#96- Chairman Of Evercore Asia & Kallang , Keith Magnus On Leadership Lessons, Bringing Taylor Swift & Singapore's Reinvention

I

want to

start in 1998.

So here we have post-Asian financial crisis.

We're having a really tough in Southeast Asia.

There's a lot of hiring freezing going on a lot of people losing jobs and you were kind of famously quoted to be you know four out of four thousand people that are applying for a job in a bank and you were sick you had a drip on your arm and you were like trying to find for the job i'd like for you to take me through that experience once again how was it like as a fresh grad sick and begging for a job

back in still picture of the hospital room And I'd been there for four nights, battling a fairly high fever, which had started to settle.

I had IV antibiotics as well as IV hydration and wasn't feeling the best.

And as I looked outside the window, I saw Asia that was in a significant financial crisis.

Markets were very volatile.

Companies were retrenching.

And there were very few jobs available for entry-level fresh graduates.

And so the Chase opportunity was particularly interesting because it was an opportunity to get into the bank under what was called the Analyst Development Program for Asia.

It was basically to build the next generation of leaders for the firm.

And the opportunity was accelerated because as I was in hospital, the head of HR from Asia at Chase called up and said, good news, we're accelerating the interviews.

So can you please come tomorrow? And the temptation was to say no.

But I did have a chat with the doctors and they said, look, you know, if you're up for it, I can release you.

You're no longer infectious.

And so I then found out more details about what the day would entail at Chase.

It was 12 interviews, an IQ test and an aptitude and essay as well, tests.

So it was, you know, I really had to think about it.

I wasn't feeling the best, but my thinking then became quite simple.

First of all, I realised that I could not control the crisis.

I couldn't control the other applicants.

I couldn't control the final decision around the job offer, but I could control whether I showed up and whether I prepared and how I carried myself at those interviews.