Interview with Roger Altman

I recently interviewed Roger Altman, I wanted to come on here to share some honest takeaways:

  1. Communication skills often trump technical abilities. Having great communication skills and still having a grasp of the technicals can most likely get you farther than being a technical genius.

  2. Don't hire jerks. Even if they are brilliant or charismatic, they will ruin the culture and culture is the most important thing for building enterprise value.

  3. Luck or fate plays an important role. The first Wall St job he had was at Lehman, they mistakenly offered it to him instead of his roomate Howard Marks. Think of what would have happened if they offered it to Howard.

  4. Do not over plan your career. You will change and the enviornment will change as well. Don't look at everything as a means to an end, you won't get anywhere that way.

If any of you are interested in listening it is Generating Alpha on Spotify.

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