I help research wealth management concepts at work. They are usually related to a wealth management problem that our clients (and most likely you) have such as how much do I need if I were to send my kid to an Ivy league university for education to what is a safe & sustainable way to have income from a capital of $2 million.
I do have to come up with frameworks or structures that are not what you hear in the media. What’s out in the media very often is very diluted because you can’t elaborate much in financial journalism. You may easily lose the focus of newbie readers.
The ideas that I have the most affinity with… may not be eventually implemented. The eventual form is an iteration of the original idea.
Now how do I feel about that?
I am quite a structural person, which means that mentally I see most things as a set of frameworks and decision trees. This does not mean that I don’t accept that things are subjective. You can have higher level decision trees that allows subjectiveness as well.
I think eventually most people want things to work the way it should. They like to think that their decisions at work, what they create help solve the problem in the most sound manner. I do realize over time that while I am experienced and knowledgeable enough, one person is limited and I have my bias and also blind spots. Time and again, I see that the final form is better than my original idea because there are better ways to do things but also some of my good ideas are flawed enough.
But I think what will piss me off more is if the final implementation does not work the way it should. Sometimes when it is pretty clear before we implement things.
Either the end users, clients have to live with it and when it eventually ends up flawed, that can have negative impact on their lives.
I may have to end up having to explain things to people and that is when it really hits. Kyith’s team puts this out. Why did they do things this way? How come when it is so clear yet they still make such feeble decisions?
I kind of felt something last week when someone said something about what I have heavy inputs in was a mistake. Just a little because that’s not the only time I passively hear people say about the decisions I made so that does not hit particularly hard. I reflect rationally on almost all my implementations and I come to accept some are not the best. I can accept why people felt that way about this (but damn I am quite sure not many fail to remember how its like before the implementation).
I think if an idea you have strong affinity towards is implemented and works well, you are especially proud. But when your idea is rejected for something else, then its not your idea anymore. It is other people (usually management’s) idea. And you better hope those are good decisions.
A job is different for everyone but most look at it as working for compensation so that we have money to get by or for something more. Many of us do feel that compensation is not the only thing. At the end we want to feel something in what we do so we can keep doing. We also want to be part of something that achieve something that is worth celebrating.
Living with poor implementations builds the resentment. It reminds everyone how flawed these decision makers were and make people second guess their next decisions.
Some people looked passed this due to compensation and other factors but eventually there will be enough negativity build up and people just pack their bags to close this chapter of their career.
You don’t need to do exactly what I do to maybe understand these.
You are also making some calls, hard or soft, by yourself or as a group. You can share with me if its right that usually its when what’s implemented that is glaringly stupid hits people more than your best ideas is bypassed.
I find myself have more and more conversations about implementing ideas, and why ideas are not implemented more and more with some co-workers (for some weird reasons).
Many of times, I have to point out that its easy to be consume that your ideas is perfect and would solve something. It always appears that way initially. But due to inexperience, failure to understand internal work culture, or the clients we serve, they might not always turn out the way you want.
And so it is best to be more open minded. Be more thoughtful about your past ideas if they all turn out well and accept that they are not always the case.
Time will usually tell if you are more right or that your ideas are more naive.
Kyith is the Owner and Sole Writer behind Investment Moats. Readers tune in to Investment Moats to learn and build stronger, firmer wealth foundations, how to have a Passive investment strategy, know more about investing in REITs and the nuts and bolts of Active Investing.
Readers also follow Kyith to learn how to plan well for Financial Security and Financial Independence.
Kyith worked as an IT operations engineer from 2004 to 2019. Currently, he works as a Senior Solutions Specialist in Fee-only Wealth Advisory Firm Providend. All opinions on Investment Moats are his own and does not represent the views of Providend.
You can view Kyith’s current portfolio here, which uses his Free Google Stock Portfolio Tracker.
His investment broker of choice is Interactive Brokers, which allows him to invest in securities from different exchanges all over the world, at very low commission rates, without custodian fees, near spot currency rates.
You can read more about Kyith here.
