Types Of People Who Fail In Finance
- The Procrastinator
Procrastinators have succeeded in school and in prior work experiences. This track record of success leads them to believe that their successes were more of a function of individual personality rather than hard work, insights and sheer execution. The procrastinator has become complacent, and waits for quasi-emergencies before stepping up.
- Why they fail:
Being late with monthly, quarterly and annual financial reports is unacceptable in finance. Alternatively, when procrastinators turn work in on time, the quality suffers significantly. In finance, bottlenecks produce missed deadlines or poor work product. In an effort to make the team more efficient and effective, managers fire the procrastinator. (If you’re interested in improving your time management skills, take a look at Time Management Tips For Financial Professionals.)
- The Excel Lightweight
The Excel lightweight excelled in college accounting and finance classes. The lightweight’s prowess in understanding the theoretical concepts, however, is no longer sufficient in the real world. In a finance setting, practical skills such as advanced Excel knowledge are a driver for garnering increased responsibilities, higher productivity and spreadsheet formula accuracy. How can you succeed in finance without excelling in its major form of communication, spreadsheets? The Excel lightweight doesn’t understand much about keyboard shortcuts, macros, advanced formulas and add-ins.
- Why they fail:
The Excel lightweight causes blow ups from time to time in the form of inaccurate Excel numbers and formulas. Those with little or no prior real world experience think that their superior knowledge of finance theory translates into practical application on the job. The Excel lightweight can cause tremendous amounts of re-work as well as investigation of the root cause of spreadsheet or database problems, especially with large projects. They can also torpedo careers. Embarrassment and anger run amok and are directed towards the Excel lightweight’s managers by higher-up executives or clients. (To learn some basic Excel tools to increase your productivity,