Should I listen to criticism of my management, or is this a fad?

Dear Frustrated Fred,

This is one of the oldest balancing acts in banking — upholding high standards without being labelled a tyrant. You’re not wrong to feel caught between expectations from above and discontent from below, but before you dig in your heels (or worse, earn a reputation as that director), let’s take a closer look at what’s going on.

First off, this whole imbroglio isn’t just about your personal management style. Really, it’s part of a wider shift. Workplace norms are changing, and investment banking is very much front-and-centre of these changes. Juniors today are more willing to push back — on weekend emails, on direct criticism, and on anything that looks to them like excessive pressure. Some of that is generational, some of it is post-pandemic recalibration, and yes, some of it is performative — senior leaders signalling their empathy not downwards, but upwards.

Still, if you dismiss all this as coddling, you’ll be missing the point and setting yourself up for more friction. Even if the complaints seem overblown, they’re an early warning sign: morale is slipping. And when morale goes, so does productivity — and so does your influence.

You say your guidance is clear. That may be true in terms of instructions. However, clarity isn’t just about being specific but also about tone. If your feedback sounds like “This analysis is sloppy — redo it by 8am”, what your team hears is, “You’re not good enough”. Try reframing it: “The client’s going to pick apart X and Y — let’s clean this up. Can you revise by 8?” It’s the same instruction, but it lands differently.

And always explain why. Juniors will tolerate long hours if they feel they’re learning. If they think you’re just being difficult, they’ll switch off, or worse, quietly undermine you.

As for the weekend emails, we’ve all done it. I used to send them out because otherwise — a bit like the lead character in Memento who forgets everything and has to write Post-it notes as aides-memoire — I worried I’d forget to do so later. It took a load off my mind when I could send out emails over the weekend and have the ability to start fresh on Monday morning.

But what you and I see as practicality or dedication can easily come across as disregard for their time. If it’s not urgent, schedule it to be sent on Monday (usually, you can change the settings on an email to allow for a timed dispatch later). If it needs to go out then, flag that you don’t expect an immediate reply (unless you do!). These small gestures earn a lot of goodwill.

Now, if you genuinely think the complaints are disproportionate, you can and should raise it but do it thoughtfully. Gather facts and (as I always say) document your case: are your expectations out of step with other directors? Are the juniors underperforming, or just pushing back more? And is your group head open to a realistic conversation about standards?

The key is how you frame it. Don’t position this as a generational crisis. Instead, say that you want to maintain excellence without burning people out and want to strike the right balance. That makes you part of the solution, not an obstacle.

One of the themes I keep coming back to in this column is this: in investment banking, how you deliver a message matters just as much as the message itself.

Tone, timing, cadence, nuance — these aren’t just soft skills; they’re the invisible currency of persuasion. And in a business where success hinges on getting people to want to do what you need them to do, it’s not fluff — it’s fundamental.

I’ve seen brilliant mid-level bankers — technically flawless, razor-sharp on the numbers — hit career ceilings because their delivery was needlessly abrasive. I won’t name names but the list is longer than you think. Maybe they dismissed a junior’s work as “amateurish” instead of framing it as “needs polish”. Maybe they sent terse midnight emails with no acknowledgment of the human on the other end. Small things, sure. But over time, those edges add up, and suddenly, you’re the “difficult” one — the person people (barely) tolerate rather than rally behind.

Is it fair? No. But since when has investment banking been fair? The game rewards those who master both the hard and soft sides of the job. You can grumble about coddled juniors or politically correct bosses, or you can adapt. You can demand utopia or accept the world as it is. The choice is yours, but I know which path the MDs at the top took.

And yes, you’re right. Some seniors absolutely use “junior welfare” as a branding tool or they weaponise it to maintain control over the people a rung or two below them. This has been going on for decades. Years back, a notoriously hot-headed senior banker tore into me because a junior colleague, who happened to share his nationality, had whined that I was “dumping” work on him. I had no choice but to take the work away and assign it to someone else — an unjust outcome that still rankles me.

But calling that out explicitly won’t get you anywhere. You might as well holler in a wind tunnel. The smarter move is to show you’re adapting. Say something like, “I’ve been reflecting on the feedback — here’s what I’m adjusting to support the team while keeping the bar high”. That way, you’re playing the game without compromising your standards.

Investment banking is always going to be intense. The work still needs doing, and it still needs to be done well. And time is always of the essence for capital markets practitioners.

But the VPs and directors who succeed long-term are the ones who get results without leaving a trail of burnt-out juniors behind them. If your team believes you’re fair and invested in their development, they’ll usually go the distance for you. If they see you as someone who doesn’t care or who uses them as just a resource, they’ll tune out — and you won’t see it coming until the damage is done.

So my advice is to hold the line on standards but evolve your approach. And if leadership wants to posture, let them. Your job isn’t to fix hypocrisy; it’s to build a team that performs and doesn’t mutiny. That’s the win.

Keep going,

Craig