"I ran a team full of talented banking MDs. I had to fire them as they wouldn't leave"
I have spent decades working in banking. I ran a significant business for a significant US bank. I am not divulging my true identity here.
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It is not uncommon for this website to write about managing directors (MDs) being let go by investment banks. These people are often vocal and disgruntled. They complain and it makes a good story.
I want to explain what it's like from the other side.
The team I ran cut a lot of MDs. They were talented, established managing directors but there were too many of them. We were no longer a pyramid-shaped hierarchy.
These MDs would not move on. The market we cover has become smaller and opportunities to change jobs are fewer. In the past, there would be fluidity of movement and rotation between banks, but this has stopped and people have become entrenched.
In management, it is necessary to deal with this. A strong manager encourages people to move on, or creates new roles for them to move into.
In my team, I encouraged the entrenched MDs to leave but it made no difference. They wouldn't go. They were preventing some very talented vice presidents (VPs) and directors from growing into jobs with more responsibility.
Eventually, I had no choice. I had to rebalance the pyramid to allow our strong junior talent to move up. It was a tough decision and we lost some really good people. I don't regret it, though. Without them, the juniors are thriving.
Steven Gilmore is a pseudonym
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