Averages In Deliveries

Written By Tshepo Magagane

Average in “Investment Banking and High Finance” – a lot of my writing is really ruminations as you cant think if you are not writing…

…but it harks back to my junior years when going through my tutelage.

If something happened to a client, sector or there was an interesting deal – it was my duty to know; not only that to be able to communicate it and understand how it impacts the team!

This was not something that made you stand out, it just made you average ie you stand a chance not to get cut.

When leaving a meeting with an MD, they would just go “not going back to the office, send it to my house” – in Joburg it meant driving to their estate – leaving it with the security and calling them to make sure they pick it up when they drive in; in London it meant putting it in a cab, giving the cabbie the instructions to put it in a particular place so that they dont wake up the kids!

The presentation was my responsibility – every detail – when an MD picked it up, they knew that the sector analysis was correct and the Corporate Finance detail was to the standard expected by “best of class deliverables” – the presentation was to help them think a bit more in detail about the messaging.

When we got in-front of clients eg Mittals / Glasenberg – the MDs trusted every number – I would be having the most robust back and fros with these industry titans with my MDs just watching – they trusted every detail I put on a page.

We used to do Zug on Monday and Berkeley Square on Monday and Friday – after those interactions with these titans – I would also get a pat (no, a little touch) on the shoulder going “you can take the night off” BUT I would know the amount of work required and would just jump on the Heathrow express / tube back to the office!

Cardinal sin in the sector – being told something twice – you need to have a notebook for every client / deal – you write everything down – mid-day, you start ticking off things / end of day, you tick off others – religiously!

PS: will give you a terse situation – land in Zug, my analysts were doing some final touches – as we get in the car with the Director (MDs in car ahead)…I can see this fat-finger on a table – extra number…we look at each other and he goes you deal with it – pick up the phone and tell the MDs…pull out page x, my mistake, there is an error…

…we get off before going into the Glencore office….they go “call them and have a go at them” – the 3 watching😂 When I got back to the office, still had a go at them but they went “sorry, I will not happen again” – some are seniors in distressed investing nowadays – great guys!

You cant be “half-pregnant” in this sector! – attention to detail, quality of work, reasoning, knowing why you are doing a page and how it relates to the entire presentation!

BEING AVERAGE in the sector – I wrote about a friend who is senior in Private Credit – the standards which she continuously delivered, I would fear for her juniors (THOSE ARE THE STANDARDS)!