6 Free Financial Modeling Lessons...and More.

I'm sure many monkeys watch Game of Thrones during their little spare time. Sure, our life is not as crazy as the incestuous Targaryens, the dueling of the Houses, or the raping and pillaging of the Dothrakis, but we do have our fears of short-coming and the day-to-day worries. I was especially inspired after last weekend's episode of Game of Thrones (S3E6 for those of you scoring at home), when Lady Melisandre told this to Gendry.

Lady M: You are more than they can ever be. They are just foot soldiers in the great war. You can make kings rise and fall.

You've just gotten that promotion and now you're in charge of a small team. Congratulations! And welcome to middle management. All the hard work and the knowledge you've developed about everything your firm does these past few years has been noticed. But, now you have a small team of people under you. You're responsible for them. Don't take this task lightly.

How does one get into middle management? You have to master the many aspects of your initial job. This could be anywhere from building models to painting decks to auditing the many line items of a company. Whatever it is you do, you have to be a rock star, you will probably have "seen it all", and most importantly, your current bosses trust in your abilities and allow you to work (more or less) independently. Once all of those ducks are in a row, you'll be granted more responsibility, in particular, the responsibility for the work of people under you.

You'll be given, as I like to call them, minions. How you view your responsibility towards your new minions, and how you proceed with having them do your bidding (see why I call them minions?), can be the difference between being a good manager or a crappy one. We all have stories of crappy managers, but there's a paucity of discussion on what makes a good one. Hopefully those of you about to enter into your first real management position will get some benefit from what I've learned over the years.

1. Don't try to do all the work yourself.

David Tepper is easily my favorite hedge fund manager to watch interviewed, and he doesn't disappoint in the following clip where he lays out his case for thinking the market goes much higher. He makes short work of explaining monetary policy over the next six months, and basically comes to the conclusion that no matter what happens, the market goes higher. He even recommends short sellers keep a shovel handy to dig themselves out of the holes they'll find themselves in betting against the market. Hard to argue with this guy.

“Thanks for coming out today,” a cheesy grin smarms, extending his hand.

“It’s a great space,” you instinctively reply, mirroring his smile and shaking his hand. It isn’t. It’s old, the new owner isn’t putting the money into it that he should, and on top of that it’s direct competition to three other buildings that you and your office mates represent.

“10,000 square foot floor plates, great windows, original wood beams,” the host drones on. You survey the scene and notice that donuts and coffee are laid out on a counter top. Hopeful visions of previous events that offered delicious eggs, potatoes, fruit, and sausage or terrific high-end paninis and pasta quickly evaporate.

“You know, In The Flesh,” a WSO monkey told me at a recent Happy Hour, “that gentleman’s book is the real deal. I ordered that shit on Amazon as soon as I read your review. It’s so right, man. I want to be like that: keep my word, honor my commitments, be respectful and all that. I’m turning over a new leaf because of it.”

He was referring to this: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/blog/how-to-be-a-ge...

I felt it appropriate to revisit this topic today, because judging from the behavior on some recent threads, the aforementioned monkey above is the exception, not the rule. Specifically, these two threads, in which the ladies of WSO acted more gentlemanly than most of the “men”: