Financial Analysts: Fail Your Way To Success?

Financial Analysts: Fail Your Way To Success?
In the world of financial analysts, there is little room
for mistakes. I agree with the importance of accuracy when
working with numbers. Number mistakes can be costly not
only to the firm. I've seen more than one trader lost their
jobs for keying in an extra zero. I've also seen equity
analysts fall off the pedestal for arriving at the wrong
calls with wrong numbers.

"Fail your way to success."

I don't know who coined this phrase. There is a lot of
wisdom in these words and I've adopted it as one of my
mottos. I think many people would balk at this idea though.

The education system conditions everyone since grade school
that mistakes are bad. You're penalized with poor grades
for being wrong and rewarded with good grades for being
right. This carries over to the higher education system and
then to the professional world. To be hired by the most
prestigious financial institution on Wall Street, you need
to have outstanding grades to attend the top B-schools and
pass the CFA exam with flying colors.

Of course it would be nice to be able to do things right
the first time. What are the chances of that happening? We
all fell down when we learned to walk. Otherwise, there
wouldn't be internship programs for the newcomers or a
hierarchy in the financial world differentiating people by
the amount of experience they have.

Experience is just a euphemism for a collection of
mistakes. The key is to learn from your mistakes and not
let them stop you from achieving your goal. Successful
financial analysts who are high up in the hierarchy are
those who have amassed and learned from their "experiences."

No matter what stage of your career you're in, there's
always something new to learn. This means there are always
chances of making mistakes even if you apply extreme
caution.

Try out as many things as early as possible while the
stakes are low. When your stakes are high, hire mentors and
advisers who have walked the path before you. It is
preferable to be able to reduce the learning curve and gain
from others' experiences at this stage.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes. The only sure way you
don't make mistakes is not take any action - that would
truly be the biggest mistake of all.

Always ask yourself two questions when things don't turn
out the way you intended:

1) What did I learn from it?
2) How would I do it differently the next time?

You might need to rebuild a valuation model you've spent a
whole week constructing because the valuation method you
used turned out not to be the best for that particular
investment. You might have worked really hard to break into
investment banking and found out it isn't for you, and you
would need to switch to another finance field that aligns
with your passion and long-term career goals.

Mistakes is an integral part of, and not a contradiction to
your strive for excellence. In the competitive world of
financial analysts, not being afraid to make mistakes is an
indispensable mindset to help you outperform your peers.

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Corinne Lor is a success coach for financial analysts and
writes at Financial Analyst Blog.
http://financialanalystblog.com