UK
Following the eulogy to the fragrant Diane Jenkins in the weekend Telegraph, it’s worth revisiting the contribution that Diane has allegedly made to the career of husband Roger Jenkins, the executive chairman of Barclays Investment Banking and Investment Management for the Middle East.
Diane, a Bosnian who met Jenkins while at City University, is rumoured to have had a role in endearing Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani to him. The Sheikh, who manages the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, bought a 15% stake in Barclays earlier this year, enabling the bank to reject an investment from the British government.
Although Diane is something of a socialite, the Jenkinses, the Sheikh and his wife apparently enjoy quiet nights in eating lamb and pasta for four at home.
Now that client relationships are resurgent, are alpha spouses mandatory for success in banking? Or can you still get by with someone who reheats ready meals and thinks Botox is a character from Asterix?
My wife makes a mean spaghetti on toast and only brushes her hair every few days. She hasn’t proven a hindrance yet.
Its extremely important. Your spouse or choice of partner reflect your status within society. If your happy being 3rd rate so be it…some of us are not!!
ZlTE017 – Sorry to break the news, but no matter how appealing your wife, you will still seem third rate if you can’t spell ‘you’re.’
However, if you are looking to sleep your way to the top or bed top business ladies in order to secure deal flow then any form of spouse (alpha or not) may well prove a hindrance.
ZlTE017-Once again he is back with his ridiculous comments
ZLTE017-Your hand does not count as a partner
Choosy, if you are going to correct someone, it’s usually best to make damn sure that you’re (you are) right – otherwise you look like a prat
Carol – I am not belittling your IQ my dear, but if you look closely you will see two instances of your/you’re in the post in question.
but Carol – paying heed to your own advice is usually best practice. Anyway, since when does your partner have any bearing on your career prospects? Leave them at home I say!
Carol – Well that backfired on you, didnt it miss clever clogs? hahaha. looks like someone else is the prat after all
Wow….What a bunch of small minded bigots inhabit these message boards. Do any of you even know what a women looks like before you start attacking Carol.
But back to the original point…In my experience of mixing with the right people in the right circles, your partner is a reflection of the image you like to portray. An alpha male beast wouldn’t be partnered with a hippo…or vice versa. A tiger needs a tigeress.
Does anyone besides me think that ZLTE017 is a total complete moron? How can a guy with his primitive way of thinking even function in our society? It really beats me…..
ZLTE017 – In that case I assume you are single, or with a complete moose?
It’s tigress anyway, not tigeress. What do you know….
Soros-I coudnt agree more. He is a complete loser. He makes the most ridiculous comments and spouts utter drivel
@Soros / BC / Sexybeast – I see the nutjobs and the morons are back…Do tell what do you add to the proposed question except your mindless drivel.
ZLTE017 is Ben from The Apprentice!
ZLTE017-’I see the nutjobs and the morons are back’ .
I assume that wasnt meant to be ironic? Everytime there is any sort of sensible discussion up you pop with your stupid, uneducated, ridiculous views and comments
I think ZLTE017 and Carol are the same person
ZLTE017, please keep your deluded, ill-informed nonsense to yourself.
Maybe for an M&A role it’s more important but does anyone out there really think it has much of a bearing on a traders/sales traders career? A bit of kudos with the lads (I’d give her one etc etc) but nothing concrete IMO.
ZLTE017 is an illiterate fool.
Are the people on here for real?? Seriously It’s like I’m stuck in a bad episode of the twilight zone, surrounded by mindless dimwits. This message board seems to reflect where society seems to be heading nowadays – communism – where independent thinkers and beliefs are vilified by the power of the mindless mob…Ayn Rand would be turning in her grave now at how the idiot is championed in society and the ambitious, driven, intelligent visionaries like me are attacked. But zlte017 is a winner and never forget it…Toodlepip!!!
Never turn up to a function with a heifer. Its career suicide.
All things being equal, yes, it makes a difference!
ZLTE017-Havent you got some filing to do? And then coffees to get?
Apologies for making a serious comment, but it might be interesting to know how the high profile spouses got their interesting, well-paid and high profile roles in the first place. Nothing to do with nepotism, I’m sure.
Secondly, don’t knock those hippos. An Alpha hippo (male or female) is a dangerous beast, from which any tiger would run (and for the pedants among you of course this would be a theoretical confrontation as I’m obviously talking about African hippos and not the pygmy Asian variety).
I quite like the asian variety of spouse (regular, not pygmy). Very subservient I am told……
I am a high profile deal maker in a Large bank (still have my job). I personally make it a point not to socialise and make sure even if I have to be in such boring so called personal relationship meetings, never bring up my family life or my business associates’ personal lives
my business associates know that i am there for business like i know they are for business – if we can get together to make money so be it – personal lives are too private to be touched/meddled
Bringing in personal relationship equations in businesses mean
1. the parties are insecure
2. one of the two parties is about to get ripped off
3. somone is doing a favour out of their way so their ego need to be massaged or they need to be given false sense of importance
4. Building business on a spouse’s flirting capacity is SHAMEFUL – there is another undesirable name to those kind of tactics
5. Nobody business associate is important enought to invade my personal space
genuine friendships during a course of business are all together different
Thinking botox is a character from Asterix is definitely a positive attribute. :-)
As side from the last comment by Anon , you all have completely lost the plot. Anyone who ends up with their spouse purely for monetary gain will find out that when things go bad, their fair weather spouse will go along as well.
I’ll second that last post. Are Anon and Nikky the only people over 16 on this board?