- Scott Galloway says he hated investment banking and was bad at it, yet credits it with teaching him discipline, attention to detail, and how big organizations work.
- He views investment banking as a powerful early-career training ground that accelerates maturity through stress, high standards, and constant feedback, even if it’s unsustainable for many long term.
- Realizing his insecurity, resentment, and discomfort with hierarchy, Galloway chose entrepreneurship not as a fallback but as a better fit for his personality and values.
- He generalizes the main lessons as building self-awareness, enduring hard but useful experiences, managing financial risk prudently, and having the courage to leave misaligned environments.
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Scott Galloway’s reflections on his time in investment banking reveal a nuanced balance between bitter critique and recognition of long-term growth. He categorically states he “hated investment banking” and felt “terrible at it,” yet he also regards it as a crucible where he developed crucial skills—attention to detail, stamina, understanding organizational mechanics—that shaped his subsequent career path [1][5].
He positions investment banking as an effective launchpad for recent graduates, though not as an ideal long-term career. It immerses talent in high stress, fast feedback environments and forces them to confront personal shortcomings early—what Galloway identifies as insecurity, impatience, and lack of maturity [2][5]. Such pressures expose true fit and build foundational capabilities.
Galloway’s decision to leave reflects an advanced level of self-awareness: he continually compared himself to colleagues, felt resentment toward peers who earned more without seeming smarter, and lacked patience for hierarchical structures—signs he was not geometry for a large corporate shape. This decision wasn’t a failure—he frames it as an informed career pivot rather than a default outcome [3][5].
The life lessons distilled from his investment banking experience extend well beyond finance: the value of enduring temporary discomfort, honing self-knowledge, embracing discipline over comparison, and recognizing when one’s personality and values are misaligned with organizational culture. These lessons carry strategic significance in shaping career trajectories in finance, entrepreneurship, or otherwise [4][10].
Strategic implications for professionals and firms include:
- Early-career placement decisions: choosing roles not for prestige, but for where one can build resilience, self-awareness, and core skills.
- Organizational design and employee development: large firms could benefit from structuring early-career roles to offer clearer feedback, psychological support, and opportunities for reflection.
- Risk of misalignment: high-performing individuals may exit if their values or traits conflict with corporate setting; this attrition has both personal cost and institutional ones (loss of talent).
- Entrepreneurial alternative: for those whom corporate culture feels oppressive, entrepreneurship can serve as both defense mechanism and creative outlet, though not without its own risks.
Open questions that merit further thought:
- To what extent can investment banks evolve their early-career cultures to retain diverse personalities without compromising performance?
- How much of success in entrepreneurship is building upon skills learned in corporate environments versus innate personality traits?
- Are there systematic predictors—beyond anecdotal experience—of who will thrive versus falter in banking versus entrepreneurship?
Supporting Notes
- Galloway directly: “I hated investment banking and I was no good at it. So, that was a sign to get out.” [1]
- He describes the role as giving him “attention to detail,” ability to “suffer a little bit,” and understanding of how large organizations work—skills he views as highly valuable despite dislike for the environment [5].
- He speaks about insecurity: anytime more than three people entered a conference room he “was convinced they were talking about me,” felt resentment toward seniors who earned more, and lacked patience and maturity to remain in that structure [3][5].
- He frames entrepreneurship partly as defense: he went into entrepreneurship “as a defense mechanism” after realizing corporate life was a mismatch for his personality [3][5].
- In broader financial advice, Galloway emphasizes diversification, limiting exposure (“I don’t put more than 3% of my net worth in any one investment”) and that losing wealth twice taught him lessons about risk and mental well-being [10].
- He also rejects idealizing romantic notions of jobs: work gets hard, passion isn’t always enough, and brilliance is often less useful than perseverance in difficult, non-glamorous tasks [1][2].
Sources
- [1] ritholtz.com (Ritholtz) — June 2019
- [2] podcasts.happyscribe.com (Prof G Show / Happyscribe) — undated
- [3] www.jordanharbinger.com (Jordan Harbinger Show) — approx mid-2024
- [4] rationalreminder.ca (Rational Reminder) — recent
- [5] lilys.ai (Lilys.ai / Prof G) — approx two months ago
- [10] moneywise.com (Moneywise) — recent