The culture at financial services firms is often perceived in a negative light. Hollywood portrayals of money-hungry bankers and traders who stop at nothing to make a buck have become commonplace. Meanwhile, it is generally accepted that bankers usually end up right around lawyers and members of Congress in terms of likability among the general public. In some ways, this negative image can be warranted, but I believe that by and large, the banking industry is populated by a lot of good people.
However, firms must be vigilant as to whom they let into their organization. It only takes one bad actor to sully a company’s overall reputation. For example, take the recent 1MDB scandal, which brought criminal charges against a few rogue Goldman Sachs executives and a negative stain to the organization as a whole.
The way to avoid a situation like this — or least mitigate it as much as possible — is to attract the right kind of people to your firm in the first place. And that starts with establishing a culture of cooperation and putting clients first.
Don’t get me wrong — it’s important to focus on firm profits. But you also want to foster an environment where people work together collaboratively for the greater good of both the firm and its clients. One where employees don’t have to be cutthroat and step on others and only worry about getting ahead themselves. A collegial culture where there are no sharp elbows, no politics and a desire to strive to do right by clients. In the traditional financial services environment, generating revenue can become the be-all, end-all, and big producers tend to get away with anything as long as they keep producing. But that kind of environment isn’t conducive to creating the company that you or I would want to have.
This is not only for the benefit of current employees, but also for recruiting new ones — people who won’t one day embarrass your firm. And this starts with leadership. Leadership’s priority must extend beyond just business. They must strive to foster an environment of honesty and of providing unbiased advice, and they need to hire people who represent those ideals. Since it is virtually impossible for management to police every employee to an extreme level of granularity, that’s why it’s so important to make sure you have created a culture that doesn’t tolerate unethical or inappropriate behavior. And it should be noted that leaders themselves must also demonstrate the firm’s culture and values, or else it is meaningless.
A big key to creating a culture of honesty and cooperation is to seek to work with those who are both professionally fulfilled and enjoy their lives, as well. Creating the type of environment you want to have means hiring someone who defines themselves by more than just their net worth. This is someone who enjoys friends and family and someone you’d like to have a drink or dinner with. Everyone’s heart has to be in the right place. In the end, we work to live; we don’t live to work. Not everyone is going to be the right personality to work in this kind of environment.
This may be somewhat rare in this industry and totally antithetical to traditional business notions. That can make it difficult to find the right fit when it comes to recruiting. But in the end, going the extra mile in searching for the right people is worth it in continuing to build a workplace of honesty, integrity, ethics and a commitment to giving the best strategic advice to clients.
