The Gift of Another Profession

Willie Langston

To My Amazing Classmates …

Compared to most of you, my post graduate story is somewhat benign. I have worked in the Wealth Management industry for all thirty-five years or our post Stanford life, first at Goldman Sachs, then Morgan Stanley, and for the last nineteen plus years at our own firm, Avalon Advisors. I am grateful for my career, more grateful for my friends, and most grateful for my amazing family and faith. That said, I am under no delusion; if the thirty-five years were a movie, it would be rated G and would flop at the box office!

There was however, a two-year period from July of 2014 to May of 2016 that, even by my classmates’ standards, I would consider unique. You see, one of my best friends in all of life is Ted Cruz. (Why do I feel this is a confession to this group more than a statement?) In July of 2014, Ted asked me to be his National Finance Chairman for his presidential race. While I am certain that a class-wide poll would overwhelmingly show that Senator Cruz would not have been the choice of over 95% of our class, the brand of politics is not what I am writing about here. I am writing about the more important life lessons that I learned, and the American reality that was revealed to me during these twenty-two most amazing of months.

It is hard to condense twenty-two months into a brief vignette, but here is a six point snapshot of what I learned…

The Gift of Another Profession Without Leaving Your Own

Most of us never have the gift of immersing into another profession without leaving the one that we are currently in. I had the pleasure of doing this and it was a remarkable learning experience. The privilege of diving into a new and totally foreign business and from my current profession, and most importantly from my life experiences, to quickly get up to speed and strive to become “the best” at another profession was a total rush. I have a friend who is releasing his first book in June of 2020 … It’s entitled The Sand Sea and it is remarkable! I can understand his “rush” from this accomplishment better having taken my own very risky and way too public journey into an additional work challenge. And while I don’t know that I would wish politics as a second career on any of you, I would encourage you all to take what you have learned and plow it publicly into a new and very different career in some of the years that you have remaining. I can say that it is an unforgettable experience to use all that we have been blessed to learn in a totally different way for a totally different agenda.

How You Answer Is All That Matters

March 2015…Ted had just launched his presidential campaign, and he and I went to New York City to make the media tour across all the networks. Watching all this behind the scenes on the morning and evening shows was surreal. It is a different world being in all of those green rooms and watching the productions from mere feet away. And candidly, it was fun. Beginning to learn the verbal battles that are best played out in subtleties and the art and skill of verbal judo as a work craft was like going from high school sports to pro sports in one step. It was fascinating to watch.

We had just come off an afternoon set with Dana Bash of CNN, and while in recent years I have grown to greatly appreciate the skill that this woman has as a professional, at that moment I was really ticked. I thought that Dana reached to a place that she should not have (in calmer moments since, I admit that she totally should have!) and as Ted and I were walking to his car for his next meeting I said, “You put her in a box Ted! Put her in a box!” He asked what I meant by that term. I said that in my profession, if a trader did not do a good job on a trade, you would not give him or her flow for a month and starve them out to make a point. So what I meant was that he should not give her another interview for at least a month because of her line of questions. He looked at me and very calmly said, “Willie, it doesn’t matter what questions they ask, all that matters is how I answer.” Ted is almost twelve years younger than me. At this time he was forty-five years old. For the rest of that day I twirled that statement around. In the years since I have adopted this position in most of my business and personal engagements…what matters is how I answer!

You Meet Amazing People, But Don’t Forget Why

Presidential races attract leaders from around the country. And when it is one of your friends in the limelight, you get to know a whole lot of amazing people. I remember in our California work getting to visit with the former governor, Pete Wilson. Regardless of political side of the aisle, I found him to be a down to earth and wonderful man. I can remember political strategy meetings with Jack Welch at his kitchen table, just he and I plotting out steps that Ted should be taking. Watching that man’s brain work was priceless. There was a time that I was backstage in my great state – Texas – with the former governor and Secretary of Energy, current governor, current lieutenant governor, and Ted. It was an odd moment as I was clearly “the one not like the others.” And it was odd watching all of these men, who even in the same political party, were clearly rivals as well as friends. But all of these people accepted me as their own…not because of who I was, but because of who I was close to at that moment. It’s a weird feeling…I mean even in the moment you know that it’s the truth, but your ego wants you to believe that it must have something to do with your charm and suavity. Note to file: it has nothing to do with you! It’s just your place in the moment! But learning the wisdom in this has made me a better businessman, a better friend, a better husband and a better parent. Leaning into, holding onto, or holding up someone when it is about them and who they are is one of the things that makes life great. Those moments mean more than all the artificial ones, and they penetrate far deeper and have far more lasting effect.

