Admittedly, much research has been done on this over the years, but no one has ever come out with a definitive cheat sheet. Prepare to be in the dark no more. Take a gander at the Deal Journal’s final word (this 20 seconds, anyway) on this burning subject.

Do you want to insult an investment banker? Tell him, he’s not “in the flow.”

In a profession that trades on information, an ignorant banker is a useless banker. He knows nothing. He is worth nothing.

Because on Wall Street, the “flow” is everything. It’s the information flow which leads to the deal flow, which leads to the money flow. It is the key to the kingdom. And if a banker is not in the flow, he’s out of the flow and out of luck.

Let’s take a Wall Street telecom banker. How does he actually know he’s in the flow?

Well, he just does. There is a mega wireless deal brewing. He knows all the players. He has his pick of CEOs to advise. He charges a big fat fee. He’s in the flow.

But if he learns about the same deal in the morning paper, then he’s obviously out of it.

Why does our banker gossip with lawyers, journalists and his trader buddies? He’s terrified of being caught out. At least, if he catches wind of a deal a week or two prior to announcement, he can front-run the news with clever excuses for his boss. Even make a desperate attempt to shoehorn his way into the deal.

But to be blindsided is bad. That clearly shows he’s out of the loop. Not in the flow.

Okay, so how does our flowless banker get into the flow?

The easiest way? Join a strong franchise. Piggyback on others. The deal flow and senior level relationships at Goldman Sachs for example are the best on Wall Street. And this has been a huge advantage for generations of Goldman bankers.

They’re not an imaginative or entrepreneurial lot. They don’t have to be. They’re already in the flow.

Of course, plenty of Wall Street machers – Yiddish for “big shot” - don’t work at Goldman. But what the machers and Goldman have in common is an intense focus on decision-makers. Because that’s the source of the flow.

A banker needs his family and friends network, his circle of C-level relationships. We’re not talking hundreds of people. A couple of dozen. Our telecom banker should know the CEOs and CFOs of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Vodafone, a few heavyweight lawyers, perhaps an ex-regulator or two. You get the idea.

Continue reading on wsj.com

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