Twenty Something Sense

Today the regular bloggers have stepped aside and in our place we have Ed Harbach who has graciously volunteered to answer a few of our questions and offer some basic advice to our ambitious young professional readers.  Ed has nearly 30 years of experience in the management and technology consulting industry and is currently the CEO of BearingPoint. 

What is the biggest mistake you have ever made with your money?
Letting someone else manage it for me.  At one point I was departing for extended travel overseas and decided it would be inconvenient to manage my funds actively.  So, I hired one of the name firms to do this for me.  Their results were not terrible, but the problem was that their interests and mine are never fully aligned.  Lots of activity is in their best interests (fees from churning) while not being good for my long term net worth. I only tried this for a short time. No one cares more about your money than you…don’t ever assume otherwise.

At what particular moment in your life did you realize you were very successful?
That’s tough. Like most of you, I have experienced some success and some failure. It probably sounds silly, but I still remember being cut from my junior high b’ball team. I also remember each promotion during my business career. It’s OK to celebrate success along the way, although believing that you have made it might not be in your best interests.

What are most “Twenty Somethings” not doing that they should be?
I think many of them are doing the right thing. Knowing the right thing to do is not hard, we just need to execute better. The one area where I do see repeated failure is not focusing enough on the long term from a career perspective. Work is a journey. Join a company because it will give you the best opportunity to learn and develop your skills. Too often I see guys taking a job because it pays 5K more, or they like their new boss. All nice, but not really what they game is about.

What are things you did in your early professional days which you are now seeing the fruits of?
Take maximum advantage of every assignment. I worked for a consulting firm, so variety was present. But, not all assignments were equally interesting. On each, no matter how mundane, I always found something I could learn about. Maybe it was in a different industry, maybe using a new technology, etc. Most of us can complete our assignments without maximum effort. The woman who looks beyond to learn more than what is simply needed to complete the task at hand will benefit long term.

What are 3 of the core characteristics you see in those around you that you deem successful?
First, they are all driven to succeed.They hunger to win and just reject the concept of failure. Second, they work incredibly hard. Maybe there are natural athletes in business who succeed without really trying, but I have yet to meet one. And finally, the have strong leadership skills. They know how to guide and motivate others. Early in your career it’s all about you. What can you deliver personally. Later, no matter how hard you work, you will be measured on your ability to build and lead a team. This is a much different challenge that trips up scores of otherwise very successful people.

How do you define success?
Definition depends on context. At the most basic level, success in based on achieving a desired outcome. If you always wanted to be a journalist for the New York Times and they hire you, then that is success.

What do you read on a daily basis?
I read a lot of company specific documents in my business, internal memos, analysis, industry trends, competitor profiles.  From a personal standpoint, my reading materials vary widely. I love to read. I have subscribed to the Wall Street Journal for many years and read it daily…highly recommended.

I also subscribe to magazines covering a wide variety of topics and hobbies. In a typical month I will read somewhere between 10-20 magazines. I find reading in areas outside my field of expertise especially useful. For example, a doctor reading The New England Journal of Medicine would be typical, but as a technologist, I found it enlightening. I once noted a woman setting next to me on a flight to Europe glancing over repeatedly. Finally she commented on my stack of reading material. She just could not figure out what kind of a guy reads The Harvard Business Review, Architectual Digest and Cycle World.

It’s harder to find time for books and I manage only one or so a month. I don’t seem able to start and stop, so I find long flights the most opportune time. My reading tends to fall into a mix of fiction and non fiction. The non fiction is usually business or financial. Re fiction, I am currently re reading all the classics where I only read the cliff notes when I “had” to read them in school. Some of them are fantastic, although others are just as dry as I remembered them.

It seems that stress is inevitable for successful leaders, how do you deal with it?
It’s funny, I really don’t feel stress in my job. You are probably right in that stressful conditions are inevitable in almost any job, but how you deal with it is completely within your control. Stress only impacts those who allow it to do so.

How many times have you changed careers? Why and when?
Only twice. My career path would seem very unusual today. I started with a management consulting firm when I graduated from college and stayed there for 28 years, before retiring. The why retire part was easy…just watch the movie The Bucket List. I re-ented the workforce 2 years ago when someone offered my a great challenge.

What are your views on pursuing a graduate degree, specifically an MBA?
That’s a tough question. First a disclaimer, I have a BS degree. I think education is great, and generally the more the better and would encourage most people to get an advanced degree. In some cases the need is obvious, you need another degree to help you grab the job you want, an anthropology major who wants to rule Wall Street. For others, they lack the maturity to enter the job market and need a little more time to develop. Others, may have not done well in their undergraduate studies and need to establish a track record of success. As for the why not, it’s simply a calculation of time and opportunity cost.

What is the least popular website that you check daily?
Of course, http://www.twentysomethingsense.com, although I am sure its increasing popularity will soon eliminate it from this category.

If someone could read only one book on money what is the book they absolutely must read?
The Richest Man in Babylon. All the investment books in the world are worthless unless you first understand the principles of spending less than you earn and letting your savings compound over time.

What question did we forget to ask and what would your answer be?
Who will win the Super Bowl this year? Of course the answer is the Cincinnati Bengals. By that remark most of your readers will now discount everything I have said previously and assume I am a masochist.

["Twenty Something Advice" appears periodically on Twenty Something Sense.  If there are any questions that you'd like to see included in any future interviews or if you know of someone who you think would provide great advice to our readers and is willing to be interviewed - please contact bradharbach on his gmail account.]