Speaker Insight Series - Mick Sweeney

• January 11, 2019
• Ciaran Walshe

Asset Managers continue to face pressures from several angles. Mick will be sharing what he sees in the market next week at Adminovate. You can read Mick's thoughts in the ninth post of our 2019 Speaker Insight Series. We’ve borrowed the format from Tim Ferriss’s book ‘Tribe of Mentors’. You can read about the book here and buy it directly here.

Throughout the book, Tim poses 11 questions to his interviewees with the request to respond to 3 to 5 questions.. or more, if the spirit moves them. See Mick's answers below:

What is the book (or books) you’ve given most as a gift, and why? Or what are one to three books that have greatly influenced your life?

In my earlier career in Capital Markets, I used to gift all my senior traders a book called Reminiscences of a Stock Operator by Edwin Lefevre. While first published in 1923, it is still one of the most amazing books ever written about trading and investing in markets. Very seldom you give a book to dozens of people and all agree that it’s an excellent trader’s bible and has survived the passage of time!

In my later career in leadership roles, the book I’ve gifted most is The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John C Maxwell. He is an internationally recognized leadership expert who has sold over 20 million books on personal growth and leadership. He just gets the essence of leadership at all levels and articulates and communicates, in a very simple style, a realistic roadmap on how to incorporate these laws into your personal and professional life to help thrive in both.

If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it — metaphorically speaking, getting a message out to millions or billions — what would it say and why? It could be a few words or a paragraph. (If helpful, it can be someone else’s quote: Are there any quotes you think of often or live your life by?)

'Life begins at the end of your comfort zone' by Neale Donald Walsch

What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made? (Could be an investment of money, time, energy, etc.)

A lot of my best investments, from an economic perspective, involved buying property which is now our family home. However, the best investment, in terms of risk I ever took, that was most worthwhile, was a significant career move I made back in 2006, moving businesses and industries from Capital Markets into the Asset Management industry. It stretched and grew me, both as a person and a leader in every way possible while also leading to invaluable life-long relationships and memories that will endure for decades to come.

In the last five years, what new belief, behaviour, or habit has most improved your life?

In the last 5 years or so, I began to coach and mentor scores of young leaders from all walks of life and have learned that the greatest satisfaction comes from adding value to other people and seeing them learn and thrive! In my humble opinion, there’s no higher level of personal satisfaction to be gained, than from adding value to other people’s lives!

What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore?

1. Travel extensively...it broadens the mind and the person!
2. Plan to move careers every 3/4 years (keep living at the end of your comfort zone...it’s exciting and you’ll have a great story to tell your grandchildren!
3. Never stop learning and develop and invest in a personal growth plan; you’ll never regret it! And it’ll position you well-ahead of your peers and position you well to move careers successfully every 3/4 years.