What Differentiates the Best Analysts as AI Improves?
Hi,
I'm currently an incoming summer analyst in IB and was curious to hear from people who have been in the industry about what they think makes a good analyst, specifically in terms of hard skills, and the same thing for the buyside as well.
Reading through WSO and speaking with older bankers and investors, it seems like in the past, the hallmark skills that defined a good banker or PE associate were mainly their modeling and attention to detail.
With the direction AI has been heading in terms of being able to handle modeling and getting better at catching mistakes than any analyst could, which will be even better by the time I hit the desk, what hard skill does it make sense to perfect that will translate into you being the "sharpest" banker or investor?
**I know there was a post about this earlier this week, but none of the replies actually focused on specific skills.
Modelling was never the hallmark of a good associate, just a prerequisite, I am not sure why anyone thinks anything else. By your second year everyone’s modelling skills are going to be close to each other, and attention to detail still matters even as AI does more of the lifting. Promotions have always tested whether the firm thinks you can eventually make partner, since VP is the first real career-track role.
Social skills have always mattered for VP and up, but now they matter at every rank, because once modelling is commoditized it stops separating anyone, so what differentiates you just moves up the stack to relationships and judgment. The expectation now is that you think far more than you do, since the doing takes objectively less time if you’re efficient, and that time gets reallocated to having a view, knowing the space, and flagging what nobody asked about. The thinking is increasingly AI-assisted too, but figuring out what actually matters is and always will be the skill that separates people. Judgment used to be a VP trait you grew into; now I think it is going to become expected that you grow into it by the second year as an associate.
Bench press and 50 yard dash PRs
don't think much has changed really. modeling, basic analyst and research skills were always table stakes. they are even more table stakes now tbh. so being fast and correct will still win. being social and learning to play politics and getting in good with your managers is a good skill to have still and one few zoomers have. second level thinking and analysis is still going to be prized and you could say even more valuable since lots of people will run with what the models give them which will lead to more crowding than there already is. but it's like knowing a few excel short cuts: yes it will make you faster and more impressive, but throwing bad ideas in to a great excel model still gets bad outputs... same with the models.
Up managing and keeping your team aligned are two things that will make you standout.
Sorry if this is a dumb question, but aside from communicating well and always being prepared, is the bulk of up managing just glazing your seniors and being somewhat of a "pick me"? Again, sorry if I completely misunderstood what up managing is
Managing up is the corporate skill of being able to successfully tell your seniors when they are being unreasonable without explicitly telling them that. The other part of it basically being able to show you can do the VP job as a senior associate. It's a mixture of being known as being competent and knowing the communication styles of your seniors.
Big pp
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