VP Misrepresents my work product in reviews
I'm a first year Analyst and for the past couple of months I've been working with one particular VP for quite a few pitches and transactions and it's gotten to the point where the relationship is strained and frustrations appearing due to a lot of miscommunication.
Recently, I was asked by this VP after I came back from my holiday to work on updating a document to be sent around to various counterparties for a deal. So, I did the logical thing and went into the sharedrive/deal folder and used the most recent version. I updated it and sent it around to the counterparties, but for good order ran it past my VP to review. He said fine to send. Then after I sent it to the counterparties he comes back to me and asks why a certain thing is in the wrong order and I come back to him and say that I used the most up-to-date version of the document so I don't know what he's talking about. Turns out that he had sent around another version whilst I was off and just didn't save it down in the deal folder - when I told him this he just told me to "read your emails" and "just get it right". Sorry, but do best practices of saving down deal files only apply to me? Not to mention that this VP just refuses to catch up on anything when coming back from a period of absence and just instructs to "read your emails", when it would literally take them 5 minutes to give a rundown of things that have happened and next steps...
Related to this document, I had updated the new version exactly as requested, but when I sent around the files to the counterparties, along with all the up-to-date files, I accidentally attached an old version as well. That was my bad. However, the VP chastised me for "all my work being wrong" because he opened the wrong file and refused to look at the files I had flagged to him and told him that they were according to his instruction, instead dismissing me saying he "didn't want to waste time debating it anymore".
This VP's first language is not English, which is fine, but a lot of the times in Teams messages the sentences or what he says read completely contrary to how a native/fluent speaker of English would read something (note, again, the VPs refusal to give me the time of day for a call). This has led to multiple miscommunication errors whereby I will do/not do something, and then be sternly told off or questioned why I did/did not do the thing in question, because the person was just completely unclear.
The culmination of all of this has been that in reviews with my staffer, I am being told that my current progress has been "disappointing" and certain people (it's really just this one person) has had to "pick up work and do it themselves" and that there has been too many iterations of a task. This is a misrepresentation of my work product and efforts which stems from the VP having an ego, not being able to admit fault on his end, being unclear, etc.
I am unsure of how to navigate this. I have tried growing thicker skin throughout my first year in banking - I don't mind really anymore if someone is a bit short with me one day because they're stressed about something etc. But I do not think it is sustainable or right to be treated like this by someone. I am essentially being told by this person that "all my work is wrong" which is being fed to my staffer who gives a sugarcoated version of that back to me. How am I supposed to grow in a team where the frustrations of the people I'm working with (which stems from miscommunications etc) manifests itself in such genuinely nasty ways?
To note, I am on rotation, and will be rotating out in the summer. My concern is that poor feedback will be passed onto my new team (whom I really like, it's a desk I am by far more interested in and who have made a real effort to integrate me already) and will mean I am dead on arrival.
Any advice?
I hear you. It’s happens more often than you think, even at the VP level. At the end of the day you really need to get on his good side, so I would suggest putting more effort on subsequent projects with him. At the same time work with a few other VPs who can vouch for your performance so it would undermine his influence during YE review. Always remember not to take things too personally and sometimes you have to take it on the chin and live to fight another day
Thanks. It's just a few more months of this rotation, will put in max effort and just not return here (I don't find the work in this team interesting anyway).
I hate to break it to you, but you likely aren’t meant for this field. Here’s reality:
-IB is a political nonsensical game of shit rolling down hill. The “blame game”, “eating your shit sandwich”, “falling on a sword” are all ways of expressing what you are dealing with. The simple truth is as a junior individual in that environment, you need to accept that there aren’t realities or truth, but only power. It doesn’t matter what the VP did, when he blames you, the right response is to apologize and let him know “you will improve going forward”
it’s really quite stupid and nonsensical, but it’s the way the field works. By defending yourself or trying to pushback you are fanning the fires of your senior and making them hate you and think you are arrogant or have problems with authority even if factually you are in the right.
To survive in the field you need to take the path of least resistance and part of being in IB is taking really stupid feedback and knowing when to hold your tongue.
Frankly, I f’ing hated that part and it was a huge reason I quit after my 2 years and went to the hedge fund world instead of PE. The injustice of having some moron scold me for their incompetence made me so mad I realized I’d rather make less or have way more risk in my job than deal with people like that.
