CIO Behind the Scenes: Insights from a ‘Billions’-Style Hedge Fund Coach
Art by Cristian Turdera
If you’ve seen the hit show “Billions” on Showtime, you’re familiar with what executive coach Sophia Fromell does. Similar to the corporate psychoanalyst character Wendy Rhoades (played by actor Maggie Siff), she psychologically grooms hedge fund managers for their best performances, removing mental barriers, giving them proven tactics to make a difference, and getting their professional and personal goals in alignment to optimize their game. What gives her an edge is that she was once an investment banker herself, working for firms such as Barclays as a chief of staff for the regional chief operating officer, UBS as a senior operational risk officer, and Royal Bank of Scotland, where she started her career as a management accountant. Originally from Greece, she cut her teeth and learned the business from the inside out, studied the psychology of achievement in the financial sector, and earned a coaching degree.
Sophia Fromell
Although her client list remains anonymous, one of her self-described “smaller fund” clients agreed to speak to CIO on background. He had hired her as an executive coach when starting a new fund. He was ready to take a $50 million offer. Fromell coached him to hold out for the offer that was his true goal. He set his sights a bit higher and did the legwork. A $250 million offer soon presented itself. “If it weren’t for her, I would have settled for the $50 million,” he said.
CIO discussed with Fromell the things highly successful financial professionals often struggle with, and how they effectively handle their challenges.
CIO: When you coached that hedge fund manager to hold out for more than $50 million, and he eventually fundraised $250 million, what did you have him focus on?
Fromell: He thought that the $50 million deal was all he could get. But, in reality, that was the ‘low hanging fruit.’
I helped him realize that, actually, he was capable of doing way better than that and, with a bit more effort and careful planning, he could achieve exponentially better results.
For example, he started by focusing on his long-term goals five years down the line and not on the instant gratification of a paycheck. In doing this, his “why” became clearer and his focus became sharper. He was suddenly very clear about who he wanted to approach, what he wanted to achieve, and most importantly, who he really was and where he was headed. He had to learn to go against the current and move away from the belief “the wider the pond, the more the fish.” He learned that he doesn’t have to work hard or excessively but he needs to work smart, keep his focus narrow and target those entities that could provide the value (monetary or otherwise) that he needed. But most importantly, he realized that he had to stand his ground and accept nothing less than what he was worthy of.
CIO: Top finance professionals are often considered the masters of their own universe. What are the top three things that people who achieve a lot in finance struggle with?
Fromell: Legacy, having regrets, and making an impact.
Legacy is often wrongly associated with a selfish agenda of self-promotion or the end of one’s career. Legacy however is the way people will choose to remember you once you leave the job. But it’s the sum of their decisions, actions, and mistakes made along the way. It’s something that can be created at every stage of their career.
Having regrets, meaning most of my clients worry about the things that they might not have done and will regret later on in life. More often than not, they are personal decisions. That’s why you can see many who are considered successful today leave their good jobs to start their own businesses.
Others measure success not in terms of wealth, fame, or social status, but rather on how they can make an impact in the society and make a difference in peoples’ lives. Finding a meaningful way to do this that goes further than writing a check is one of the things they often need to address.
CIO: How do they address them most effectively?
Fromell: They take action. Although planning is great, what makes the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t is taking action. Successful people know that there is no such thing as the perfect time to do something (Start a new business / project / change career etc.) So they prepare as well as they can but they realize that at some point they will have to take action and jump, even though the conditions may not be great.
They also know what drives them. Frederick Nietzsche once said, “He who has a why can endure any how.” So knowing “why” you do what you do is really the first step in having a successful outcome. If your “why” is to make your next mortgage payment or to buy a new sports car that “why” is not strong enough to give you the courage you need to take the risks you need to get ahead.
And, highly successful people are usually very self-aware so they spend a lot of time evaluating how they can improve. Most successful people are great visionaries, they know what they want to achieve and why. Then they make sure they surround themselves with people who have more experience and knowledge than they do.
CIO: What is different about highly successful individuals in their ability to overcome challenges and obstacles?
