Is the finance industry "innovative"?

Younger generations want to be able to make an impact by being "innovative" and thinking outside the box. Wall Street has experienced talent lost to Silicon Valley because talented grads today believe that tech offers them the chance to "think outside the box" and to "build things" of tangible values. Sure, finance plays an extremely important role in society/economy but do you really need a genius to plug in numbers into an excel spreadsheet? A lot of grads think that working in finance is like being part of an "assembly line", following orders and doing essentially same tasks over and over again. Is there opportunity for monkeys to be innovative in this sector? Is talent being thus wasted if someone who is smart and creative takes Wall Street over Silicon Valley? The nature of the industry now seems that it doesn't value individuals who "think outside the box" and provide creative advice. Is this going to change in the future?

9 Comments
 

Interesting. I haven't read it yet, but I'd readily side with those who believe "innovation" is much too generous of a word. Financial Innovation has been formed only to circumvent regulation and aid in the creation of opportunities for speculation. Sure- there are secondary channels where wealth from financial innovation has trickeled down to other industries that fostered economic growth- but I don't think that counts.

 

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