Will I always be seen as the Nepo baby?

To cut a long story short, I'm the stereotypical British banker/finance guy. Not only do I tick every box (very well-known school, live in Central London, ski holidays) but I (obviously) share my uncommon surname with my uncle who happens to be the CTO at the BB bank I work for. (Although he's based in the bank HQ in the US, I'm in London). 

Basically, I work in ECM coverage at that BB, and everyone seems to know me (and my name) without having met me. While nobody's said anything directly, I get the feeling I'm not respected by my analyst & associate peers because I'm seen as the team's nepo baby. Despite this, I don't get much grunt work from MD's and seniors. I never get work set on Friday nights :). Probably sucking up lol. 

I'm consistently ranked middle bucket - but given my circumstances does that really mean I'm a bottom-bucket performer?

If you know somebody like me, is there anything they've done to make you properly respect them - or am I just fucked either way and should switch banks. Cheers.

 
Most Helpful

I'm not sure if this is a troll but I'll bite on the off-chance it's legit and in case the response helps other.

The reason I think it's a troll is that I've worked for my current bank for ~10 years and have literally no idea who the CTO is. Give me 5 names and I wouldn't even recognise it if there was a gun pointed at my temple. 

I have two comments: (1) Have a look at the "spotlight effect"; (2) the first, second and third reasons that I rate or respect any of my ANs / ASs is because they perform and that's it (perform = work quality, communication, timeliness, etc.), and I truly do not think I am unusual in this.

 

Don't want to get any more specific, but I work in tech coverage for ECM. My team had to collaborate with the uncle since he had worked with a client before, so they met him briefly then.

Thanks for the advice, I don't believe my performance is truly sub-par, but I suppose any nepo baby would tell themselves that. 

 

If you focus on what other's think of you, you'll never be satisfied anyway.

Find ways of learning and growing on your own, and then that sense of accomplishment will give you the confidence you need to not give a shit.  Or better yet.. don't work in banking.  It's not like anyone wants to work in banking, and if you've got those kinds of connections you can probably work in an unrelated field where your surname won't matter

 

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