Fromell: They don’t let mistakes define them. Successful people realize that they will fail, so they choose to fail early in their careers, see these failures as part of the learning process, overcome the mistakes and move swiftly on, therefore increasing their chances of performing well later.
They also don’t take no for an answer and they stay focused. They have a vision of what they want to achieve and they focus on it every day. As a result, they make a conscious effort not to allow micro-distractions, such as tweets, email, news feeds, unnecessary phone calls, etc., to distract them. Instead, they decide on their most crucial task of the day and they focus on that.
CIO: I’m hearing “imposter syndrome” and self-worth discussed quite a bit these days. Do you see it at the senior levels of finance?
Fromell: I actually cannot think of one client that I haven’t discussed the issue of self-worth with. For most achievers, [it] is always a comparison. It’s about what I want compared what my family wants me to do, what I have achieved versus what my peers are doing. And usually, when you get into that trap of self-worth and trying to assess yourself and your performance, the scale is never in your favor no matter how well you’ve done.
CIO: What kinds of people get imposter syndrome? How high on the ranking of success?
Fromell: Imposter syndrome can be found at all levels of an organization, it is, however, especially prominent amongst individuals who have grown too fast, too senior, too quickly, perfectionists and type A personalities. The primary fear of a C-level executive is to be thought of as incompetent. And at that level of seniority, an executive will not confide to an internal mentor. As a result, they often feel that they have more to lose because of the seniority of their position.
CIO: How does it manifest?
Fromell: There is a huge difference between their public image and the way they think about themselves. On the outset, they may come across as very strong and very secure on their feet. They know what they’re talking about, but in reality they may be feeling as insecure as a new hire. This gap between who they are and who they are expected to be is often filled with anger, frustration, resentment, and even aggression sometimes.
CIO: Can you recall an extreme case of this?
Fromell: A client of mine was a very prominent chief investment officer, managing double-digit billions under management, a very well-known name in the market. Because of his position, he was very often on TV interviews giving his views on the market and he was always very confident and very influential. He came to me because he had reached a point where he found that he couldn’t cope anymore with the way he was seeing himself and the public persona that he had to put out there.
Internally, he was always comparing himself to somebody else in the market. He felt second, he was very critical of himself, and was always focusing on the things he could have done better rather than the things he had achieved. His fear was that eventually people would find out that he was not good enough and he’d be uncovered as a fraud. This is imposter syndrome.
CIO: What do you help them put into place so that they fulfill what they’re seeking to do?
Fromell: It’s all about setting goals. Whether it’s about the next promotion, growing your company, thinking about your legacy, or doubling your bottom line, it’s all about goals. You need to be very specific about what it is that you want to achieve. You need to know what you do and why you do it.
CIO: What’s the biggest misconception?
Fromell: Time management. You can never manage time. You only have 24 hours. You can’t change that by definition. So the only thing you have to manage is yourself. So you set priorities according to what is important to you. Whether you want to get half an hour to go to the gym, or some time during the day to engage with your staff, you can do that if you manage yourself. So you need to find your priorities and ensure you address those in the most productive part of your day. I usually say to my clients that it’s important when you come into the office to prioritize what is your moneymaking activities. Your moneymaking activities are the activities that will take you closer to what it is that you want to achieve in one to three years down the line.
CIO: For example?
Fromell: So, for example, a client of mine wakes up in the morning, goes to gym then has a habit of going from office to office to check on his C-suite. So he’ll chat 15 minutes with the CFO, the COO, the CIO, etc. By the time he goes to his office, he’s lost the most productive part of his day. His day would be much more productive if he would get into his office and allocate this time to strategic thinking.
CIO: But some would say they need to “warm up” in the morning , and perhaps get the whole picture so they know what they’re dealing with. How do you determine whether you’re warming up or procrastinating?
Fromell: You know when you’re procrastinating if you’re not executing on what needs to get done. So the person who goes from office to office because he wants to get the daily update, maybe he’s warming up. But you will usually find that these people get easily distracted and find themselves making little progress. So six months later, they find themselves at exactly the same spot they are now. The only thing that will have changed is the amount of their frustration.