Career Path of a Principal Business Strategist at an Investment Management Company
James's career trajectory, beginning with a mathematics degree chosen due to a "slight dyslexia" hindering law aspirations, led to early computer programming, reinventing existing mainframe applications. Subsequent roles at NCR and United Technologies, followed by a 40-year tenure in asset management, highlighted the importance of working with "self-motivated, intelligent individuals" as a key factor in professional growth and fulfillment, culminating in a current role as a Principial Business Strategist.
Career Development, Overcoming Challenges, Technology, Motivational Stories, Leadership
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
James Wallace
Principial Business Strategist
Investment Management Co.
Hiram College
Not Applicable
Mathematics, Data Science, Statistics
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing)
Business Strategy
Video Highlights
1. James's career path highlights a transition from a mathematics major (driven by a desire to be a lawyer but hindered by dyslexia) to an early computer company internship, where he gained experience creating software applications for personal computers. This early experience highlights adaptability and problem-solving skills.
2. His work at NCR and United Technologies Corporation demonstrates experience in different corporate cultures. This allowed him to compare and contrast business environments which helped him choose an environment more suitable to his ambition and work ethic.
3. His career shift to asset management shows a strategic career pivot and the importance of working with highly motivated and intelligent individuals, a key lesson he learned over the 40 years of his career that led to a fulfilling career in this field.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path, starting with your experiences in college? Did you have any internships or jobs before your current role?
Sure, I'd be happy to do that.
During college, I majored in mathematics. I primarily wanted to be a lawyer, but I had slight dyslexia. The grammar and spelling weren't quite there.
The law puts a big premium on spelling well, and I couldn't make the grades. So, I had to switch into something more abstract. This led me to an internship with a very early computer company.
This was when all computers were still mainframes, and these were the first personal computers. They didn't have software for them and needed people to create applications. This would give the retail public a motive to buy them.
I really enjoyed that internship; it taught me a lot. One thing it taught me was that we had to reinvent many things that already existed on mainframes. If you're challenged with a problem no one else has faced, you often come up with the same solution others have.
We reinvented things we thought were novel, only to find out they'd been created years earlier on traditional mainframes like IBMs. From there, I worked for NCR, which was a major computer company at the time. It was very business-oriented and involved a lot of travel.
So, I switched to United Technologies Corporation. I worked as a software engineer, writing code every day for a long time. Back then, the U.S. manufacturing world was behind the rest of the world, and the United States was losing its edge.
I really didn't enjoy the culture there. It was pretty much a culture of "how little work can you do?" As a young, ambitious person, I was more ambitious than my peers. For example, they'd ask, "Can we take a two-hour lunch instead of one?" and "Can we leave at three instead of five?"
I often found myself working alone late into the night trying to do something novel. I moved into finance, specifically asset management, and have been there for close to 40 years. What was interesting is that when I initially started, the quality of people was quite different.
They were far more motivated and educated. I know this sounds pejorative, but on average, they seemed smarter. One of the lessons is that if you work with good people, they will make you better. If you work in a bad environment, it will drag you down.
I've thoroughly enjoyed working with self-motivated, intelligent individuals because it benefits me. Over time, I managed a staff of about 40 software engineers. It's a burnout job; you can only do that for about 15 years before you're wiped out.
Fortunately, the company appreciated my work, and they put me into a strategist position. I'm now an individual contributor at the sunset of my career, and it's been a very good run. Being a strategist has been a nice way to bookmark the end of my career.
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