Can I get out of the slow lane?

Dear ABC,

This is a great question. And a hard one.

First, take a moment to pat yourself on the back. You’ve fought through a capital markets slowdown, built solid relationships and garnered the backing of your managing director. That’s no small feat!

However, I sense some dissatisfaction, and guess what? That’s a good thing. It means you’re ready for more. It’s time to shake things up. It’s time to take the career bull by the horns.

When I was a summer associate in a Los Angeles law firm in 1991, I was having so much fun (as you’d expect of a 24-year-old living in Westwood and earning a healthy stipend, but I digress…) and I gushed to a senior partner how wonderfully supportive everyone at the law firm was.

He nodded his head and then looked me straight in the eye. “Remember one thing, Craig,” he said, in a tone that was both avuncular and vaguely menacing. “No one cares about your career as much as you do.” Boom. Reality check.

So here’s your reality check, served with a side dish of tough love: if you’re waiting for someone else to take charge of your career, you’re already falling behind.

Now, I get it. You’re torn because you’ve got a supportive and likeable MD, and it’s almost bonus discussion time — not exactly prime time for throwing grenades into the status quo.

But your career is your own, and you owe it to yourself to continually seek out roles and experiences that will help you grow and fulfil your potential. Your loyalty should act as a career catapult, not as a ball and chain.

So let’s ask this — is your current manager really the kind of person you want running your career? A manager who would turn on you simply for trying to better yourself and advance your skills? True leaders should be encouraging and empowering their top talent, not holding them back out of fear or self-interest. If he balks, then his support is conditional and transactional, and so should yours be.

The situation smacks of the Human League’s 1981 banger Don’t You Want Me? You’re the cocktail waitress-turned-superstar, and your MD will be the guy left behind, whining “Don’t you want me, baby?”

Spoiler: You don’t.

So, what’s the game plan? First, do some soul searching. Can you see yourself thriving in another region, department or maybe even a new firm?

If yes, then it’s time to plot your great escape. Visualise those conversations. If you can’t imagine it happening, it’s as likely as finding a unicorn in your Bloomberg terminal.

When you’re ready to have “the talk”, remember: gratitude, not attitude. Be optimistic, not apologetic — don’t grovel in guilt. Script yourself carefully — it should sound extemporaneous, but you should know in advance exactly what you want to say, point by point. You want to be prepared but come across as unrehearsed.

And if your MD does react poorly? Well then, you’ll know exactly where you stand. Even in a business as full of obsequiousness as investment banking, it is — to paraphrase Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata’s famous dictum — sometimes it's better to die on your feet than live on your knees. No one will respect you for the latter and you will just get rolled over later.

So take a deep breath, summon your courage, and go and get that next role. Even if it means switching departments or moving to a new city, trust that you are doing the right thing for your career. The financial services industry is dynamic and ever evolving — the ability to adapt and evolve with it is what will set you apart.

Tactically, you have to be smart. It’s probably better to wait until year-end discussions have happened — say, end of November or early December, even if the bonus is communicated in late January or early February.

You don’t have to wait until the number is communicated or the bonus is actually paid. Once the comp number is set, there’s no way that HR will allow it to be changed just because your boss has thrown his toys out of the pram. Try to find out when the comp number goes final within your group (in most banks the capital markets department finalises comp around Thanksgiving and your global head of banking will sign off in the first week of December) and then make your move.

Any move will take several months to materialise, so you don’t want to dither too long. You will also have to continue with the old job until the new opportunity can be formalised and finalised.

Be a good corporate citizen but make sure that the internal bureaucracy is taking the requisite steps to effect the change. Your boss isn’t going to be pushing the process along, and so you have to channel your inner project manager and make it happen.

It’s up to you to take ownership of your career. No one will thank you if you putter along in the slow lane out of misplaced fealty to your boss. Your progress is not his priority or his responsibility.