3 Pillars of Career Success: Lessons Learned the Hard Way

by Dan the Quant

A few years ago, I was fired from my retail job of six years with no prospects lined up. Shortly after, my father had a heart attack, and I needed to help my family. For six months, I sent resumes, interviewed, networked, and worked contract jobs until I landed a new full-time job in finance—an industry I had no experience in. Despite these challenges, I managed to increase my salary by 50%.

How did I do it? I thought of myself as a business. It may sound cold, but viewing my career as a business allowed me to distance my emotions from my circumstances and make rational decisions. I imagined I was a consultant hired to help a business develop a long-term strategy for success. I used my MBA learnings and my experience creating a new business at my previous company. I realized that any successful business needs three things: strengths, a niche, and a long-term vision with a plan.

"Developing your strengths is great, but you need to find an output for them."

These three pillars made all the difference in my career. Investing time, effort, and money into them kept me on track over the following decade, as I slowly accumulated wins. Here's how you can use them to future-proof your career:

1. Find and develop your strengths. This should be the focus of any career—otherwise, it's just a job. There's nothing wrong with "just a job," but it can limit your growth and ability to care for other aspects of life. We're all born with strengths (or "themes," as Don Clifton calls them in his book "Now, Discover Your Strengths”), and it's up to us to develop them. Early in our careers, when we receive feedback, well intentioned people tend to point to our weaknesses. It’s highly worthwhile working on weaknesses especially when they are blocking your progress. But usually not many people will point out your strengths. Moreover, we all tend to think, wrongly, that our strengths are not that special. If you don't know your strengths, you are likely to ignore them and miss out on opportunities to create tremendous value. The world is full of examples of successful people who failed before they focused on their strengths instead of staying sad due to their weaknesses. I’ll mention one here: Michael Jordan, arguably the best basketball player of all time, was rejected in high school for being “too small” to play in the NBA, but he focused on becoming super agile instead and eventually led the Chicago Bulls to win 6 championships and be recognized as the GOAT in his sport. Focus on building your strengths, not just on following passions. Your strengths often align with activities that put you in a state of flow. By using your natural strengths, you'll be excited about opportunities to use and demonstrate them. Take the test that comes with Don Clifton’s book to discover yours.
   

2. Find a niche where your strengths are highly valued. Many people forget to consider what the market needs and rewards. While money shouldn't be your only motivator, it indicates what the world values most. After about ten years in the workforce, you should have a good idea of what employers or clients reward. Developing your strengths is great, but you need to find an output for them. For example, if you're great at coming up with ideas, you need to write them down, discuss them with others, create a course or implement them in another tangible way. To find this output, look at the paths others have taken. If you want to perform at Carnegie Hall, for example, research how others have achieved that and work backward to determine where you need to start. If you want to be a World-class quant, look at how the most successful quants got their first opportunity into the field and what they did to get to the next level. For Bill Sharpe, the Nobel Prize winner, it was about learning from Markowitz and collaborating with him. This was also true for Myron Scholes and Robert Merton, who ended up winning their own Nobel Prize thanks to the Black-Scholes-Merton equation for pricing options. For Rondal Kahn, coauthor of the most important reference book on Quant Investing and Head of Scientific Active Equity at BlackRock for several decades, it was about writing code and automating calculations for Richard Grinold at Barra Inc. You can forge your own path once you've established yourself, but it's wise to follow a proven path initially.
   

3. Have a long-term vision and plan. Throughout my career, I've been humiliated, invalidated, and even fired. While I wish I could say these experiences didn't affect me, they did. However, having a long-term vision made them less impactful. Even when my vision felt like a pipe dream, it helped me stay focused on the bigger picture and not suffer too much from short-term setbacks. Early in my career, a manager told me my analytical skills were lacking. Now, I'm a highly valued analyst at a top financial institution. Another director laughed when I said I wanted to create computer-based investment strategies. Now, I do this for Wall Street firms at the highest level in the world. I may have been a bad analyst and far from a quant researcher 15 years ago, but nobody questions my skills now. I worked on developing my strengths to become a better analyst over the years. If you have a dream that feels impossible, use others' doubts as motivation to create a multi-year plan and to stick to it over years. Even if you don't achieve exactly your ultimate goal, three things will happen:
   

   • You'll feel proud for staying true to your ideals.

   • You'll be closer to your dream, bringing inner peace and satisfaction.

   • You'll learn a lot about yourself, become a better version of yourself, and prepare for future challenges.

     
     

"As of today, I don't feel I've reached my ultimate career goal yet, but I've achieved amazing milestones along the way, and this has been in line with my own definition of success."

All things considered, transforming my career from a retail worker to a successful finance professional was no easy feat. However, by viewing myself as a business, I was able to navigate the challenges and come out stronger. Developing my strengths, finding a niche where they were valued, and maintaining a long-term vision allowed me to achieve a 50% salary increase and secure a fulfilling job in an entirely new industry. The same principles can help you future-proof your career. Invest in your strengths, identify where they can make the most impact, and keep your eyes on the long-term horizon. Challenges are inevitable, but with a clear strategy and persistent effort, success is within reach. Remember, your career is your business—manage it wisely, and it will thrive.

Epilogue: As of today, I don't feel I've reached my ultimate career goal yet, but I've achieved amazing milestones along the way, and this has been in line with my own definition of success. More importantly, I have met amazing and inspiring people along the way, with whom I collaborate and cultivate very fulfilling relationships. Finally, I'm very glad to be able to say with Frank Sinatra: "And more, much more than this, I did it my waaaaaaay!"