An Ode To Those Who Wander

In May 2011, after five years and stellar job reviews, I was pushed out of a relatively junior buy side seat, in the sleepy world of Investment Grade bonds. This was a good seat and a pathway to a healthy annual income, with a high probability of a good annual bonus, and four weeks of vacation, in only one or two years time. Back then, I was about two classes away from earning my MBA, via night school, as I was earning it while still working full time. At this shop, an MBA was required to get moved up to Analyst.

Candidly, I was bored in that seat, not intellectually challenged, not pushed to become a better analyst, and there was no mobility to move into other areas within the Investment Department. Despite coming very close to making the leap to a private equity role, as I took the initiative to cultivate the business relationships and show my passion and potential. Alas, the firm's culture wouldn't allow it, as the optics of a Senior Associate leaping frogging to a Private Equity Analyst role were too tricky. It would set the wrong precedent. This was despite winning the sponsorship from Senior Analyst, the person I would've worked directly for. Essentially, moving into this role got vetoed at the highest levels of the organization and that was the event that lead to being forced to leave : )

Perhaps, in New York it would've been a different story, as that type of resourcefulness and self confidence might have been viewed differently, as opposed to parochial Boston.

At the time, my passion, work ethic, insights, and sheer ability should've been so obvious to spot. Unfortunately, in my entire 'Corporate America' experience, and maybe I was just unlucky or worked for the wrong type of companies, these places were not anything close to meritocracies. Playing the game, how you fit in political theatre, not rocking the boat, understanding how and where you ranked in the hierarchy seemed equally, if perhaps not as importantly, as how good you were as an analyst.

As an aside, what I love about sports, at the D-1 to the professional levels, is this is the closest form of a meritocracy, on planet earth and at least in the professional realms, as the performance on the field is easy to spot and performance metrics can easily be compared and ranked.

To make a long story short, after spending eight or nine years in the 'Steve Jobsian' wilderness, 2011 - 2019, after taking the risk to go for the Private Equity role, I finally started to recover from this lengthly bout of career vertigo.

Fast forward to today, New Year's Day 2025, and this story has a good ending. I am so happy and so blessed to be able to share that I just finished compounding a Family Account at 56% (pre-tax), from January 1, 2020 - December 31, 2024. That is a 9X total return on the original starting capital. And there are no gimmicks in achieving those returns, there was no leverage, and it wasn't derived via one very lucky moonshot bet.

At the young and ripe age of 44, 2024 was my first good year, ever, in my professional career. From ages 21 to 43 an outside observer could have remarked that I woefully under performed and under achieved my potential. And if you use conventional metrics like salary and job titles, at face value, you could make that argument.

All of a sudden, though, in mid 2023 and accelerating during the second half of 2024, all of those doors I knocked on, the hundreds of doors, when no one answered and where I got written off, started to open. It is surreal to describe it. It is as if there is this invisible energy, perhaps a wave length and it moves at a certain frequency, and until you traversed the most rigorous terrain and endured the numerous setbacks, failures, and dead-ends, your prize at the end of this two decade Zelda quest was the acquisition of both the confidence and know how to share your passion and hard acquired skills to other (well capitalized and good partners) investors that want to work with you.

In closing, this is 'An Ode To All Those Who Wander'. The universe is unfolding exactly as it should.

I will leave readers with this quote, as this framed picture was given to me by late and good friend, my first mentor in business, W. Rodney Thomas, who was called home to God, early, at age 47 due to complications from Type 1 Diabetes.

“Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Therefore, give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to your strengths. Remain steadfast...and one day you will build something that endures: something worthy of your potential.” (Epictetus).

If you too find yourself lost in the wilderness, whether it be professionally, personally, etc. try to reflect and learn from the setbacks, dead-ends, and adversity. These can be your greatest teachers and, eventually and ultimately, provide you with the 'jet fuel' required to power up and travel to where you're supposed to go.

Happy and Healthy New Year!

Cheers,

Michael R.