Today I would like to share with you a small incident or some valuable advice I received. On my last with Goldman Sachs, I was about to leave the office, it was around 7.30. While going towards lift area, I was passing through the CFO, Mr. Ravi Krishnan’s office. As it was last day, rather last few minutes in Goldman, I thought let me say bye to Ravi also, if I can catch him. Luckily, I found him in his cabin along with someone. He easily recognized me as soon as I told him that it was my last day. He already knew about my decision of quitting job to enter into Private practice. He wished me best of luck, but I wanted to ask something more, a bit hesitant but what’s risk anyway it was my last day.
So I asked “Ravi I have heard you have been in practice”.
Ravi “Ya, I have been in practice for more than 12 years.”
Me “So any tips for me about practice.”
Ravi “Tips… hmmm…. ok…!”
I would summarize what he told me about practice.
1. Draw the line: Always draw a line that you will never cross. In practice if you allow yourself to do anything and everything and don’t draw boundaries for yourself, you will be dragged into things from where it will be very difficult to come out.
2. You have only one client : Whenever you are dealing with any client, remember he is the only client you have. Treat him as if you don’t have any other client. Give him 100 % when he is with you. If you want to retain the client, you need to make him feel special.
3. Religion of Partnership : In partnership there are different kinds of people. In a firm there can be someone who manages all the work in office and gets these executed and someone else brings the client. If you are former one and start thinking that the other guy is not doing much work just hanging around with clients and just talking, partnership will not go very far. In partnership you need to understand that different partners have different skill sets which will help the firm.
4. You tell, you learn : Always train your articles, and train them well. Every time you tell them, you learn the new aspects about the things you already knew. Invest time in their career and it will pay you back.
Advice looked valuable to me. Where will you expect CFO to talk to normal employee who is leaving the company and moreover giving tips for new venture… its possible only for someone who has these Goldman cultures and values….with thanks to Ravi, I hope he won’t mind sharing this private conversation with you…
That’s all for today
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
Not just simply the conversation, but a new chapter in life.
And very well summarised.