The High-Five

Today is my father’s birthday. Or I guess I should say, it would have been.

I’ve been spending a lot of my time at a leading, private financial institution (my client) interviewing and coaxing smiles out of a dozen employees. While really tiring it’s been an incredibly fun, learning experience. These are a diverse group of people – who would have thought that the hot-shot, kid trader spent two-and-a-half years in the Peace Corps? Or that a managing director majored in Religion?

It’s been a fantastic thing to bridge the financial v. creative (read: us v. them). I have come to realize and appreciate that I am just as competitive as any financial analyst; have a great love for the “win” and thrive on the energy of fast-thinking. Really, I’ve come to understand that the “Heck yea!” of trusting your instinct and picking the right stock – is the same “Heck yea!” of knowing you nailed a big idea.

I bring this up to share the following learned fact: following talking sports, asking someone about their kids will always get them to smile. I watched a couple of Dads this week talk about their kids and well, today was a bit of a challenge to make it through with a smile.

So it was with a great amount of irony that I found myself unexpectedly running into one of my interviewees on the street this evening. He greeted me with a huge smile and words of appreciation for what it is I do. To understand this tremendous occurrence, understand this: the man is responsible for millions of dollars…the man moves the Market – the man is THE man…I’m a dork who occasionally has some ideas. But he was impressed; he was a little bit in awe. He high-fived ME.

As I crossed the bridge heading home, pondering “Really, that just happened?” I started to smile and think, “That was an out-of-the-blue courtesy of my Dad."

Thanks Dad.