Other jobs have other problems, but if this bothers you that much, it’s a good indication the field isn’t a great long run fit. However, to survive your stint you really need to realize it isn’t worth fighting for the truth and you need to put on an act and just let the bullshit slide off your plate rather than dwell on it and take up mental real estate.
Thank you, this is helpful. Needed to know if I needed to play the game of faux deference or if this was abnormal.
Actually, a follow up question. Sure, I can bite my tongue with this VP, but can I be candid with my staffer during our monthly sit downs about my experience or not even here, do I need to bite my tongue?
100% of the time the staffer will side with the VP. You do yourself no favors by trying to argue. The only real ways to move forward sustainably are: chum up with other similar seniors that are willing to speak up for you to dilute this feedback, and take full responsibility / show a willingness to improve, whether you think it’s “right” or not. You have to bury your ego, you’re the lowest on the pole and unfortunately for you, he’s not doing anything out of the ordinary. This is the job.
I disagree with the person who replied to you somewhat. It depends on the group and culture. If the majority of analysts have the same criticism of a VP and they all tell the staffer then things can def get noticed. If you are the only person saying something, then it might get disregarded. But if your analyst class is close, the bad VPs, associates, etc can be called out and face consequences. That might mean they are first on the chopping block when layoffs happen, MDs pulling them to the side if they see they are the inefficiencies for teams, etc.
A lot of these comments have covered it, but OP giving you another example to illustrate what I mean and hopefully not revealing my identity:
During my analyst stint, there was a particularly brutal stretch where my team was horribly overworked to the point where 1 person went on basically like sick leave and 2 others ended up at the hospital. It came from just jamming people with work and frankly too many people working on Saturdays imo. But anyway, in order to respond to these incidents, my bank formed a “task force” to get down to the bottom of why 2 people went to the hospital and 1 basically just left in the middle of the day and said I quit (they then gave them 2 weeks off and they came back).
Now anyone with a pulse could tell you the issue was poor treatment, lack of sleep, and 7 day a week schedules. But, this “task force” conducted interviews where they checked in on analysts to see how they were doing. Many analysts complained, but when it came to my turn, when they asked how I was doing I replied, “Electric.”
It was an obvious lie and they laughed, I laughed, and they replied, well if anything gets too overwhelming please let us know. It then became a running joke at the firm for how people would reply when things were obviously horrible, but they were taking one for the team.
You need to understand, “check ins” and meetings with your staffer aren’t therapy sessions. The point of the task force was to protect the firms butt and to identify if any analysts were at their breaking point and ready to leave. It wasn’t to get honest feedback on morale—banks know morale suck, it’s basically their business model.
You don’t really benefit from escalating an issue with your staffer—it makes it look like you can’t handle it. In general, you need to make all feedback in a corporate environment positive and have spin to get what you want accomplished. Rather than bash the VP, try suggesting that you really would like an opportunity to work with a few others in the office to gel with the team more. Your staffer will know exactly what you are saying (your vp sucks) but it’s appreciated that you aren’t being negative you are toughing it out and “excited for your next assignment”
The job sucks and morale is bad everyone knows that, in order to be a good analyst you need to either:
I honestly had too much hatred to be #1 even though with my friends I’m a straight goofy dude, so I was #2. My stability and level headedness came up in nearly every review I had. Your work personality doesn’t need to be your actual personality.
Thank you, this is really helpful.
I'll try my best to become person #2, probably the best I can do.
Lmaooo so relatable.
This is really accurate, not much beyond this. Have been in banking for a while, everyone blames everyone around them for everything. It is in fact a game.
Maybe he’s being difficult but you’re also not being particularly smart here as the others have said. If his English is incomprehensible then restructure his message, send it back in clear steps to him how you understand the task and only then you do it. You do that until you understand what he means at all times. If he doesn’t respond you at least have the air cover to say you did everything in your power to do it right but he’s not playing ball. Doesn’t help your relationship with him but it does give you collateral for your review.
It also sounds like you’ve asked him one too many times for simple things you could easily do yourself and now he’s lashing out / making a point of not helping whatsoever until you display the behavior he wants (even though I’m sure it’s quicker if he would help blabla). Not the best leadership from him, but equally he’s not your Siri email out read assistant or search function. It’s not that difficult to do a quick search for his emails to make sure nothing else was sent (even though yes it’d be better if he filed better - but you’re not winning this battle).
