Wheel Your Own Whiteboard: A Macquarie Lesson for Young Leaders

A note to young leaders.

A tale of two directors.

In 1994, I joined Macquarie’s M&A division. Within days, two talented directors invited me to join one of their client meetings.

Midway through, the client asked for a whiteboard. Without hesitation, the more junior of the two directors stood, left the room, and returned a minute later wheeling in a whiteboard.

After the meeting, the senior director shook his head and scoffed: “What were you doing? That’s not your job. You call reception and have them do it.”

The junior director, chastened, just smiled and shrugged: “But it was so much quicker if I did it.”

Fast forward 30 years, the senior director’s career met with spectacular success – but then with sudden scandal and defeat; the junior director’s career ambled sideways for a few years but then met with uncommon victory.

It may be coincidence, perhaps – but I like to believe the universe smiles on those who wheel their own whiteboards.