“Getting fired can be a good thing. You just don’t want to make a habit of it.” Jim Simons, founder of Renaissance Technologies, arguably one of the most successful hedge funds of all time.
Is it me, or does May get crazier and crazier each year? And I’m not talking about markets, I’m talking about life in general. My daughter graduates from high school this Saturday, and this month has been full of ‘lasts’ and many, many events. It is also super stressful in many ways, especially if you are hosting a graduation party (which we are). I wanted to take a totally different turn with my blog this week, as I wanted to write to recent graduates and focus on things that I’ve learned over the years that might help you.
Lesson 1: Being Smart Isn’t Everything
I learned a long time ago that I wasn’t the smartest person, but as I’ll hopefully show, that doesn’t matter if you excel in other areas. In my career, I’ve seen a lot of smart people succeed, but a lot also struggle. Of course, how you do on your SAT or LSAT matters, but know that once you get out into the work force, everyone is on an even level. The best example of how smart people can also make mistakes is Sir Issac Newton (the guy who discovered gravity and was one of the smartest people to ever live), as he got wrapped up in a bubble and lost most of his money. If he could do this, it could happen to anyone.
Lesson 2: Don’t Always Follow the Crowd
We like to stay in groups, and it feels good to be like others; we were made this way. But here’s the thing, when it comes to investing (and life), some of the real opportunities are found by going against the consensus. I’m not saying be a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian, but I am saying if you have a thesis to believe in, backed by data and hard work, then going against the crowd can be quite beneficial.
But as someone who has done this, it is also very hard. Three years ago, we were out there saying there wouldn’t be a recession or bear market, even though this was widely accepted as likely. Had we been wrong, we would have been an easy target, as everyone else would have been right. Yet, things played out, and we created a lot of alpha for a lot of people with our out-of-consensus call.
I watched the Hulk Hogan documentary on Netflix recently, and Hulk talked about how his Dad wasn’t happy with him for going into wrestling, but he followed his heart. Eventually, his Dad told him he did the right thing, and rarely, if you follow your heart, will you be disappointed.
Here’s one of my favorite examples of how crowds really work.
Lesson 3: Network
This one seems obvious, but I can’t stress it enough. You just never know how your career is going to go, and you never know who you work with for a year or two will turn up in your career 15 years later to potentially hire you or help you.
I’ve done well for myself, leveraging social media to greatly expand my network. If you are just now graduating, then this is totally obvious, but using social media is so important to get your brand out there, and 15 years ago, that wasn’t the case. Be open to trying new things to expand your network is my take.
Lastly, I usually tell grads to work for a big company out of school, as the connections you will make could help you throughout your whole career.
Lesson 4: Be Nice
As James Dalton (famously played by Patrick Swayze) told us in the classic movie Road House, “Be nice.” The actual quote is “I want you to be nice until it’s time to not be nice.” But the world is getting smaller and everyone knows everyone. You’ll have people you don’t like in your career, but just know that if you burn one bridge at a younger age, it could come back to haunt you at a later stage of your life.
Just be nice to everyone is something that could really help you. You don’t have to like everyone, but be nice. Warren Buffett summed this up best when he said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to run it. If you think about it like that, you’ll do things differently.”
Lesson 5: Careers Rarely Go How You Think
You might have an idea of how you want things to go, but I’ll just say, don’t expect that. In my career, I’ve been fired, I’ve been laid off, and I’ve quit on my own. Let me tell you, quitting on your own is by far the best option, but I wouldn’t trade my path for the world. When I was unemployed, I’d spend a lot of time getting better with Excel and improving my public speaking, two things I use every day now, and had I not had that time to improve those things, who knows where I’d be now.
I love that quote from Jim Simons at the top about how getting fired can be a good thing. Trust me, at the time it feels like the end of the world, then a decade goes by, and you realize how lucky you were. They say one door closes and another opens. This is 100% true, but you won’t want to hear it when someone tells you.
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Lesson 6: Things Happen, Don’t Sweat It
You might not believe what I’m about to say, but I had to take about an hour break from writing this blog because our basement just flooded. Remember that graduation party I mentioned at the top? Well, we are having our driveway, walkway, and deck pressure-washed. Apparently, there is a leak in the pipe to our outside hose (which we haven’t used since last fall), and a ton of water just flooded our basement. Again, I’m not making this up!
