Anyone else struggling to adjust to being more senior?
Title.
I feel like there's so much material out there to help guide the transition from college student to IB analyst, and likewise just as much has been written on going from IB analyst to PE associate.
If you went through that whole track and killed it, you might think you're set. I went from top BB to top MF and now at a UMM fund. The process teaches us you can be a stud if you know accounting, modeling, investment thesis formulation, how to run a DD process, etc. On top of that, if you can appear a nice charismatic person for the duration of 5-6 interviews, you're set. By that point, you might be under the illusion (like me) that all you need to get ahead in the job is be knowledgeable, be fast, think about investments well, model in your sleep, and be a nice guy.
Now I'm senior associate transitioning into principal and I feel like my job has begun to take on an entirely different scope. I find myself engaged in way more politics and people management shit than I ever cared for. I find myself focusing on not being a good investor, but on managing perception upwards. My old approach of just being the best at executing deals and being super knowledgeable about everything is starting to fail me. At the very least, it is proving to be a way less efficient way of rising up the ranks in terms of hours spent. In theory, my analyst and associate can basically run most of the day-to-day deal and analysis (with some oversight and step-ins from me), and my role has become more of how to manage upwards to give them latitude and capital to do their thing. I kind of miss being in their position, and the stuff leftover for me to do is complete bullshit. Maybe it's because I'm not a natural extrovert, and I hate selling (except selling myself in interviews - which is a skill I've trained).
There's a LOT of content on this site, but how come not much talking about this? I honestly haven't been at such a loss in my career ever. I wasn't ready to become a middle manager, and I feel like 95% of the job is just communicating and managing perceptions rather than actually doing any analytical work. Is this just the natural course of things?
It can be a rougher transition than people realize and I agree with you that it is not a totally linear skill progression. Compounding that is PE firms are generally bad at training, and the training we do have is focused on getting junior levels up to speed. There’s not much direct training at the mid levels, at least at most places. I would go as far to say that many firms actively don’t want to help VPs to succeed, they want everyone VP+ to “prove it”. These places should be avoided, but that’s a separate discussion.
I have a few suggestions.
Try to find a mentor, either at your firm or externally. Just someone you trust and respect enough to say “hey I’m trying to get better at x, any suggestions?”
Give it time / take some pressure off yourself. I’m sure you were a weak IB analyst and PE associate when you started, but you DID get up that curve. This is a different skillset and you will again.
Practice more - as you say yourself you actually got to the point where you enjoyed selling yourself in interviews despite not being extroverted. Know why? Because you prepped and then became confident. This is no different. You’re not going to wow management teams by winging it at your experience level. You have to get those reps in and yes even prep on your own. Then once you get the confidence, things will turn around and you won’t have to prep nearly as much.
The one thing that was a yellow flag to me in your note was not knowing what work to give your junior resources - you had those jobs before so you should be able to put yourself in their shoes to scope what analysis needs to be done and how to help them.
For the managing up piece - I’d suggest actively communicating more and raising your hand. Take a first shot at scoping out the work plan, give them frequent updates on how things are progressing, latest timelines, etc. Once you do that and all of the above things eventually you’ll get enough reps in to have proven yourself a bit more, gain your confidence back, and people will start to trust you. Once you have that stature in the firm, I think many politics issues alleviate. Until you get back into the knife fight for principal :)