What is street smart in Investment Banking business?

Being street smart means you are able to deal with difficult social situations effectively. It means you are able to maneuver and present yourself as a strong, confident person and you are able to think fast on the spot. It means you can outsmart and outwit most people and you generally know what is happening around you and what the people around you are thinking. Street smarts come from instincts and can be developed through practice.

While I highly respect your philosophy of truth and transparency (indeed, you are a rare type in the business world), many successful bankers often bend the truth. While I am sure you can still be successful by being honest, the business world is often filled with people who are successful through rather untransparent ways. Having said that, you don't have to be a swindler to be street smart - you just need to know how to handle difficult social situations and how to outsmart and outwit your opponents.

Your best practice would come from practice, not from books or videos. Yet, I am sure there are tons of resources examining the thoughts of street-smart people.

Radical Transparency sounds valiant and noble but that's not how you play chess or poker. It's not how you get ahead in ibanking. My colleague uses the term 'rat like cunning'. Street smarts is understanding the personalities at play, the human frailties, desires, etc and how to satisfy everyone at the table while still taking the lion's share. Play more poker.

Being street smart means knowing how people work so they can't screw you over, simply put.

It means you need to carry a gun and don’t get high on your own supply.

Thanks for all your relies. Very insightful indeed. Much appreciated.

I spent some time reflecting in the last few days and here are some of my thoughts.

1. Though street smart cannot not be picked up immediately, it is still possible to learn the tricks. I decided to talk less and listen more in the business nowadays and always swallow the first thing I would say when talking to people and give it a second thought. Surprisingly, loads of craps I used to say actually exposed how ignorant I was.

2. I put down all my egos and always smile, even at the hard truth (loads of ass kissing though). I found it very hard but somehow laying down my defence does me loads of good.

3. There is a book I am reading right now which covers loads of 'business common sense'. It's Mark H. McCormack's What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School.

Another term thrown around a ton is "emotional intelligence"

Interpreting a situation and knowing what to say, when to say it, how to phrase it, and who to say things too. Knowing the opposite is equally important too (i.e. what NOT to say, when to NOT say anything, and who NOT to say certain things to)

Wants to be street smart. Asks for books to become street smart.

Just on an unrelated side note,...... I have disliked every manager that has referred to "internal clients".....complete dogshit.

Best and most functional firms that I have worked at functioned as a team serving external client where everyone has each other's back in an effort to create the best product for the client.

Maybe try to read a normal, good book for a change, instead of those that try to teach you how to live. You're a product of your experiences and I would argue that being street smart is nothing more than being experienced in dealing with all kinds of situations, so go have some.

Sitting, listening, copying others who exude professionalism, and keeping your cards close to your chest are great ways to act the part if you haven't quite learned how to play the game.

Stupid questions make you sound stupid and/or lazy. This reminds me of a convo I had with a mentor of mine on this topic that went something like this: Me- "Back in HS teachers used to say 'there is no such thing as a stupid question'." Him- "You should ask your teacher 'Is there such thing as a stupid teacher, after all there is no such thing as a stupid question'? "

LOL, on a real note, street smarts comes with experience, perceptiveness, common sense(turns out it's not so common anymore) and a shrewd business intelligence. It's also from your ability to read people, predict their intentions, understand body language and making an accurate judgement call based on the given info you have. Hope this helps.

Any time anyone describes a philosophy as "radical" anything it imbues a sense that they think or act in absolutes... Not a great philosophical bent and is likely to some extent exactly to what this senior banker is referring. Banking isn't a business predicated on full transparency or radical anything...

Dalio isn’t a banker. He’s sort of a macro trader whose job it is is to think about what’s priced wrong. Not a banker who services clients.

Where radical transparency works - analyzing the market is pricing wrong and discussing if the differing view is in fact correct.

Where radical transparency is awful. Telling a client the new product they are launching is awful.

First of all, Ray Dalio is an arrogant asshole. That works as a HF manager, it doesn't work when your job is to sell advice to clients.

Secondly, nobody in banking is radically honest. Fuck that. Everyone successful is neither truthful nor untruthful. They're tactically transparent and tactically tight-lipped. They're pragmatic, not radical. That's how you survive in a world where there are a thousand kids gunning for your job, a hundred rainmakers trying to snake your client, and a dozen corporate managers telling their boss your value-add doesn't justify your fee so they can earn a promotion.

Third, being "street smart" isn't a single coherent skillset. It's a general way of thinking and diagnosing situations. It's you. Because of that, street smarts are rarely learned, at least not directly as a result of an effort by a clueless person to understand the implications of what they say and how they act. When it is learned, it's a long and arduous process wherein you witness hundreds and thousands of interactions and slowly understand how people interpret shit.

Fourth, self-books are for the weak and feeble to read to feel better about themselves and their lives. They're written by arrogant assholes and glorified scam artists. They're not going to give you some sort of magic playbook to diagnose situations. Even if they did, would you trust them over your own internal logic? At least I hope not or you're even more fucked.

The fact that you're on here asking for books about street smarts in all caps is pretty much a guarantee that you'll never become the type of situationally conscientious go-to guy your boss is looking for.

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.

Read it. Understand it. Use it. Repeat.

Citing from the best seller directly and claiming it's your philosophy is not STREET SMART. Be humble. In addition, directly applying super star's principle to your analyst position is wrong at so many level. Your version of radical transparency/truth should be knowing when to shut up.