In a compelling column entitled “Disaster and Denial,” Paul Krugman from the New York Times acknowledges: “When I first began writing for The Times, I was naïve about many things, but my biggest misconception was this: I actually believed that influential people could be moved by evidence, that they would change their views if events completely refuted their beliefs.”[1]
Krugman reminds us that regulator types “…..[live in] a bizarro universe in which government bureaucrats, not greedy bankers, caused the meltdown….government-sponsored agencies triggered the crisis…a universe in which regulators coerced banks into making loans to unqualified borrowers, even though only one of the top 25 subprime lenders was subject to the regulations in question.
Krugman astutely reminds us of a principle enunciated so eloquently by Upton Sinclair: “It’s difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
So how does the FP survive and prosper in a potentially corrupt environment, one that sometimes is riddled with betrayal? Betrayal demonstrated by poor upper-level corporate decision making and spending. Betrayal manifested by obscenely high bonuses based on fallacious products which were destined to fail “down the road.” Genius caliber hedge fund managers are expert on capitalizing on bubbles. John Paulson made $15 billion for his fund betting on the subprime crisis in 2008.
A negative corporate culture plays upon all of the FP’s vulnerabilities, making him even more prone to co-dependency, a false sense of confidence and trust, loneliness, anxiety and stress.
Assuming the FP’s decision is to remain within this environment, he must cultivate ways of becoming his own, insulated, self-protected entity, one that can balance its energies and expectations in service to himself, his company, and his clients.
The smart, happy and successful financial professional must create his own Gyroscope in order to travel safely through the storm and chaos of corporate culture and the unpredictable volatility of the market that can crush anyone in nanoseconds.
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[1] New York Times, Dec 13, 2009.