George ILIEV
It is no secret that many young investment bankers (analysts, associates, even VPs) work 100-hour weeks. Why do they subject themselves to such inhumane treatment? An analogy between investment banks and bird digestive systems may reveal instructive similarities.
Capiscum (chili pepper) seeds eaten by the common South American flycatcher are four times more likely to germinate after passing through the bird's digestive system, a recent paper in Ecology Letters shows. This is based on two unrelated processes: the gut passage kills a pathogenic fungus that grows on the seeds and also scrubs the seeds of an odour that would otherwise attract seed-eating ants once the seed lands on the ground.
Working for an investment bank confers similar advantages: by exposing employees to extreme pressure, it makes them resilient and possibly more likely to succeed in future careers. By doing this, banks are not too much different from the Indonesian palm civet (cat) which increases the value of the coffee beans it devours and excretes, making this coffee one of the most-expensive varieties in the world.
(Photo: Bird diversity, Wikipedia)
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