What’s your greatest career accomplishment?

When reflecting on your career success, are you most proud of your personal achievements or your affiliations? And have you met all of your goals?

There’s much more to success than who you know. At the end of the day, people value their accomplishments and contributions more than the number of business cards in their Rolodex.

Daniel Gulati, a New York-based tech entrepreneur, recently spoke to a group of financial superstars at the top of the Wall Street food chain. All had held top positions and could list impressive educational credits from Ivy-League schools.

But, he dug deeper and inquired about their greatest accomplishments, and if they’d been able to meet their specific career goals.

Turns out, this wasn’t the case for most of the group; while most were successful, they hadn’t had the chance to stand out. Each scored their jobs by depending on the same background, experience and affiliations as everyone else, and ended up blending in over the course of their careers.

Gulati says this stagnancy has caused some career unrest, which may spur on a change in how financial professionals market themselves and build their careers.

– Read more on how the recession and social media will help facilitate this shift.