Ten years ago, Ian Burns was a managing director and head of pan-European cash equity sales at Citigroup, when he made a mistake. It was 5.56am, and he'd just started work after finishing around 10pm the night before. Despite a faultless record during a 26-year career in banking, he sent two emails containing privileged information that wasn't to be shared until 7am.
It cost him dearly. "The mistake meant I was fired for gross misconduct, and it destroyed me," says Burns. He lost his income at a time when he still had a mortgage to pay and two children at boarding schools. He lost hundreds of thousands in deferred bonuses. He writes that the mistake probably also cost him his marriage: "Financial devastation was joined by social humiliation and by emotional destruction."