Are we relegated to a lifetime of generic upper middle class white guys?
Hi Monkeys,
I work at a large cap PE firm. Today, I went to a conference with other investors in my category and it was mostly bland generic white guys. Conversations ranged from weather, geography, skiing, football, fishing, golf, etc. Do we, as high finance professionals, have a lifetime to look forward to of more of these bland generic experiences and discussions? It's such a small cross section of life that is so divorced from reality; it kind of makes my eyes roll back in my head.
Best,
A boring generic white guy
I mean finance tends to attract boring white guys and these boring white guys like to recruit more boring white guys.
Fuck yes and I wouldn't have it any other way
It’s disturbingly easy how propaganda was able to turn even successful “white guys” into self-loathing messes.
Chin up, you’re in what, the .1% of the world? There are worse things than having a nice house in the suburbs and going to little league games, like having your village massacred, or Ebola.
Lol is that the baseline? Ebola and genocide?
Well I’m not white so no. Also tough to be honest in these situations. When someone asks what I did over the weekend I can’t say had an orgy after doing blow and drinking a ton of tequila. Have to just say hung out with friends and family
Self hatred does no good
Speak for yourself mate. Sounds like you just work with a bunch of squares at a firm full of squares (yourself included)
If you don't know someone, are you about to tell them you ripped coke all weekend hooking up with Tinder slags? No, you're gonna talk about weather, geography, skiing, football, fishing, golf, etc.
You don't talk to your MD about the eight ball you blew through over the weekend? I thought establishing a close relationship with your MD was the key to promotion...
If I don't know someone those are the topics I would default to as well. However you are correct in that PE, especially the upper echelon, is almost entirely filled with well-off, well-educated white men. The tide is turning slowly towards more gender and racial diversity in the higher levels.
Private equity is white af - I am sure you would have known that before entering the industry by looking at the management team for most PE firms and seeing little diversity.
If you're not white, just as I am not, then you could see it that way and I get it. But I would argue that no matter who you engage in small talk with across different races, the conversation ends up being the same banal bullshit and that's just the way people start to get comfortable with one another. It's a part of the relationship building process. Obviously I'd rather regale the insane weekend I had with my buddies but you gotta be realistic haha. You're speaking with colleagues and clients/LPs etc so obviously the conversation will be bland but I'd hope that it's not representative or indicative of the 90% rest of your social interactions. Work talk is work talk, gotta get past it
Honestly I'm not even white and most people I know in corporate America talk about this stuff 24/7, not just finance bros. You're in a world full of fairly conscientious, straight-edged people...that's how you do well in high school, get into a good college, do well in college, get a good job, and move up in the white collar world.
If you want more flavor to your circle, go out of your way to mix in different places when the pandemic ends. Go to a warehouse party in Bushwick. Go to a dive bar instead of your usual spot. Go find an outdoorsy group that does more hiking, biking etc. Don't tell anyone you're the finance guy...or you can roll up rocking your Patagucci in an ironic kind of way. If you feel a bit out of your element you know you're in the right place.
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