Dave has been playing sports since he was young. He’s seen the power of collaboration and the level you can compete at when everyone on the team buys into the same ethos. So, it wasn’t a surprise to him when he joined our International Private Bank that our focus on collaboration meant he could deliver real impact. What surprised him was the scale at which he could operate.
Collaboration comes in many forms but when everyone on a team truly buys into it, everyone is able to create impact they couldn’t achieve alone. Dave, an Analyst in our International Private Bank, has always known this. Growing up playing sports, he saw how it pushed him to improve his performance and compete at a higher level. So, when he joined Deutsche Bank, he wasn’t surprised that our commitment to creating a team-first environment meant he could deliver results. What surprised him was the scale at which he could make an impact.
A competitive nature
Dave grew up playing various sports in high school before committing to Sprint Football at college. It’s an adaption of traditional football that emphasizes speed and agility and requires players to weigh in at a specific weight. It gave him a ‘tremendous sense of discipline’ and suited his natural ‘competitive nature.’
That competitiveness also informed his career decisions. Dave chose to study Labour Relations in part because he wanted to become a lawyer. Law’s adversarial nature and the idea of constructing arguments appealed to him, but while he was at university, he realised banking could offer a similar environment with more opportunities to grow.
“I spoke with people in the industry and recognised how high performing and motivated they were. I wanted to be around those people.”
Experiencing the culture
Dave interned at an asset management firm and realised that while he enjoyed the industry, he wanted a role and a company with more exposure to clients which led him to pursue a career in Wealth Management.
“There’s something really exciting about working directly with clients. There’s extra excitement to making a sales pitch directly to them.”
During a recruiting session at his University, he met his future manager, who convinced to him to apply to Deutsche Bank. Since joining the International Private Bank, Dave works with ultra-high net worth clients, investigating their financial assets and then helping build a case for funding with the credit team.
“Being in a junior role, getting on the phone to speak with someone with a billion euros and working on big transactions feels really exciting and tangible.”
His most rewarding project came when a client involved with a major sports franchise needed a credit deal. Dave worked around the clock to assess the operation and it almost fell through due to COVID-19 but his and the team’s tenacity and hard work delivered the deal. The client was so happy they recommended another major client use the team’s services.
“The level of teamwork made me realise I was a part of something big. It was amazing to be part of a global effort to get this deal done.”
Achieving better, together
Dave’s commitment extends beyond his day job. He’s part of a corporate responsibility initiative that offers mentorship to young people applying for college, in substitute for the institutional knowledge that more privileged individuals have access to. For him, Deutsche Bank’s culture thrives when there are diverse perspectives working together.
“This industry values people with different mindsets more than it ever has before. I think having people working together from diverse backgrounds has really been a valuable shift in our industry.”
True collaboration has helped Dave deliver at a global scale and now it’s helping him find his next teammates.