How ruthless and backstaby is the industry really? Any stories?
I spoke to a number people working in the industry and they told me they witnessed quite a large degree of office politics, backstabbing, and ruthlessness coming from people working there. Told me it is a dog eat dog world there and it is not a career made for everybody, especially those whom can't take the heat. How accurate is this and do you monkeys have any stories to share about it?
It depends on the culture of the specific company. Some have more politics, some are more supportive. In recent years more and more management units and HR change management initiatives are trying to create a more open/honest environment, we created a mediation team a while ago and those folks are very busy. Overall, the industry is better than before, IMO.
I’m about 5 years into the industry and as such am not always privy to what gets said behind closer doors, so feel free to take what I say with a grain of salt, but I’ve worked at 3 different funds ranging across the spectrum of strategy and fund size and have never seen anyone try to fuck someone over like you’d see in the movies.
Backstabbing is bad business; very rarely do you get extraordinarily wealthy on a single deal in transactional finance like you might as a startup founder - you get rich by consistently doing good deals over a career, which means maintaining a reputation and a network of people who want to work with you is key. (Hedge funds can get rich on one trade if they’re lucky, but rarely are they in a position to fuck someone over).
I’m sure your friends have actually seen it happen, I’m just providing another anecdote that it isn’t a ubiquitous experience in the industry
This sums it up. We are in the relationship business and reputation matters. If you are a dick, that will follow you around.
Lot's of passive aggression, this is sadly common throughout Corporate America.
This. Most of the time people will be passive aggressive against you and make shit hard for you. But when you confront them they don't have the balls to rebut. It's just fucking annoying. And yes people will always by nature claim your good works and blame pushy game on you for the bad works
I would distinguish between backstabbing and office politics / ruthless / “can’t take the heat”
Pressure to perform is huge here - small mistakes can mean millions of dollars, so the stakes are very high. It’s also a relationship-based business, so politics are endemic (as they are in most if not all industries).
Agreed that the whole “dog-eat-dog” “backstabby” categorization is mostly Hollywood, at least these days. It’s a small world, if you’re a dick people will hear about it and go elsewhere
My associate used to throw our analyst team under the bus on a regular basis. Whenever he forgot to do something or fucked something up, he would say that he told an analyst to do it or fix it and that they didn't. Guy for the most part was a pretty competent and good worker so the VPs and MDs would believe him. He didn't fuck up that often but when he did, someone else would get thrown under the bus with a blatant lie.
Another fun story which I will leave very vague. Started rising up in the ranks and began being able to do my own deals. Finally got my shot to move up in the company. My boss worked maybe 30 to 35 hours per week as I did all of his work at 70 hours per week. To do my own deals, I did 70 hours of the boss' work and then another 20 hours of my own. A few months later, the head of our department tells me in a performance review that my boss has complained that I'm spending too much time doing my own deals and need to be cut back on that. Worked your ass off for someone so that they can live a leisurely lifestyle, and after years of service, they purposely try to keep you down so that they can continue living their overpaid leisurely lifestyle. Pretty shitty.
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