As frustrating as that was, we put down a bunch of towels, and hopefully things will be ok. But this is life. You want to write a blog for an hour, and instead, you worry about all the stuff in your basement being ruined.
This is easier said than done, but stuff happens, and you won’t like it. Do your best to move on from it while learning from it. I’ve always liked this cartoon to sum it up.
Lesson 7: The Interview
Many graduates are in the process of or will be doing interviews soon. As someone who does the interview now, I want to give two simple tips to help.
Know who you are interviewing with. I like to ask people what they know about me. Let’s be honest, it isn’t hard to find. I want to see that they did their research. I’d suggest looking them up and finding something about them that shows you did this work. Like where they are from, what they like to eat, their favorite team, whatever it is. Find that and make sure to work it into the conversation; it’ll stand out, I promise.
The other simple bit of advice is to always write a handwritten note as a thank you. What tends to happen with these interviews is that a lot of them can blend together. But if you mail a handwritten note the very next day, you will stand out. Everyone sends the standard thank you email, but do this, and it’ll help you in a tight race for the job.
Lastly, let’s learn from Michael Scott on how NOT to do it. I love this one 😂😂
Lesson 8: Be Yourself
When I left my last job, I was told by my manager that I needed to be more like other people in the industry. He specifically mentioned two huge names, and you know them, but I remember thinking that was the exact opposite of how I want to be. One person was totally boring, and the other didn’t do any of her own research; she only cited others. My whole thing was I wanted to do my own research, and I wanted to make it fun and easy to understand.
Thank goodness I didn’t take the advice to be like someone else. I use history, humor, and personal stories when I communicate, and it helps differentiate me from other boring strategists out there. I’ve always loved this quote from Antonius Proximo in Gladiator to sum it up. Be yourself, and it’ll help you stand out.
Lesson 9: It Is Never Too Late
I’ve seen many people start their career in one field and after a decade realize they wanted to do something else. So many can’t make that leap, but the ones that did have seemingly never regretted it. I can think of three friends who totally changed careers in their mid-30s, and I remember thinking how risky it was. Well, they are all thriving now and are in a better spot. Look at the ages of some of the greatest founders ever when they started their companies.
Lesson 10: Life is Short
I’m going to sound like the old guy now, but this really is the truth: life is short. It wasn’t that long ago that I was at Xavier University in Cincinnati, trying to daytrade penny stocks in the computer lab. Yeah, I got the bug in 1999, and I have been super lucky that I found my passion at a young age, and it is all I’ve ever wanted to do.
I truly don’t think I’ll ever not have a podcast or blog or post on social media (even when I’m old and retired). I just love this stuff, and every day is a new adventure. I’m lucky and I found my passion, and I hope all of you new graduates can be that lucky and truly love your career.
But life is short, and this week is another reminder to me just how precious it can be. The Friday before Memorial Day two years ago, my brother called me up (like he had 1,000 other times) and we had stupid small talk like always, then he hit me with something I’ll never forget. He said that he had cancer, and it was really bad. That whole weekend, I just felt numb, angry, sad, really all the emotions you could think of, as I was crushed for him, but also, he was my only sibling, and we were close. I don’t need to get all into it here, but he lost his battle with cancer that following January.
Well, this Friday is the Friday before Memorial Day. It is also his birthday (May 22), and he would have been 46 years old. It sucks, but he sure wouldn’t want me feeling bad; he’d want me to go out, work hard, play hard, and have a good time.
We don’t know how much time we have, and we never know when we’ll get that call or have to give it. Just know that life is short, so enjoy it and make the most of it.
If you’ve read this far, I truly appreciate it. Congratulations to the Class of 2026, and go out there and make a difference, but don’t forget to have some fun along the way. I’ll leave you with what I consider to be the best commencement speech ever, and I like to watch it each year around now. Here is General McRaven at the University of Texas in 2014. This is 20 minutes you won’t regret.
For more content by Ryan Detrick, Chief Market Strategist, click here.
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