The Stanford Business Reporter

The first important thing that I learned in business was how to make coffee taste like hot chocolate. I learned to like coffee. I learned to like lots of coffee. I credit caffeine with many thousands of dollars in savings on complicated early morning trades. Over the course of four years, the little skills turned out to be the most important ones.

I learned early on that being smart was not half so important as being nice. I thought working at an investment bank might require me to solve challenging financial problems, but discovered that my first job was to convince busy, overworked people to give me information that they had no desire to surrender. I learned how to be very nice on little sleep. I learned all of the names and shifts of the staff in the production department. I learned that a bag of M&M’s goes a long way at 4am.

I learned to value relationships as my most precious assets. I learned that everyone is interesting if you spend enough time together. At work I learned not only about finance, but also about Pakistani arranged marriages, high-end dress shirts, landscape management, divorce and New York strip clubs. I identified classical music for my humming Russian office mate. My desk mate on the trading floor taught me the vocabulary of mortgage-backed bonds in between bids on eBay. I read some great science fiction recommended by the same municipal derivatives marketer that worshipped Britney Spears.

I struggled to do price swaps on an inadequate computer as I saw thousands of dollars spent on travel, supplies and meals. I bade goodbye to one of my favorite analysts as he left to work at another bank after not having a permanent desk for 8 months. I came to believe that every employee deserves equal respect. My friend, Mitch, who works at the security desk in the lobby, loves to watch the Navy boats during fleet week. Violet, who binds books in production, commutes from Staten Island. I learned that cycles of behavior begin and end with individuals and that I could make a difference.

I learned to maintain perspective. I spent Friday nights worrying about failed trades and weekends remembering the simple joys of a day in the park. I learned never to execute $500mm callable swaps on an empty stomach. I learned that $10,000 means a lot more to me than it does to a big bank. I decided that any bonus, no matter how small, is still a lot of money.

Though I learned a great deal about finance and worked on many large transactions, my greatest lessons from my first job involved human nature. I learned that no amount of academic learning can teach people to say please and thank you. I’ve learned that loving your job is about other people, not about subject matter. I’ve learned that worker morale is only partly about money, and mostly about community and learning. I’ve learned that nothing is more important than maintaining a sense of humor and enthusiasm. I’ve learned that the little things matter.