On reading the title, how many of you thought:-  law?

The title of this post is actually taken from an article in today’s South China Morning Post by Peter Guy – ‘Banking – the ultimate dead-end job‘

The article is a great read and while I would ask you to read Peter’s article in full; if I can, I’d ask you to take in some of the following comments he makes:

• Even as a traditional service industry, investment banking used to beckon candidates with a sense of excitement, like you were entering an elite and exclusive club.
• Growing interference and lower pay are driving the smartest and most innovative people away from the once-superior banking industry
• Today’s deadening layer of bureaucracy is discouraging many new hires from spending more than two or three years in a bank before leaving the industry entirely or seeking positions in hedge funds.
• Older, more senior bankers whose careers straddle pre- and post-financial crisis have few career choices and must subjugate themselves to the compliance-led and rules-driven banking culture until retirement.

Alternatively,

 who wants to work and lead a dumbed-down organisation?