Special edition newsletter
DIARY OF SUCCESS - People who drive the business world
Vladimir Đukanović, financial consultant and Serbian wolf of Wall Street - A smart but lazy life is not worth living, it only wastes air unnecessarily
(Photo: Ustupljena fotografija)
Vladimir`s story is not only measured by his professional achievements. Return to Serbia and focus on education, counseling and local projects have shown that for him a career is not a goal in itself, but rather a means to inspire, impart knowledge and create lasting impact. Family, personal discipline and a passion for writing shaped his approach to life and work, showing that success comes from balancing professional challenge with inner purpose.
In an interview with eKapija, he reveals how personal discipline, family values and passion for writing shape his view on finances, investments and life.
How have your studies in philosophy and economics at DePauw University shaped your approach to finance and investing? Do you still use a combination of these two disciplines in your work today?
- Philosophy is a good companion in any profession. It clearly defines the approach to every aspect of life, including the professional one. Intellectual discipline is a formula for success that many overlook.
This means not only a clear, fact-based approach, but also the power to change when a new data set comes to light. Philosophy and science are still one, that`s how they started, many would like to divorce them, but the essence is the same: the search for the scientifically proven truth. No illusions, emotions, and beliefs - only hard, mathematical truth, on which the modern world rests. We all use philosophy every day, it`s just that many use it wrong - they simply didn`t read the user manual.
After succeeding on Wall Street and in London, you have chosen to withdraw from that intense world and focus on counseling and local projects. What made you make that decision?
- My goal is writing, writing and only writing. My financial career is a means to that ultimate goal. The intention is to have a global impact with your views, research and books. Constant questioning is my modus operandi and is not possible through bar discussions. It is possible through analysis, data processing and their presentation through concise and easily understandable texts. It`s what drives me and makes me get up in the morning. I find everything else fundamentally boring.
How do you balance an intensive business career with your personal life?
- I have not been working since my children were born. In other words, easy.
If you could change one career decision today, what would it be and why?
- Starting a family earlier is the key to both life and career. I consider that to be my biggest mistake.
In your experience, what is the biggest challenge facing investors today: constant market change or a change in human approach to risk and investing?
- Investors have been the same throughout the ages because the challenges are the same. Nothing fundamentally has changed from the first coins in Lydia to Google. Homo sapiens is the same, so nothing fundamental can change. The range of businesses, opportunity and access to almost everyone on the planet today make investing easier and to some extent more transparent. But the basic principle, which is to invest in hardworking and honest people, still applies. Investments fail or succeed because of people, other factors are negligible.
Looking back on the Wall Street episode, what would you like to convey to young people as the most important lesson about a career in finance?
- He works harder than the others and there will be no problem. Outwork competition is what America, especially Wall Street, teaches you. A smart but lazy life is not worth living, it only wastes air unnecessarily.
Looking ahead, do you see yourself more as an investor, mentor, educator of the next generation, or a combination of all these?
- As a writer.
What is your long-term goal when it comes to the legacy you leave in the financial and business world?
- Education is my only goal right now. The demand is huge because we still live in a region with poor educational institutions that are unable to reform. Attending those institutions has become a huge waste of time because both the content and methodology are outdated. The time is coming when kids will stop going to high schools because they know that the world is fast, that they can find their place under the economic sun much faster, and that across the planet. Only the digitally poor will remain in unreformed school and those for whom the past is the only future.
Ivana Žikić
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