends while you’re with them, but when you need to work, put other concerns in a compartment you can come back to later, and be as attentive to your work as possible. The perspective that compartmentalizing gives you will make you better able to deal with other issues later.
- Ask more of yourself than you think you can do. You won’t know how much you can accomplish unless you shoot for more than you think you can handle.
- Learn to say no: To people who are hurtful or want more from you than you should give them,To work that takes you away from your highest and best,And to yourself when you want to give up.
- Be good to your colleagues. That teammate next to you might be going through something very difficult personally. Or she might be your boss one day! But even if you never work with them again, your relationships with people, and what you do for them, and the kindness you show them, will endure longer than anything else.
- Finally, be a builder. Anyone can tear things down. Be someone who builds things.
Now go build something great!
