If you switched lives with your MD, who would have it worse? (Non-Rhetorical)
If by some grace of the gods of sci-fi, you and your MD switched lives, who would have it worse?
Now, I know what you're thinking. I'm an analyst getting fisted everyday by ridiculous asks with no control over my life. And that is completely fair. But you also have no responsibility or heavy duty pressure to execute on your shoulders. Your MD on the other hand might have the money to do whatever, and doesn't have to answer to every node in this godforsaken food chain, BUT, he has to think about how he has to balance maintaining a family, client relationships, constant travel and quite literally, an old head.
Staring past the obvious, if you guys switched roles overnight and had no time to settle into your current positions, who do you think would struggle more? Your MD having to become instantly technically adept & take shit from everyone or you having to juggle all the responsibilities that come w/ being such a senior figure at a bank?
In thinking about switching places with any of my MD's I work for, unequivocably, my MD would absolutely have it worse.
1. If you've had the opportunity to lead a student org or sports team, you have a small understanding of what it feels like to be able to make your thoughts and directives have an impact (if you were respected/good enough that people listened to you). For those of us who have experienced what having a leadership role is like, transitioning to banking where we are, in your words, "getting fisted every day" and not being to make most of your thoughts and opinions included or feel heard has been like getting your puppy taken away (for me at least). Now as an MD, you literally can have your junior team do whatever it is you're thinking about (no matter how dumb/counterproductive it is), and ask for it immediately. I think the power/influence getting taken away would make any of my MDs some of the most miserable humans while at work.
1.B Counterpoint. They would probably love not having to be worried about the outcomes of what they're working on since they now would be able to think, "oh that's on my Associate/VP/MDs job to be thinking about xyz. I've just done my job and dont have to worry about my bonus if I just do a good job." I think they would be much better at unplugging from their job when not working. So having this stress taken away would be a huge windfall for them. This is something most of us junior bankers can't really grasp. So I think my MD's would enjoy their personal life more than most current Junior bankers do - unless you are a junior banker that literally gives zero shits about your job.
2. Technology. Most of these senior bankers can barely use xls or ppt (although I have a few that can manage). Not to mention setting a Zoom call, or dealing with VDRs. I think the technology aspect would be incredibly hard for the older MDs. Don't forget about factset and capiq plugins too. That's a whole other learning curve. The expectations from seniors of technological literacy would drive half my MDs up a wall, not to mention the always-available nature of "having the ability/flexibility" to work from home has created.
For me immediately transitioning to MD: does the finance/deal knowledge come with the transition? The accumulated knowledge of how to deal with situations from being involved in deals as a "passive, non/decision-maker" I think really adds up and compounds over time (this is why you can't get promoted quickly in IB like you can in HF imo). So let's assume that I immediately receive 20+ years of IB deal knowledge. Personally, I think I would kill it and would enjoy running the whole process. I think the hardest part would be deal origination. I still don't really understand how some MDs are able to generate so many deals without having done a deal with them before. If I didn't immediately receive 20+ yrs of deal knowledge, I would definitely struggle to find the right path in many situations. Balancing family life may be difficult, but at the end of the day, you can say "I'm out of pocket for my kids football game for the next 3 hrs, lets connect tomorrow at 7am when I roll out of bed"
So basically, the MD would have a horrible time at the job because he doesn't get any of the required skills. Meanwhile, you would be great at the job, assuming that you get the entire skillset of the MD...
All the seniors in my group are technical gods and still get into the Excel model so I think they’d do OK except with ppt alignment work. On the other hand I’d probably blow up the client relationships one-by-one if I were in their place.
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