Since his first job at Harris Bank, Brian Wesbury, 38, has become chief economist at Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson, a regional U.S. investment banking firm that specializes in bonds. Through the years, he has become adept at taking advantage of a job to learn skills, meet people and generate contacts.
Wesbury talked with free-lance writer Barbara B. Buchholz about his current job and the reasons for his success. An edited text of the interview follows:
Q–You’re still young and you’ve already been successful in making important contacts. Can you share secrets?
A–I got my B.A. in economics from the University of Montana and wanted to stay in the Northwest. But a bank that I thought I’d work for went bankrupt. I wanted to do economics and couldn’t find a job. It was the early 1980s. The area wasn’t growing. Because I had grown up in Columbia, Mo., and my parents had moved to Chicago, I decided to look there.
I went to a cocktail party for some association where there were 2,000 people and ran into a couple from Hannibal, Mo. We hit it off. They knew I was looking for a job. I had dropped my resume off at a few places, including Harris Bank.
The man knew someone there and offered to write a letter. The next thing I knew I was invited to lunch. The bank told me there was no chance I’d get a job since it had slimmed down. Within two weeks, a woman decided she was leaving and because I had just been there, I was hired.
It was serendipity. I started in 1982 and began my master’s in management from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University at night.
My first job was luck, but I made the most of it. I got my foot in the door with a position that was a non-college degree job. I kept the economic statistics released by the government by hand on big index cards and transferred the data to handmade charts.
This was at the beginning of desktop computing. To do this job properly, it took 40 hours a week. I decided to use one of the early Hewlett-Packard computers and turned the job into a one-day-a-week job.
I spent the rest of my time building a model of the federal budget and forecasting revenues. Investors thought it was important to follow the path of the deficit.
Q–Why the need for an MBA?
A–I always wanted an advanced degree. MBAs were hot and getting hotter, and my Dad always pushed me to get more education. I finished my degree in 1989, a year after I left Harris Bank.
Q–Why did you leave?
A–Because I knew that working in economics in a corporation, you’re often viewed as a cost center. You don’t generate revenue directly, which makes it hard for your service to be valued.
Q–Tell us about your next job?
A–Three of us left to start a subsidiary of another company, a consulting group, to sell economic and investment advice.
Q–That seems pretty gutsy–to go off on your own at 30.
A–It wasn’t ungutsy, and we took a risk, but often you have to. I’d call it a controlled risk. We weren’t walking on a tightrope over the Grand Canyon. I viewed it as a learning experience.
We had promises from people who would be our clients. My salary stayed the same initially, but we were soon able to be relatively successful. I thought it was a great opportunity. We worked hard. We ran this consulting firm for three years.
I left in 1991 to go to work for a client–my present firm, which was a good opportunity and allowed me to be on my own. My former boss was my mentor. I had worked with him going on nine years. I had grown, but at a certain point you have to leave.
Q–How did that move help your career?
A–I had gone from being a statistical assistant to an associate economist to an economist, to an officer of the bank, to a senior economist. The next logical move was to become chief economist. I hate to use titles, but the next move was to be a head rather than a No. 2. A small, young firm was willing to give me the opportunity.
Q–How was it to run the show?
A–I do a lot of speeches every year–about 100 to 150, and I’ve been blessed with an ability to communicate. But I’ll never forget the first major speech I gave. I was standing and realized I couldn’t point my finger over my shoulder and say, `That was what my boss said.’ In many ways it felt great. I was free to express my opinions; but in many ways it was terrifying.
Q–How long did you stay at that job?
A–I started in October 1991 and left in December 1994. I had an opportunity to work for Congress.
In most jobs, including mine, you run into lots of people–bosses, colleagues, counterparts who do similar jobs. Some of the people I spoke to through my work were government economists. It was important for me to stay in touch with political developments.
When the Republicans took control of Congress, there were a lot of opportunities. It didn’t occur to me to run off to D.C., but I got calls that pushed me to look at the idea. I decided to take the advice, figuring it was a logical step in my career to have Washington experience.
I decided to send one letter, one fax or make one phone call every day, rather than do a wholesale onslaught. I also called a friend I had met a decade before, with whom I talked regularly. He worked for Sen. Connie Mack of Florida, who became the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee.
Because I call myself a free market economist and would like to see taxes reduced and the size and scope of the budget reduced, I was a logical fit in the 104th Congress.
I got the job as chief economist, a high-profile position. We analyzed past, present and future policies for their impact on the economy. We looked at growth rates and how policies affected inflation and interest rates.
Q–What do you feel you accomplished and why did you leave?
A–We put growth on the table as an issue before the presidential election. The economy is only growing at about 2 1/2 percent, and, historically, it has grown at 4 percent. We did a lot of work to find out why growth has slowed and believed it was because the size and scope of the federal government had become a burden on the economy.
The second thing we did was write legislation, a bill, to focus the Federal Reserve on the goal of price stability–to keep inflation as close to zero as possible. We pushed this bill, but it did not pass. At least we raised the level of debate.
I wasn’t finished, but since we were coming into an election cycle, where the focus is more on politics, I decided to go back when I got a good offer from my firm. I was in the government 18 months.
Q–How do you leave a job so that you can return?
A–My dad taught me that every job you leave, you should be able to go back to if you do it right. Sometimes it’s impossible if you go to a competing firm. I always worked hard and never bailed out for more money. When I left this firm for the government, it was an opportunity that almost anybody would have said “yes” to.
Q–How important is it to specialize?
A–Specialization has its rewards, but our economy is changing so rapidly that if we get too niche-oriented, that niche may not be there. There’s also a lot of value in getting a liberal arts education.
If there are two things that are key,they would be to write and communicate and have an understanding of mathematics.
