The rest of my life.
“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
—Alan Kay
Nine months ago I read a book - a fascinating book - by Po Bronson, called “What should I do with my life?” I’m not sure why I bought it, probably some Amazon.com driven serendipity…I read it over the Christmas break, found it very enjoyable but nothing more.
But the Earth turns and butterflies flap their wings and different futures emerge from the ever constant forward flow of time. And here I find myself at one of those crossroads in time. Time to jump down the rabbit-hole:
“… thought Alice, and she went on. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where –” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“– so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
Today is my last day after over six years at Dresdner Kleinwort (nee Benson, then Wasserstein…) and it’s been pretty damn interesting. I had a lot of fun. Worked (too!) hard. Met some fantastic people. Made some good friends. Those are things I will miss.
Sometimes the light’s all shinin’ on me;
Other times, I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me …
What a long, strange trip it’s been. - J. Garcia
But the City is a small place. The markets are a small place. Hell, the planet is a small place (it’s flat don’t you know.) And so I know I’ll surely be crossing paths in the coming months and years with many of my friends and colleagues at Dresdner whatever I end up “doing with my life.”
Anyhow, I’m going to take a bit of time to ponder that question, have some fun and just generally recover from too many years of investment banking. 
And of course I’ll still be here, warbling on about this or that, with a rant thrown in for good measure from time to time.
Everything you can imagine is real. –Pablo Picasso
Time for imagining.
October 13th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
Hey Sean - missed you today - damn, gotta take those earphones out and start thinking. You’re right - it’s been fun … and also, maybe, a tiny bit frustrating
Investment Banking, it’s life but only more so. The future is there and it is only the passage of time keeping it away from us.
Genuinely enjoyed working with you.
Remember, there is only so much skiing a man can do.
October 15th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
I really enjoyed your imagination within DK. Being disruptive in your field takes guts and passion…you have that without a doubt. One door closes…
Take care.
October 16th, 2006 at 9:40 pm
Good luck Sean. It’s a small world, so Dijsktra and Kruskal will be visiting soon
October 17th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
I know where you’re coming from.
Might you be doing a bit of consultancy work?
October 18th, 2006 at 8:01 am
It was a very intersting and exciting time, thank you for all I learned from you. I am confident it could happen again.
October 18th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
Sean, I’ve worked with many talented people in my time; what makes you rare is your willingness to make things happen rather than just talk about it. Whatever you do, never lose that. It was a pleasure working with you. All the best, JP
October 20th, 2006 at 10:18 am
Je t’ai déjà dit ce que j’avais à dire.
So enjoy the skiing…
October 20th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
I read about the changes at DK in the Dealing With Technology issue on Oct 9th. It was interesting reading editor perspectives after reading bits and bytes on your blog.
Best of luck and keep blogging no matter where you end up!
October 20th, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Thanks for all the kind words of support. Not sure what I’ll do next, I guess in the mean time (after a sufficiently long break) I might consider consulting if it made sense…and in the meantime I just keep sharing bits of my brain on this blog, for free. (Of course you get what you pay for… then again maybe it’s just a really otm option, and everyone knows these are priced too cheaply right? fat tails, etc…)
November 2nd, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Friday the 13th! Only just picked this up!
Hope all goes well, in which ever rabbit hole you jump down.
Mine is now BNPP - but still doing electronic trading systems …
It was a pleasure working with you at DRKW.