Challenge to the finance following

Consider it a challenge — or a devil’s advocate stance — for those going to work in finance to break the mold that has brought you to this point and to be that painful-but-necessary thorn in the side of your future firm from day one. It strikes me as paradoxical that graduates stepping into jobs in the finance sector (characterized by roughly meritocratic competition for spots and high salaries that often only translate into modest hourly rates — indicative of go-getter, hard working, yet risk-averse sentiments) become a part of a system often characterized as nothing more than gambling and paper shuffling-for-profit. Whether or not this characterization is a true depiction of the industry, crises with serious allegations of unethical conduct (such as improperly utilized Collateralized Debt Obligations of the Great Recession) stick out prominently in the public conscience.

I like to imagine that former Princeton students had nothing to do with these problems — that they were simply pawns in the game of some bad eggs taking unethical positions, or that their numbers were just too small to outweigh the foolhardiness of individuals from outside of the Orange Bubble. However, no amount of rationalization seems to erase the writing on the wall — if you’re involved, you’re involved, even if just as a single player. With the challenge of being a thorn-in-the-side from day one, I encourage you to take a whistle along with your briefcase and your Princeton degree when you show up on Wall Street. Many in finance end up “burning out” and quitting the industry within the first five years as it is — why not resolve to be the best watchdog possible and go out with a bang if necessary?

Being Princeton students, it is highly likely that you have the kind of skills that my challenge calls for, such as initiative, assertiveness and persuasion. Although the naysayer inside of you may want to blather on about the difficulty of knowing who the “real players” are and what they are doing, or the futility of trying to take on an entire system, and so forth, the other part of you should certainly feel the same way that I do on this issue — that to not even try is basically the weakest of the weak excuses. Go and be risk-loving for a change. Actively search out fundamental flaws in the way business is done, stand up to the team if things are looking strange and fight and claw your way into some role of influence if it seems like upper management is heading the company or the whole sector straight off a cliff. I would much prefer reading about a Princeton graduate who single-handedly steered his or her company away from the rocks than see headlines about widespread, poor decision-making that ends with some good, old-fashioned Lehman Brothers-esque finger pointing.

I am no expert on markets, investment banking or even business generally, and as a non-specialist, I am incapable of echoing the consensus most likely to be lain upon you during your first years in the financial sector — that the market is the market, and until you are chief financial officer it is extremely difficult to make the kind of impact I am suggesting. I ask on behalf of those of us not in your position, those of us who have no idea what actually goes on at Wall Street but still care about the state of the economy — can you be the person who actively opposes the forces that lead to financial crisis, no matter how difficult, unclear or risky the path may seem?

Andy Hawley is a sophomore from Irwin, Pa. He can be reached at ahawley@princeton.edu.