Not High School

It often annoys me when new analysts and associates are still at the psychological level of a high-school kid. Look kiddies, high school ended four or more years ago. Get over it. You're no longer in the "cool crowd" and it's no longer cool to be hazing the nerds. I see this most commonly from the greased up European guys and "high maintenance" girls (no offense to anyone who believes they fall into one of those two stereotypes). The sad thing is it's most commonly those nerds who get ahead these days. Wouldn't you want to be friends rather than enemies with the guy who's going to be climbing that corporate ladder fastest? I dunno, I think I would.

Seriously though, analyst training and associate training can be stressful enough with out going back to the cliques that develop in high school. Most people get over themselves during college, I think, but a select few groups still feel the need to create the hostile environment that comes with the cliques. There's nothing wrong with finding a group of friends (yes, friends tend to be of similar demeanor and have similar interests), but the silly high school style antics need to be extinguished. I know when I have a new analyst that seems to have not gotten over the high school mentality I tick him down one notch in my mind. I'm certainly not going to have someone that immateur promoted closer to managing people. That would be a disaster.