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.
Ah. How profound. Are those of us, not born into a rich family with heritage, forever trapped in the "foot soldier" category? Or can we break out in Littlefinger style, and turn ourselves into Lord Baelish? In a profession where prestige means almost everything, will our lives be wasted in the way of the Clegans, merely good for our expert modeling skills and loyalty but not much else?
What do you guys think about the show? Do you ever feel trapped that YOU can be doing so much more and just need to be given the opportunity? What about seeing XYZ guy getting into HBS based on his name alone? Does that upset you?
Life is much more easier than game of thrones lol, where you constantly have the threat of death too. GPA can be reset with an MSF, breaking into prestigious companies or positions can be done with chance connections, The odds are much more likely than anything to ever go good for you in a medieval setting/time period.
Just think about sickness, you get some crazy disease, Even if you're royal, pretty much done for. think about a jousting fight, 1 wrong step/sword move, lifes over. Suppose you needed to survive that fight to move up the chain. Littlefinger can be stabbed at any second, and so can Varys, it just doesn't happen since it's a story....
kinda went on a tangent lol, you get my point, love game of thrones
Ha yeah I hear you on this. Sometimes I just sit in my cube and wonder to myself, is what I'm doing even meaningful to the company? Then I start thinking about the foot soldier comparison. Whatever I'm doing is not changing the landscape of the industry. shrug Maybe one day I will, but at this point it sure isn't happening at the speed I would like, if that makes any sense. To become Littlefinger (and let's face it: most people would be lucky to get to even his position of power) it took him many, many years of plotting and planting seeds (pun intended?).
I'd say if you're an established MD, lawyer, doctor, CEO of mid-sized company or a high-level executive in F500 you'd have reached the level of say the Lord of a Bannermen, but not quite Lord of a Major House just yet!
FOR THE KING OF THE NORTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
King IN the North
Kim Jong Un is the true king of the north
I'm surprised that the scene of the bastard was used as an example. For people who follow the markets and traders, I think Littlefinger's speech is much more fitting.
Yes this indeed would have been a good one! Probably even more fitting for a ladder climber in corpfin :)
Cleganes* :D
The style of the show is very representative of life during 100 years war. I often find myself thinking that even now, the people are really the same as back then. If we were put back into year 1300 or a setting like GoT, we would probably start acting exactly the same as them. That madness is still in us, we just express it differently.
I find a lot of things in GoT are really quite relevant today too. The model of behaviour has changed but we are the same as these people at heart. I think the backstabbing and the political games that go on in the government or at high level in banking are really quite similar in the logic and morals to GoT.
I choose to think of us bankers as the Night's Watch. Prestigious yet tough job, protecting the financial realm and providing the vital financing to guard and grow the "real economy"
wow
I choose to think of us bankers as White Walkers.
LOL this is pretty funny. Good one.
LOL.
Aside from the existence of a "Wall", I'm not too sure I see the similarities.
The sex life and the hours probably have a lot of similarities.
Winter is coming!!!:)
I wrote a post that touched on this topic a little bit here: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/best-major-for-f500-finance-route
I think this is especially true in the CF mold. You come into large companies, the processes are already in place, and so much of where you go and what you do is based on impressions on things that have nothing to do with work product. Most analysts are at a similar level of aptitude because CF just isn't that hard. Yet they get parsed out basically by how much exposure they get which essentially happens by what projects they get on. And the projects they get on are often solely based on first impressions/biases/word of mouth/etc. So it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy when a FLDP manager likes one new hire more during the interview process, then gives them the better rotation because of it, which in return allows more exposure and more responsibility going forward. There is so much of this bureacracy at large companies it makes it hard to really take hold of your own destiny and it can be soul sucking.
I read both this post and the post linked. I find it extremely helpful and I can relate to my current situation now. What it is exactly that you're looking to get into? Business development? More strategy-oriented roles?
I think probably BD is more suited for my skill set. I don't like nor am I great at sitting at a desk all day in excel. I have really enjoyed my rotation in Operations finance (really a link between operations and the finance teams) because it allows me to sit, talk, understand, and eventually make a difference on how the operations of our business effect profitability.
That said, I really want to be in something strategy/BD focused at a smaller company. I just have found that working for a large multi national is too much red tape. So long term I hope to work in a start up/start ups.
I spend far too much time thinking about what character I most resemble, or who certain characters would be in real life. So far I've come up with a few, but this is the one I'm most convinced of:
Joffrey: Erik Spoelstra. An incredibly frustrating little varmint who was fortunate enough to be thrust into the most coveted leadership role out there. Accomplishes nothing, looks permanently confused, would likely be a virgin if not for fame and wealth, and is in fact only the puppet of Pat Riley (Tywin Lannister). Could be inbred, but that's neither here nor there.
Also, I love this:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/game-of-thrones-actors-doing-normal-…
Delectus est ut laudantium nobis nesciunt sequi. Eos libero reiciendis eum nostrum hic sint delectus. Ab mollitia ipsa dolor et. Eum aut quo nesciunt aut quos adipisci ipsam. Iure dignissimos quis est ipsum quo quaerat quos quidem. Quibusdam minima et est aut. Ut enim quod optio et ipsam odit.
Quia minima nam ab eius. Ut laboriosam quaerat earum eius. Et id modi delectus blanditiis. Sunt magnam sunt debitis perferendis nihil.
Itaque aliquid eius dolores animi dolores inventore dicta. Illo at error officia consequatur. Quia autem quas culpa et nulla vero dignissimos.
Velit reprehenderit dolor voluptates possimus nam harum. Est ut consectetur dolore sapiente. Aliquid necessitatibus qui harum deleniti.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Illo ipsam aperiam expedita accusantium aut sit. Rem rerum laudantium animi repellendus doloremque rerum. Velit harum quia et inventore repellendus rem.
Fugit fugiat cumque adipisci placeat. Recusandae eos nostrum quod voluptatibus voluptas. Deleniti eum quas laudantium incidunt consectetur laudantium rerum.
Et minus doloribus ab dolorum temporibus qui. Unde aspernatur eos necessitatibus et sed id et dolorum. Et eos similique a qui.