Interesting twists

I have been a little remiss recently in not posting here. Instead I have been trying the new Linkedin facility to "publish" what ends up looking something like a blog. After a period of inactivity there the Linkedin gnomes prod you, reminding you to post and even suggest topics to write about. A recent Linkedin prompt suggesting that I write about a career curveball led me down a strange train of thought; one I thought I would share both there and here.

It was almost 30 years ago and I was just married. I then worked for a major US Bank that had decided to relocate to the south coast of England. It did not feel like the right thing for me so I was facing my first redundancy.

This was in the ‘80s when life was fast and loud – look it up if you are too young to remember and one of the firms that sat at the top of the world of finance was Salomon Brothers, a legendary Wall Street firm and the subject of “Liar’s Poker” by Michael Lewis. It was seen as a hard place to work, but one where you could earn incredible sums of money and many aspired to work there. It was also the year that Salomons in London had greeted their annual graduate intake with a £5,000 cheque and wished them good luck in their future career as the firm had reassessed matters and no longer needed them.

While £5,000 was a lot of money in those days, this was a brutal introduction to the world of financial services for those involved. I sometimes wonder what became of the recipients of those cheques? I wonder if in retrospect it was a good thing to have happened?

But back to me. I was approaching the end date of my employment and had not secured my next role when I was invited to interview at Salomons. I was due to meet the Head of Operations. He is dead now but just in case anyone objects I will refer to him as LD. He interviewed me with his feet on his desk, collar open and tie loose. He advised me that he needed an executive assistant. I am not sure that I really knew what that meant then and am still uncertain now, but it seemed to be his bag man. He asked if I had a dinner suit (tuxedo for American readers), which I did. It seemed that he expected me to accompany him with clients four nights a week.

The day after the interview I received a call from a HR lady asking me if I was accepting the job? I said that no job had been offered, no salary had been talked. Ignoring me, she asked me again if I was taking the job? I replied that until I saw details on the role and package I was not in a position to make a decision.

I am not sure if she audibly sighed, but I was certainly left with the impression that she did. Whatever the case I received a letter in the post the next morning (this was before email!) and within minutes the HR lady was on the phone asking if I was accepting the offer. It felt like she had been watching for the envelope to drop, but I am sure that is just wishful speculation.

This time I thanked her for the offer and said I would consider it and get back the next day. Another sigh!

I guess these days that sort of behaviour might be described as bullying. In those days it was just Salomons. I think it was a few months later that I read “Liars Poker” and the book explained that so many people wanted to work for Salomons, at least in New York, that they would take any crumbs offered, even without formal role offers or salary details. Just to be working for Salomons was reward enough for many young career starters.

Back to my story. It was early December, I had no other offers and only three weeks before I would be unemployed. I felt somewhat cornered. While my new wife was not keen on me being out four nights a week, we had a mortgage and life to support. The role had some interesting aspects and the pay was actually pretty good so with a degree of reluctance and self-doubt I accepted the offer and settled myself to a new start on the 2nd January.

Strangely in the period between Christmas and New Year, a Canadian bank that I had talked to some weeks before called me at home. They were keen to progress matters and when they found I had accepted a role as Salomons, they started a frantic three days of phone interviews and negotiations, many conducted on the stairs of my sister-in-law’s house where we were staying. This culminated in an offer to join their change team. The money was actually about 10% less than Salomons, but the actually role felt better. Long story short, I decided I wanted to take the second role.

Remember Salomons had earlier that year paid off their graduate recruits and kissed them good bye so I felt able to return the favour. I know, two wrongs do not make a right, but at the end of the day only one person was looking after my best interests and that was me; I am sure Salomons were only concerned about theirs. So on New Year’s Day as I drove through central London to visit family I stopped by their offices in Victoria (they were open and operational!) and left a letter that said words to the effect of “ you know I was due to join you tomorrow, well sorry I have changed my mind and will not do so now”.

Not surprisingly I never heard from them again.

Looking back this was the turning point for me into the world of change as it was with the Canadian bank that I was first trained as a project manager. Who knows where I would have been had I been wining and dining four nights a week, but I have to say I am not unhappy to be where I am.

It would be easy to say that the end justifies the means, but I do find myself a tad uncomfortable about that particular episode. I value my integrity and my word is my bond. While I was true to myself I did break a ”contract” even if I had been under a little duress at the time of accepting it.

I am constantly reminded that the world is a small place and one’s reputation often precedes you. I think it is good to have something like this in your past to act as a reference against which other actions can be assessed.

I wonder if anyone else has such an episode they might share?