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| 432 Park view from street level (iPhone with filter) |
Recently, I have been struggling a little bit at work. I have struggled to keep up with deadlines (Fall is the busiest season for us), and, partly due to insufficient time, really messed up a valuation model for a direct position. What is most disappointing about this is that my manager had faith in me and tried to help me out by finding opportunities for me to work on directs. The model I built was simplistic. I really feared taking too much risk, so I kept the “industry average” for all the assumptions. But you know what they say – Garbage In, Garbage Out.
This isn’t the first time I have felt swamped or like I have disappointed with delivery at work. But it was the first time that I felt my manager’s faith in me was shaken. This is the first time my boss has ask, “Is direct valuation what you really want to do?”
YES. Yes, it is.
This was not a perfect valuation model. But I do know that this is the most imperfect valuation model I will ever build again. I know I can become better than this. In my short career, I have learned that I can surprise people – and even myself – with how much I can learn and how far I can go.
I thought this would be a good time to talk about the do’s and don’ts I’ve learned to embrace in terms of dealing with professional setback (… or any setback, really).
Do:
- Reflect. Figure out what it is that you’re falling short on; for me, it’s doing the deeper research and questioning assumptions until I came up with an end product that I can be 100% sure of and behind which I can stand -- a valuation model where I can explain each and every assumption and methodology.
- Plan. Make a plan to fix that mistake but also draw out “error-checking” future guidelines for yourself so that in the future you avoid that mistake. For me, it was as simple as writing down questions to ask myself: Where did that assumption come from? Why is this calculation done this way vs. a different way? Do you really believe company guidance and why?
- Ask. After you mess something up in a profound way, it can be intimidating to go back to your manager and ask questions, but I promise you, he or she would much, much rather take the time to answer those questions now, in the eve of your big mess-up than have you repeat it later in the future. I used to be afraid to ask questions, thinking that they “made me look dumb.” It took me a long time to figure out that questions at work are more illustrative of your interest and diligence than of your ignorance. So don’t be afraid to ask for help, clarifications, guidelines, etc.
Don’t:
- Blame. Pointing fingers won’t get you anywhere. There were many times on my journey to direct investment when I thought of just saying “you know, I’ve never built a model before, so I don’t know this terminology.” But what is the point in doing that? I now try to catch myself when I feel tempted to say “But I’ve never…” with “What a great opportunity to show that I can…”
- Find workarounds. Workarounds is a word that my boyfriend throws around to describe anything that is really a patch rather than a whole solution. For example, at my old job, in order to access our company network I had to use a special pin to remote into my desktop machine, but it always only shows half the screen. We found a “workaround” by tricking the laptop into thinking its screen is bigger than it actually is. But really, the problem should have been fixed from the company-end so that this does not keep happening to every single person who tries to remote in. Workarounds fix the problem temporarily, but it does not set up your situation for continued future success. Early in my career, I relied heavily on workarounds but it’s always come to bite me in the butt because the same errors show up again and again.
- Give up. Don’t ever, ever give up.
xoxo, the closing belle
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BLOGTOBER: Blogging every other day in October!
