Lessons from Richard Handler, Chairman & CEO, Jefferies Financial Group

“If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity of the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.”

Richard Handler has been the CEO of Jefferies Financial Group only since 2001, but he has witnessed 7 financial crises –
1. 1987 Stock Market Crash
2. 1990 Bankruptcy of Drexel along with Savings & Loan Industry
3. 1998 Russian Financial Collapse
4. 2000 Dot Com Bubble Collapse
5. 2008 Financial Industry Collapse
6. 2011 Sovereign Debt Collapse/False Short Attach on Jefferies
7. 2020 COVID-19, during his entire career on Wall Street.

Come what may, he is more than confident that persistence, patience, and positivity is the only way to go ahead. The Wall Street CEO and down-to-earth human being presents the secret sauce for success amid the COVID-19.

Here’s what you should learn:

A. Each time you would feel like it’s the end of the world, but things eventually turn out to be well – be optimistic.

B. Each time there was a sudden and massive unemployment, only to improve to record low levels of unemployment. Improve yourself, upskill, try to gain new skills, and be ready for the storm to even out.

C. Each time it would feel like ‘this one is different and the big one’, but keep your heads high. Pay attention, learn, read, and interact with smart people. Try to be an active participant.

D. Each time the market went crazy, the recovery led to reach record highs.

E. Each time the world learned something valuable, improved in various forms and innovation succeeded.
F. Each time the crisis hit, individuals, corporations and industries emerged as an united winner. Some more valid elements for COVID-19.

G. Culture does matter, within an organisation.

H. The fall of competitors and foes is not always a good thing.

I. Build upon the existing relationships and foster new ones.

J. Extend your helping hand towards those in need.
K. Health – mental and physical, both are prime, prominent and come before anything else.

L. Keep it super simple/simple stupid (KISS theory).

M. Bonds are way more important than the talks about equity and wealth creation.

N. Never disrespect experience – especially for those young and overly ambitious.

O. History does repeat, just in different shapes and forms.

P. Everything is liquid in good times and nothing is liquid in the worst of times – keep excess cash to survive and thrive, remember the Cash in King.

Q. You are defined by how you act in difficult times, even the most timid fellows can act sane in easy times – Define Yourself Now (DYN).

Following the rule #N of Richard completely, and truly believing that the points mentioned ut supra, based on his experiences are one of the best set of advices the young generation or anyone at any stage in their life can follow.

For it is true – ‘The stars cannot shine without darkness!’
Thank you so much Richard, for the lessons of a lifetime, we wish to keep it intact.
Keep safe, keep thriving, keep sane.

Via – Md. Mozammil