When Jeff Carney graduated from college with a bachelor of commerce degree,
he had no clear career plans.
"I didn't have a clue," says Carney. "It's awfully hard when
you are 20 years old to make some of those decisions. My view is, you make
it as broad as you can, keep your options open and you're going to find
some things that come along that interest you."
In spite of having no real career goals, Carney climbed the corporate ladder
in a few short years and became senior vice-president and chief operating
officer of a full-service retail brokerage company. How did he do it?
Carney attributes his success to "a lot of being in the right place at
the right time."
But hard work had something to do with it, too. Carney often puts in an
11- or 12-hour day.
Carney's first job out of college was with a financial services company.
He started out in the administrative back office and eventually became a research
analyst covering equity stocks.
Carney says success in this business has a lot to do with timing. "Sometimes
you just have to keep your head up and constantly look for opportunities,
and make sure you jump at them and be willing to take some risks."
Then an opportunity arose. During the post-Communist period in Eastern
Europe, Carney moved to Poland for one year. He was part of a group of people
advising the government on selling off its state-owned companies.
When he returned to North America, Carney went to work for a bank in the
mergers and acquisitions area.
In 1993, he was asked to start a full-service retail brokerage business.
"It's a very unique environment. Because our business is directly
tied to what happens in the financial market, you don't have a lot of
control over your destiny. Markets can go up and down every day....We feel
like we're in a terrific growth industry, so what we do here is really
try to plan long term and not let the short-term issues get in the way."
That's a huge challenge, a challenge that fuels Carney and his colleague's
drive for success. "I work with very, very energetic people and their enthusiasm
helps my enthusiasm," he says. "And we've been able to build a dynamic,
growing business."
Being part of a management team is a lot of fun. This is a fantastic job
for motivated and energetic people who want to manage their environment and
make an impact on business.
And there is another wonderful payback in this job. Being in this position
allows Carney to give back to his community in a big way, and that has its
own rewards.
"A lot of our clients are obviously very wealthy and do a lot of good things
for society and support various charities. Our offices right across [the country]
do a lot of local work. Certainly corporately, we do a lot of work with Children's
Aid and other charities we try to support. We're able to be around financial
wealth, and that wealth eventually filters its way to various charitable ventures."
Erin Peterson is the senior operating officer for a dog training business.
The job has special meaning to her because she started the company. The business
has grown a lot over the years. She's had to give up all of her duties
to focus exclusively on the role of chief operating officer.
Peterson has a business degree and a dog trainer's license. She says
the job requires a lot of organizational ability and a dedication to perfection.
For Carney, the toughest part of his job is time management. It's
not always easy to prioritize your issues. And there's a great deal of
pressure for someone at this level. Though he loves his job, he admits it's
not always easy "coming in to work every day and being fired up."
"You have to constantly be up and you set the pace -- you set the tone
for the organization. So it's very important that the leader shows leadership
skills or it's going to send the organization in the wrong direction."
Still, Carney doesn't appear to have any shortage of enthusiasm. "It's
a very strategic industry. It offers you a lot of challenges, and I love the
idea of strategizing on where our future should be."