Setting Goals And Reaching Them Matters Just As Much

I was getting paid $0.00 to give way too many hours per week on this journey. In fact, after accepting this gig I learned that the FEC (Federal Election Committee) required that I take a pay cut for the hours that I was not spending at Avalon lest this be considered a corporate gift from Avalon, which was illegal. Governments and their rules! So, in addition to writing way too many checks in this process, I also had to give up entitled-to compensation for the privilege of this journey.

Even though I had “anti-compensation” there was still the desire to set and break goals. What I learned about “me” and really about all competitors is that goals matter way beyond any money associated with them. I am trying to continually apply this reality into my own work while now back in “the real world.” Success is success…and in the case of Cruz for President we raised over $92,000,000 in about thirteen months, which was and remains (for now) the most in a Republican presidential primary of a non-incumbent in history. Being a part of this team was a special time in my life, made even more special by our team’s accomplishment.

People Are Rarely What Television Makes Them To Be

One of the more remarkable things about politics was the way that television made people out to be different than who they really were.

Ted is made out to be this really tough and crazy guy. He is exactly the opposite. In his home, his amazing wife, Heidi, is the enforcer; Ted is the softy. He would play games with his kids every school night until midnight if his wife wouldn’t have laid down the curfew law. He is also one of the most thoughtful and rational people that I know. In eight plus years of political life with him I have never – not once – seen him shout at any of his colleagues or subordinates. But television makes him out so differently. Few candidates did more to help Ted after he got out than Jeb Bush. He privately, seeking no limelight, made calls on Ted’s behalf. Yet television made him out to be such an out of touch blue blood. I always had this tough picture of Carly Fiorina from how she was captured on television and in print. But I have seen her on the back of a campaign bus with Ted’s elementary school kids making up songs with them and helping them do their homework. Watching her tell Heidi after a long day on the bus, that she would take the girls to dinner so that Heidi and Ted and could have a single meal together was moving. Yet you never imagine this from the media reporting. And then there is the other side. There was one candidate that the press embraced as everyone’s grandad. In the political trenches though he was thought to be extremely self-centered (quite a feat to be singled out for this quality in this arena!) and a jerk. In short, the images versus reality world that I experienced has caused me to have a much more skeptical view of how anyone – on either side of the aisle – is painted in politics, as reality is often very far away from the truth. In a good way though, this has led me to be more open minded about people than closed minded.

How Did We Get Here!!? … and What Can We Do!??

What alarms me about our political world, is not disagreement. It is actually not political attacking; just go read the world of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. No, what alarms me is the lack of political debate and the amount of political yelling. It is the reality that we sometimes get to general elections, from local, to state, to federal, and think, “Wait, this is the best ’we got‘ for Mayor? Governor? Congressman? Senator?”

What causes this and what can we do about that? Long term, the following is the most meaningful takeaway from this two year experience that I can relay to my classmates…

We live in a world where information is considered knowledge, and wisdom is not even a vocabulary word! We literally have instant information with zero litmus tests for knowledge. In addition, we live in a political system where primaries dictate candidates and only ten percent or less of voting age people drive the message, turnout and result of the primaries. And whether we like it or not, it is the primary winners that represent each party in the general elections. Those are our realities. Add to this the fact that the grass root primary voters tend to be on the far edges of both parties. The Republicans scream about the “far left” and the Democrats scream about “the far right,” but the reality is that it is these people who take the most time and spend the most effort in our primary system.

(A personal note … I say this NOT to condemn the politics of the grassroots on either side; they are entitled to their heartfelt beliefs! Indeed, my own beliefs, while not aligning with any specific group in any party, tend to align as much with the grassroots of my party as the more traditional voters in my party, but I feel lost to both because I believe in the marketplace of ideas, and calm, rigorous, non-personal debate!)

Add to this reality the fact that the media gets far more eyeballs for sensationalism than for an intelligent summary of facts and issues, and you have a real recipe for failure of our political system that is leading to a failure in our country. And I am concerned that this failure at a governmental level – void of party – is a tsunami that washes over almost anything that we do in our private careers. The mountain of success that many of us have achieved is so high that the floodwaters of poor decisions (from both parties), while deep, have not yet reached us … but they can and likely will, if those of us who believe in reason and debate don’t invest more time in the political marketplaces that we are called to; from city to state to federal.

So, from a two-year, up close and personal view, I close with a plea to ask many of you to engage in the politics that you are called toward. Why? Because you think like me? Ha! Not likely! … but because I believe that you believe like me: that reason, debate, compromise, common sense, and personal decency still matter; indeed, matter most.

Blessings to each of you and it is a privilege to be a piece of the patchwork of the amazing life quilt of the Class of 1985.