Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2014. As of that date, Turney Duff was writing his second book and Sony was rumoured to have bought the film rights to his first.
We wrote about Turney Duff a while ago. Duff was a successful stockbroker who built up more than 10 million in wealth and spent it all on alcohol, drugs and prostitutes, along with some bad investments. He is currently writing his second book, and Sony is rumoured to have bought the rights to the first one to turn it into a film.
Turney Duff offers advice to young people who want to work on Wall Street about what this peculiar world is like and what helped him. Many of these points apply to any young person who wants to build a career in any other industry.
1. The first job
Most people who work on Wall Street have their own story about how they got their first job, or their second, or their tenth. What most of these stories have in common is that they didn’t get the job by sending a CV. In fact, if you send a CV to Goldman Sachs, your chances of being hired are pretty slim.
Hence the importance of having contacts and cultivating them. They are usually needed to land your first job, but they matter even more for continuing to move forward in your career. And the same is true in other industries: the truth is that most good jobs are landed because somebody knows somebody.
The chances that a manager who doesn’t know you will hire you just from looking at your LinkedIn profile are also very slim.
(Read: Think your job interview was tough? That’s because you haven’t been interviewed on Wall Street)
2. There is no single model of success on Wall Street
You have to figure out what works for you, says Duff, admitting that he was neither the most passionate about the markets nor the smartest person in the room, “but I played to my strengths. I was aware of my limitations during the day, but I was very good at happy hour, which was when everyone else was running on empty.”
It is important to understand that Wall Street, like most companies and industries, is a constant game of chess, a game of strategy with its rooks, bishops and knights.
“What worked for me was building my networks of contacts, developing and cultivating relationships. I liked helping others without thinking about whether, or how, someone could help me. If you do that, there is always a boomerang effect.”
3. Respect
Although it is not the first word that comes to mind when people talk about Wall Street, the truth is that treating people with respect is the best shortcut there is to success in this business.
Wall Street can feel like a jungle where you eat or get eaten. Duff says that at first he thought the only way to succeed in the business was to behave like some kind of bully.
“I often saw traders yelling at and insulting the guy from the research department for no reason, for sending them a report a few minutes late. I never understood why you would insult someone who is just giving you a hand with your job and, in many cases, doing part of your job for you.
“I realised that the best move was to play the ‘good cop’, and almost instantly everyone wanted to work with you and help you. Thanks to many of these people, who decided to help me because I respected them, I became one of the best at my job.”
4. Self-awareness
“I had a lot of moments of madness and sadness, and I often questioned my behaviour. How was your professional and personal success measured on Wall Street? Quite simply, success was measured by how much money you made.
“And it is very hard to see your own flaws when you are getting a seven-figure bonus.
“It may sound like a cliché, but money can’t buy happiness. It can, however, rent happiness, but on a short-term lease, with fees and the corresponding penalties for late payment.
“I learned that lesson the painful way. It only took two drug and alcohol rehab centres, a seven-figure investment gone down the drain, being forced to sell my own home and enormous damage to my relationship with my daughter’s mother. It was a very expensive lesson, but I learned it.”
That is why you should never confuse net worth with self-worth.
What should you avoid doing on Wall Street, or at any other company?
5. Don’t think you can buy quality of life
“When I was making $22,000 a year, I thought all my problems would be solved if I made $50,000. But when I got to the point of making $2 million, my problems only grew.”
Being rich is not the solution to your problems: if you can’t enjoy life now, you won’t be able to if you have money one day either.
6. Don’t be the plaything or the clown at business dinners
Eating and drinking with people from every level of the company is very common on Wall Street, but you should know that telling jokes and making people laugh is not the same as getting promoted.
7. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
For some reason, most people find it hard to ask for help or to admit they could use a hand. Asking for help has nothing but advantages. You learn what you don’t know from people who can explain what you need to know. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or to ask for help.
Remember the well-known saying: “You can ask and look foolish today, or keep quiet and stay foolish forever.”
8. Don’t run a race with no finish line
Some arguments and rivalries really get you nowhere: there is no winner, and everyone loses. Don’t waste energy unless you see a clear reward for getting into that kind of conflict.
And finally, Turney Duff’s last piece of advice… pay attention… Never tell your boss he’s bipolar, and don’t open a fake Twitter account to tweet nasty things about him from the elevator.
If you want to know more about Turney Duff’s story, you can read it here.
Parts of this article are adapted from the original published by CNBC.
Further reading
- 10 money and finance tips to follow before you turn 30
- A former Goldman banker explains what being rich really means
Featured image: Kidfly182, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
