Refreshing perspectives

During the finance conference, Darden had the privilege of hosting two outstanding individuals, professionals and speakers, Jim Holmberg, a VP at Goldman Sachs Investment Banking, and Bill Richards, a senior executive at UBS. Their speeches have truly represented a breath of fresh air. We come from months of banking briefings and recruiting events in which on one hand we could feel the difficulty of the present moment, on the other were somewhat often presented a sugar-coated version of this financial crisis. Although different from one another, the refreshing perspectives of Bill and Jim, two high level bankers, were indeed very welcome.
Jim had been invited by the Darden Christian Fellowship to speak about the importance of his faith in his career in investment banking. After a career in the military, Jim went to Darden, graduated in 2002 and was subsequently hired at Goldman. Faith and investment banking are not things that you would easily see hand in hand. Yet Jim managed to explain in practical terms and with a humbleness that you don’t often see in bankers, how he lives his everyday life by the belief that God is the ultimate goal, and how that has helped him maintain an equilibrium in his professional as well as personal life. With his wife and six-month old daughter in the room, he said that losing his faith, more than anything else, would be the one event he would not survive. He told us he reads the Bible in the subway on the way to work instead of the Wall Street Journal and that he and his wife lead a weekly fellowship group in their home.
Jim tries to stay away from he refers to as the ‘air of entitlement’ that pervades our generation, the conviction that what we have - great opportunities, education, and jobs is a given. Instead, he reminded us that we are all extremely privileged individuals, and we should be thankful for this.
Bill Richards speech was different but equally gave us a sense of perspective. His message was that great opportunities that arise after deep crises. ‘Big fortunes will be made in the next ten years’ he said and he strongly believes that it is people like us, well educated, who will thrive in the new economic environment. We only have to maintain the drive and the spirits, the energy and the willingness to learn and try new things. We left our table with a different sense of purpose and a new energy.
So not all investment bankers are equal and Jim and Bill are a living proof of this.