Similarly when you come back from holiday, read your emails and if you have any questions then go to him. Or at least tell him you read all your emails and you just want to be sure you got everything right.
The bottom line is, it’s about showing effort (even if you feel it’s unjustified). He’s not your friend and he doesn’t work for you. Just try to get on his good side. He doesn’t sound great but far from actually difficult and you’re going to need to learn how to handle people - not only for yourself internally but also because you’ll have clients who will be way more unreasonable with way more power.
If you can’t stomach this then banking or PE or most other highly paid white collar desk jobs aren’t for you is the reality. Nothing wrong with that, just a choice.
You need to take ownership for your work. You did something wrong and put blame somewhere else (i.e., you told me to do this). Take this as a learning experience as this will happen all throughout your career.
This. In this situation, OP comes across as a low effort Analyst who wants to be spoon-fed everything. This post annoyed me as an Associate - I can't imagine how annoyed his VP must be.
Hi OP - sorry you're going through this, but as someone with 10+ yrs of IB/PE experience I agree 100% with the top up-voted post above, i.e. this is not a battle that you will be able to win. As the guy above says, the rule of IB (and most corporate/finance roles tbh) is that sh*t always rolls downhill. Also whilst yes in your example the VP technically messed up by not saving the latest version down in the folder, you also neglected to check your emails so need to own that.
Believe me I understand your frustrations - during my time in IB in particular, I had a few pretty difficult to downright horrible associates/VPs (also some great ones too though). But I think you have to realize that the only purpose of your current job is to make your boss/senior's life easier. That's literally it. So whatever quirks/flaws he has, you ultimately need to adapt and work around it. During my time as an analyst I worked for associates/VPs/MDs who had some strange eccentricities e.g. they would obsess over using a particular font or graph style that looked hideous, they would ask me to respond to emails I wasn't cc'd on, ask me why I missed a meeting I wasn't invited to, and more.
As annoying as it was, the way to respond to it is just swallow the sh*t sandwich and say "sorry I didn't realize I wasn't included in the meeting invite" (even though how could you have known?) and then ask what you missed. Likewise if you need to respond to an email you weren't copied on, find out who was included and get it from them (or ask the associate/VP diplomatically to forward it to you).
Whilst I know this sucks, it is unfortunately just the reality of working in an industry full of insecure people with strange personalities who are ridiculously overworked. Also don't forget - the higher-ups are likely doing the same to them, e.g. I'm sure this VP has to deal with an MD or two who behave exactly like he is to you. Doesn't make it right, but it just means these types of behaviors are completely normalized within the industry.
So yeah my advice (as the other guy above astutely said) is just to do your best to work around whatever quirks he has, and if something is unclear then ask him to clarify. Good luck OP, hope it all works out.
Finally though - as others have said, please don't complain to your staffer/higher-ups about this. You have zero upside and only downside. Not saying it's right but think about it from their perspective - you're essentially creating a problem for them to deal with, and ultimately who are they going to side with, the first-year analyst or a VP? Also if you're the only one raising these concerns (i.e. no other analyst has complained) then it makes it look like you're the problem and you are trying to cover for your own incompetence. I know that's not the case but they won't know that (or care). And then your VP will really detest you when it inevitably gets back to him. So I would most definitely not recommend this option.
Thank you! This is really kind and helpful.
I suppose I'm still growing into the role and learning the technicalities/ how to deal with things etc. Hence the post, I wanted to see what the norm was etc.
I suppose I'll need to continue to growing a thicker skin, biting my tongue, and just make sure that when I have Juniors working with me in the future, that I will be nicer and more understanding than some people were with me.
It's strange because I always thought that my bank, and especially my group (product) would be more like a "lifestyle" bank/group, but I guess it's right that unfortunately the industry across the board attracts really weird losers who are keen to exercise their insecurities however.
Thanks again.
AN1 struggling with same thing, this thread is so insightful and helpful
tl;dr you'll eat shit, but eventually it will stop and you'll have that privilege.
Oh lol it doesn’t stop…MDs get shit on by sector heads, sector heads by group heads, group heads by head of coverage, do on and so forth. Most people in the industry are losers.
Congrats on UBS
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