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Alumni Profile: G. Hardy Watford

Editor's note: please contact us to nominate other alumni for working world columns.

Current Position:
Executive VP and Group Head with Wells Fargo Bank, Southern California Division.

Prior Experience:
Worked with Wells Fargo in Dallas and Chicago and with Continental Bank in Chicago; before that, ran a construction company in Austin.

What you like about your work:
Banking is the study of other people's business. You're getting a mini-MBA on each of the businesses you work with. It's perfect for a generalist, someone who's naturally curious and wants to be involved in lots of different businesses.

How UT helped you:
Completely. I had been a partner in an entrepreneurial firm, but UT helped me understand the mechanics and dynamics of business, to put a language to it. It's the difference between knowing an inventory as numbers and knowing it as a product that can be converted into cash. UT allowed me to go from being a small business owner to working for a large corporate entity that serves small business owners.

Advice for students:
Being effective in school is important, but you've got to learn basic skills -- to negotiate, to be persuasive, to say both yes and no and still not damage relationships. Read Rudyard Kipling's IF. You need to be more than just a good student.

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