How to be a great VP?
Anyone have tips on how to be a great VP? I was told that I was a pretty good associate but realize not all good associates make good VPs. Wrapping up my MBA in a few months and want to make sure I hit the ground running. Any advice around staying organized, managing upward (and downward), building industry expertise, growing pains you'd expect to experience, etc. would be appreciated!
It's a really really hard job man
I'm sure it is. Exactly why I wanted to ask this question haha
know your shit before you give the directive to others. i really mean know your shit, not the fuzzy fake knowing cake toppings bull shit most VPs & Directors seems to think they can get away with.
VP title means you need to be working harder and smarter than before and compared to your juniors.
Communication for sure - I think lack of communication upwards and downstairs leads to strained team dynamics
With your juniors - if you’re not super clear with what you want or timeline, then that will lead to issues.
With seniors - managing expectations, figuring out best path forward for new deals and portcos, etc.
Ability to give clear instructions, effectively delegate, and ensure overall product quality and productivity will be important as you offload execution and take on more origination efforts. VPs that fail (or are inefficient) with that transition will take a longer path to making a director. Can you lead a squad?
VP in PE or VP in IB? The distinction is important.
PE VP: you are taking ownership and putting your name on the line for each investment evaluated and deal pursued. As long as you are intellectually curious, invested (you will be $), and willing to put in the time to you should succeed. Unearth every upside opportunity and downside risk. Have conviction in your thesis.
IB VP (looking to accelerate to Director): make sure your junior team hits deadlines, always be working ahead on live engagements, and insert your voice so you are the guy the client calls on the day-to-day updates. Basically handle and the blocking and tackling of executing efficiently. Instead of using free time (now that you have it) to socialize, prospect on your own initiative, network, build business relationships. Go to trade shows for your industry, know PE guys, lawyers, wealth managers, accountants, etc. Know everyone. Become an asset to the firm because of your connections.
IB VP (looking to coast): As long as you are OK with being VP for 5-7 years. Put in passable pitch/deal execution work. Talk with confidence. Be nice to the juniors. Invest in your personal life. And play enough politics to avoid being cut in downturns. Honestly, probably the best job/position out there for pay to effort gearing.
That’s a very detailed and helpful answer, but I always thought it was an up-and-out situation in IB, so there’d never really be a sixth or seventh year in practice and instead a timeline of 3-4 years - or do you mean switching firms every couple years or so and not getting promoted during the switch
Really depends on the shop and more importantly the economic environment. BB / EB probably more inclined to vet your ability to be a senior banker quickly. MM banks (for reference this is the world I work in) you can certainly coast and be fine if no downturn. But with titles like VP / Assistant VP / Senior VP you can find yourself executing for a rainmaker and not having to worry about jumping into sourcing for a while. Especially if seniors like you personally (politics).
views from an associate who worked with great and horrible VPs in banking and PE. Know when / how to be efficient. Don’t be the VP that takes 5 hours of work and turns it into 30. Always found the VPs that got the best work made their juniors happy (I.e. don’t blow up every weekend bc you are nervous). Know how to do something before asking for it.
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This is one area where coming from MBB really helps I think. I was a team lead equivalent for almost a year before PE and it helped tremendously both as an Asc and VP
The common skill every good VP had in my experience was the ability to manage stress well.
Sounds stupid but the shit VPs are the ones who start freaking out the second something goes slightly wrong and can't think of solutions on the fly. Seniors want a confident person they can trust to get shit done. Juniors need a calm and collected leader. A stressed out schizo who's shouting at associates over a missed fake deadline is not going to be a good VP.
This. It needs to be understood that the only checks and balances for a VP are largely moral / self-contained, not external. You piss off an associate by scrambling for an internal fake deadline instead of communicating upward about how much time a particular set of data cuts will take so that the Partner can either tailor it or extend the deadline? Probably not going to matter in the short term. Partner gets their deliverable, ASO suffers and grumbles. But that's the kind of thing that makes HUGE cultural ripples when it occurs consistently enough that will lead to general tension / ASO's not really wanting to go above and beyond for you when the situation *does* call for it.
Not OP, but related question. In an effort to avoid being the crazy VP that freaks out over tiny formatting and stylistic BS, I think I may have been a bit too lax. Obviously I was good at my job or I wouldn’t have been promoted (ignore title in username). Now in my first review as a VP, I was told that more senior people can tell when I’m the one actually doing the work vs when I’ve delegated because when I delegate, the quality is noticeably worse.
Any advice for motivating associates to do high quality work in a timely manner without creating fake deadlines and being batshit crazy?
I mean feedback is important, just do it *after* the deadline rather than before. That way a lot of the emotion is taken out of it and ASO's will actually listen to what you have to say instead of wondering when they'll get to go home.
Also, seems like a minor point, but really invest in your ASO's as people. Know their hobbies, what they want to do in 25 years, etc. It's crazy how a little bit of the "teammate" dynamic can consciously or subconsciously motivate them to want to present a finished product that is truly finished and can help boost the (hopefully mostly self-motivated!) ownership mindset they already have.
was moving from associate to VP in pe hard? always wonder whether the jump from IB to PE is worth it for this reason. seems like associates in PE are all very ambitious so what separates who moves up or not? is it also that most burn out and leave PE entirely? would love to know
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