Series 2: Ep 7: Embracing Complexity with Aarti Singhal
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The world of Investor Relations (IR) is riddled with complexity at almost every turn. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, embracing complexity is a learnable skill that every single IR professional should aspire to. Today’s guest, Aarti Singhal, revels in complexity as she goes about her work as the Managing Director in the Barclays corporate broking team. Aarti explains how she transitioned into investor relations and what she loves most about the industry, the highs and lows of IR work, what it means to be successful in IR, and why “influence” is important in the IR function. We also come to understand how Aarti’s experience of in-house IR has helped in her corporate broking role, how important it is to quickly process large volumes of information, and her book and podcast recommendations for any IR enthusiast.
Key Points From This Episode:
• Introducing Barclays’ MD, Aarti Singhal, and what initially drew her to investor relations.
• What she enjoys the most about being in IR.
• Breaking down the most challenging and most rewarding aspects of the job.
• The similarities and differences between corporate and in-house IR work.
• What success in IR entails.
• Why “influence” is an important part of the role of investor relations.
• Skills that every IR professional must have, according to our guest.
• How she stays on top of the voluminous and rapid flow of information.
• Aarti’s podcast recommendation.
Quotes:
“Investor relations is really about creating that currency of trust, that currency of credibility. That does not happen with one event; that happens with delivering consistently quarter on quarter on quarter.” — Aarti Singhal [06:43]
“Don’t be afraid of complexity, it’s part of the game.” — Aarti Singhal [09:06]
“For investor relations to be able to do a good job, you really need to get under the skin of the game. You need to know the business extremely well, you need to know the assets very well, [and] you need to know the people very well.” — Aarti Singhal [11:15]
“One has to be a life-long learner – you can never stop learning.” — Aarti Singhal [17:25]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
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