I’ve noticed that a manager only on the trading floor ridiculing ex-employees. Comments like “John was a f* idiot how did he get hired” or “I hated working with John he was always...”. At what point is this too much? I’m trying to figure out where the line is.
Caveat, John wasn’t well cut out for a trading floor and did some really dumb things. Also, I’ve definitely joked about when a co-worker did something stupid, so I’m no saint, but in private and not that often.
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Well, clearly he was fired for a reason. Incompetent people are really frustrating for a performing team.
Nowhere near being able to influence hiring decisions but people in finance more than any other field seem to stick around for a while, bouncing around firms / "failing upwards". Probably not a great idea to openly insult someone regardless of how incompetent or assholish they were because you never know if they'll be on the other side of a transaction.
This is generally true in terms of ppl sticking around or bouncing around firms.
1) Firms like to show a picture of having consistent teams, and firing ppl shows the opposite, so the bias is to keep someone around 2) Having experience in a particular field is valuable, somewhat regardless of how competent you are. Its difficult to fall out of the industry entirely - there are only so many ppl with X years of experience, and seats need to be filled
But yes, talking shit about someone who left makes that person look small. Just move on
There is zero upside to talking shit about other people, even people you don't like or who are incompetent.
This. Walls have ears. Life is long and the world is small.
The smallest dogs bark the most. Distinguish yourself through your performance and your performance alone.
Some old ancient proverb says;
Big thinkers talk about ideas Mediocre thinkers talk about events Small thinkers talk about people
I'll be an ex employee soon enough and know for sure that I'll be the scapegoat for at least 3-6 months for every issue at hand. I've seen it before. The jellyfish backbone management love to take zero ownership for failure and all ownership for success. Corporate politics.
It's usually a bad look but I can also understand it if John was also an asshole. If he was just not cut out for it, and otherwise a good guy, then yeah that's fucked up.
I've worked with a handful of genuinely bad human beings over the years, and some of them also happened to suck at their jobs too. So I'd certainly want to be able to bash their weak skills without being judged as a bad guy myself.
+1 SB
I never trash anyone's skills or their personal attributes, but as noted, there are some really bad apples out there. If someone was unethical, manipulative, or a downright piece of shit to their co-workers, yes I will tell others about them. I'm not going to help people gloss over such behavior by saying nothing.
This is a personal quality of mine, but I dislike shit talking people both inside/outside of work. My last role was on a trading floor and a few people on my team would constantly shit talk the previous employees and current bankers, many of whom were higher than them. This resulted in lower morale (who wants to work with a negative Nancy all day?) and makes subordinates wonder that if their boss talks this much about other people, if it happens about them
Chances are… yes. My director and associate would constantly talk amongst each other on BBG chat about any mistakes I would make. The day I left, I saw them continuing to talk behind my back instead of directly telling me
I’ve noticed that because IB tends to attract Type-A personalities, you run into many people who feel the constant need to assert their dominance, which manifests in the form of shit talking
People who are good at what they do have zero need to talk trash others to affirm their success. Ever hear Michael Jordan or Shaq trash talk the competition? Does Warren Buffett trash talk other value investors? No, they let their own stats stand for themselves.
Am I missing the sarcasm here? Not sure athletes trash-talking directly to their competitors/teammates is very comparable to talking badly about people behind their backs. Also, MJ was an all-time great shit-talker.
b
Keep your comments to yourself. People around you will hear you out but they will perceive you as a non-trustworthy / spiteful person and this may hinder your career.
Under no circumstances I will talk shit about other people, no matter how poorly they performed or got along with the team. From moral standpoint, this is just distasteful. Even if you don't care about being a good person, you shouldn't do it for your own benefit. Anyone who talks shit about others is a huge red flag and I can assure you will be flagged by many others. Even single successful person I've encountered in my career always speaks positively out others.
Absolutly. If it ain't nice, it's best to not say anything at all.
Very distasteful to speak openly like this; accomplishes nothing - only creates distrust and depletes moral.
I had a former manager who used to act like this. He ended up getting fired before the group left to join a competitor while his wife was leaving him for infidelity. Karma really is a bitch...
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