Observations from my favourite TV Show “SUITS”
Hi Guys,
It’s been quite a while since I wrote my last article. My previous article was my take on “Rodha” — a CAT preparation vendor.
This article of mine will highlight some of the view points and my learnings from “suits”, a show that changed the way I look at things and life in general. I’ll be listing some of Harvey’s quotes that made an impact on me in this article.
The character “Harvey Specter” is every man’s dream. He intimidates everyone with his charm. I must say we should not be ignoring other characters like Mike, Louis, Donna, Rachel, Jessica etc. I got to know a lot from the TV Show. Some of them are
- An appreciation for “Jazz” music.
- I got to know that a person can be extremely be good at so many things. for eg. Harvey was very good at Poker, Boxing, Basketball and Baseball.
Similarly, Louis was a finance god, he was really good at tennis and shooting. He had a thing for cats. He is evil for sure. In fact, I had a manager who was exactly like him.
3. I got to know about “Hedge Funds” for the first time from “Suits”. I did not have the faintest clue what “Hedge Funds” were before that.
4. I got to know about “Investment Banking” from this TV Show. I understood this is exactly how “Consultants” at McK, BCG, Bain work. Long hours, Hard work, Business Class flights, 5* accomodation, interacting with C-Suite Execs. etc. In fact all the PGP grads from IIMs who crack consult interviews have this kind of a hectic and a super busy life. (Mainly because their bosses and partners at the firm promise the Moon to the clients and the consultants are forced to deliver). One of my classmates Nishant is a consultant at BCG and I barely get to speak with him. He is such a busy guy. He inspires me and I always look upto him.
5. I learnt this the hard way. Harvey was a law grad from Harvard. Degrees matter, the brand of the company you work for matters, the school you went to matters, in-fact in India, your ‘caste’ also matters (Sad reality).
6. Keeping yourself healthy and the attire you wear matter a lot. Harvey tells Mike this — “People respond to how you dress. Believe it or not that’s what you have to do. I don’t care about you. You are a reflection of me and I absolutely care about me. Spend some money on your suit.”
7. Learning from Louis — He is nasty, cunning and evil. He never the gets the attention he deserves. He is emotional. He is a math genius. He is low maintenance unlike Jessica and Harvey.
8. One of my favourite quotes from Harvey is “Excuses don’t win championships ”
9. “Winner gets it all” — and Harvey emphasises so much on winning every time. This is so true in almost every aspect of life. For eg. It is almost impossible for a person who is not from a tier-1 institute to get into firms like Tower Research Capital, McK, Bain, World Quant, DE Shaw etc.There are exceptions of course.
10. Harvey charms clients like a boss. For instance, he brought in “McKernon Motors” to the firm at a very young age. Harvey on never giving up →
11. Harvey’s Record Collection. Oh Man! Harvey goes to any heights for his record collection.
12. His rough childhood past. His mother was cheating on his father. That is so much to deal with at a very young age. This is one of the main reasons why he is emotionless. Harvey on emotions →
13. Some of Mike’s quotes. Mike is a math genius, he has a photographic memory. A small incident in the past and his life is destroyed. The way he bounced back is as they say nothing short of “History”.
14. Louis Litt is always known for his famous dialogue “You just got LITT UP!”
15. Harvey wears Tom Ford Suits and Louis wears Brioni. These suits have starting prices from $2000. I forgot to mention Donna and Jessica. They both are very high maintenance. Donna transitioned from being an actor to the Chief Operating Officer of one of the best law firm there is in New York City. She deserved it. Other characters who deserve honourable mentions are Rachel, Katrina and Samantha. Samantha is basically the female equivalent of Specter.
16. Some of the cars that are used in suits are from Lincoln, Mercedes, Lexus, Ferrari, Ford Mustang, Tesla and Jaguar. These cars are super expensive.
17. I know some of my friends who are Batman fans. They are so much fanatic that they download the background score and listen on loop. I am such a sort of fan. I have all the suits songs on my playlist.
18. Finally, I have to give credits to the creator of the Show “Aaron Korsh” without whom the show wouldn't have become what it is now.
EDITs —
Since I have got quite a bit of appreciation and criticisms , I am adding some more points
19. Harvey goes to any extent to defend his family and friends. He saves Donna, Mike, his driver Ray Bengazi, his brother and even Louis. When he says ‘You're family’, he definitely means it.
20. Harvey does take criticisms like a man. He loses some cases and gets fired by some clients and in most of the cases its because of someone else.
21. All these swags come at a price. We only see the bright side. The saying “Grass is greener on the other side” holds here as well. We never see the hard work and the sleepless nights. Harvey is a Harvard Law Grad. Making a cut into Harvard (which has extremely low rate of acceptance) is no joke.
22. We all have a ‘Louis’ inside us. The insecure, the emotional, the evil, the stupid, the furious, the selfish, the cunning personality inside us. It’s just that we have a mask and hide these traits safely.
23. Harvey is a winner. That’s all good. But he is not a leader. We can feel that when Jessica leaves the firm and Harvey struggles with things. Jessica is all about holding people together.
24. Harvey can't be Harvey without Donna. She plays a pivotal role in making his life easy.
Key Learnings from the show —
- Life is not easy. Nothing worth having comes easy.
- Even the best of the best lawyers/consultants face hard times. It’s all about how they manoeuvre over the situation.
- Being fit and eating healthy comes at a time and cost effort.
- You can be really good at many different things. In fact, at Goldman Sachs, people who are good are different things are given attention/priority.
- Learnt about these terms — Investment Banking, Private Equity, Hedge Funds, Consulting, Boutiques, Preferred Shares etc. (I did research about them afterwards).
- Degrees matter. I am a big fan of “Asim Quershi”. He is a Oxford Physics Grad. He was an Investment Banker at Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse etc. He says, sometimes when you are pressed hard, you need that strong degree to shove it down their throat to silence them. Else, they'll keep pressing you.
— Sethupathi Balakrishnan
(A die hard suits fan)