Investment banking is having a complex cultural moment.
Consider the rollicking rise of HBO’s Industry, which manages to make i-banking look dark, sexy, and sometimes even swashbuckling. The world of Industry is filled with glass skyscrapers, cluttered desks, and hard-won but devastatingly hollow victories. It’s a whole generation’s introduction to investment banking, and it’s airing just as a real-world reckoning is gaining momentum. In recent months and years, shattering stories have emerged of investment banking associates who die at work amid 100-plus-hour work weeks and reportedly toxic work cultures.
