DANIEL HANKINSON’S KEYS FOR A SUCCESSFUL CAREER IN FINANCE

In finance, there are many keys to success that can be learned from experienced financial practitioners. BINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL (BBS) provided the platform, ‘CFO Forum’ in which Daniel Hankinson, the CFO of HSBC Indonesia, shared his experiences in finance.

Daniel joined HSBC in 2001. Before he came to Indonesia, he worked in London and Hong Kong. Before joining HSBC Group, he worked in finance but specialized in telecommunication and transportations. He holds a BA from the University of Manchester and he is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Account Management (CIMA) and the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT).

He revealed his secrets of success in finance, which are: focus; passion; determination and resistance; relevance and differentiation; networking and feedback; investment for the future; and self-belief.

 Daniel said that someone who wants to be successful in finance should have a focus on what they want to achieve and should know how much distance they need to go. In addition to that, passion is necessary to reach your target since without passion it would be difficult to focus. The next things are determination and resistance – without them someone could neither progress nor succeed. Relevance and differentiation are the follow-ups that need to be applied in today’s conditions because you need to make a difference – to be outstanding in your career compared to others’.

Moreover, to be successful in finance you need networking and feedback which are crucial to let people know who you are. If people already know you, they will recognize your positive traits. After that, getting feedback is as important as being recognized. Without feedback your efforts will be fruitless. He believes that to reach the top, you need to have – and implement – all of these elements.

The last element someone should have to reach success in finance is self-belief. All you’ve done would be meaningless if you don’t believe in yourself, and if you don’t believe you can do the job. Daniel believes that each person has their own strengths and weaknesses, but a successful person is someone who could improve his strengths and fix his weaknesses.

He said that everyone who wants to be successful in banking must “look out of the window and watch the world changing and getting more internationalized”.  (AS)