Generations of Rice Grads feat. Chuck Yates ‘94

From grandparents to parents, brothers and uncles, it seems like almost everyone in the Yates family has attended Rice, some even multiple times! That includes our guest today Chuck Yates, who earned a B.A. in political science from Rice in 1991, graduating magna cum laude, and later returned to earn his MBA from Rice in 1994.

Chuck Yates is an investor and former managing partner at Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, as well as the host of the Chuck Yates Needs a Job podcast. 

He is a self-proclaimed “dysfunctional life coach who’s had enough therapy to quote Brene Brown chapter and verse,” pivoting to creating and hosting a podcast after being publicly fired from Kayne Anderson, when the firm consolidated its energy teams. 

Chuck sits down with host Scott Gale at the Digital Wildcatters Podcasting Studio right here in Houston to talk about his long-standing ties to Rice, pursuing a career in investment banking, his connections to Nashville and the music industry, and his hopes for rebranding the energy industry. 

Read more about how Rice Business ranks #6 for best MBA for finance (Princeton Review).

Episode Quotes:

Advice from Dr. Zeff in Accounting at Rice

33:11 - Zeff would do this thing where you'd sit and talk and it would be, “What do you want to do in your career?” Oh, I want to be an investment banker, management consultant, whatever. And Zeff would go, “Oh, that's great.” And kind of bait you into some conversation. 

Then Zeff would go, “Hey, If you won the lottery tomorrow and you had $200 million, what would you go do then?” And just kind of bait you along on your story. And inevitably your story was not, I want to be a banker, you know, or I want to be a management consultant. It was, I'd go join the Peace Corps, I'd do all that, and Zeff would get you all you jazzed up about whatever you're saying when you have all the money in the world and then Zeff would go, “Why do you need money to do that? I've never seen you that excited in your life.”

The Rice student body

04:30 - The collection of intelligence that I was surrounded with at Rice, far and away, the greatest amount of intelligence I've ever been surrounded by.

Changing the narratives about the energy industry

39:23 - 75% of that in terms of just getting the narrative back is convincing people we're human, so don't print up the “Freeze a Yankee” bumper sticker when they have high energy prices. And it's okay to have an Instagram page where you go out to the oil field and just say, man, here's a drill bed, and isint it kind of cool? It's amazing how close we actually are to being able to change the narrative.

Life after getting fired

31:28 -  I've read all of Brene Brown's stuff, but I think the key thing she finds in her research is, do we feel worthy? And when we don't feel worthy, that's ultimately our bad behavior. We drink too much, we do this, we do that. We yell, scream, all that good stuff. And so, figuring out why you should feel worthy is something I think individuals just have to do. Mine kind of came with a reconnection back with God.

Breaking into investment banking:

23:26 - So convince 'em that you're ready to work. Convince 'em that it's okay that half your work gets thrown in the garbage can. Just the nature of the beast. And third, go find yourself an advocate who can really pound the table for you in there. 

Show Links:

• Transcript

Guest Profile:

• Chuck Yates on LinkedIn
• Chuck Yates Needs A Job Podcast