Personal Stake
We also need to start thinking about how Covid has changed the personal lives of advisors—how they want to work and what they get out of the industry. The need for masks, the need for safety and distance and a regard for health have all made our employees rethink the ways they want to work.
The corporate workplace was ripe for change anyway. Long before Covid came along, employees were already quitting because of lousy commutes and the need to prioritize life, family and lifestyle. But the trend went nuclear with the pandemic. Life for many people has been running too fast for too long. I, for one, have wondered what I gained flying three to four days a week for 30 or more years.
“Flextime” is not a new concept. Christel Kammerer, a management consultant, wrote a paper in 1965 promoting a flexible work schedule as an incentive to stay-at-home mothers to offset the significant labor shortage in West Germany. Mold was turned into medicine faster than the uptake of flextime. Maternity leave, one of its first forms, was not mandated by law in the United States until the 1993 passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act. And that applies only to companies with more than 50 employees (though many states have extended the benefit to smaller firms). Importantly, the federal mandate is only for unpaid leave. Most younger workers at companies today are not aware that their grandmothers did not get time off to bear children and so it was difficult for them to seek and hold jobs.
I worked for a number of years at a big company with 50,000 employees. Every year we filled out an employee engagement survey. And each time the question was asked, “If you could change any aspect of your job, what would it be?” The top choice was, “I’d like to work one day a week at home.” The frenetic pace of life has made it harder for people—especially with small children, pets and aging parents—to conduct their lives. Someone at one of the big companies I work with told me it’s now suffering more employee turnover and having to grant more unexpected time off to workers because of the variable demands of eldercare, and that this problem has overtaken the hours lost to parental leave. That new development comes courtesy of the nation’s largest demographic, the baby boomers.
It’s likely this more complex world might be dismissed by corporate leaders who fought their way to the top in simpler times and expect employees to suck it up and pay their dues. Worse still, the daily grind may be invisible to leaders now used to a world of executive perks like car services and first-class travel.
Given these challenges, one of the most underrated qualities in corporate leadership is empathy, but it’s something those leaders are going to have to develop quickly for the sake of both their employees and customers. Not too many CEOs would pick empathy as one of the traits that got them to the top. But several now see the value of mindfulness. My view of empathy is that you should first have genuine interest in other people, and then make an effort to truly understand them and ask them questions. Empathy is part of your character (scientific research suggests it has genetic roots, and not everyone is so gifted). But empathy is also a process that requires proactive steps. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal featured the work of Ravi Saligram, the CEO of Newell Brands, with the headline, “A No-Jerks Policy Ignited Morale at the Company Behind Yankee Candle.” Saligram’s leadership presentation began with a slide that said “no a—holes.” He got attention, and it seems impossible that any modern company would tolerate a—holes today, especially in a world dominated by social media. Ever checked out your company on Glassdoor? Get ready for the cold water. If a “toxic work environment” can run wild at a feel-good company, what chance do we have in the rough-and-tumble culture of Wall Street?
Today’s leaders are conspicuous—there’s no place to hide. Many know what their skills are and aren’t, summed up when they say, “I’m a finance guy.” So they actively seek leadership partners with complementary traits. If you’re a leader, you don’t have to be perfect for sure, but you do need to be worth following. And empathy creates understanding that builds trust and confidence. That’s what’s really at the heart of the flexible work issue. You won’t hear valuable employees saying, “If I don’t like you, the company, the people, I’m not going to work for you.” They just won’t show up. Employers who think this debate is only about commuting convenience are just as tone deaf as the managers who allow “toxic” conditions to exist. The best workers of our time know their value and vote with their feet.
What you need to do is light a compelling path toward your organization during this unprecedented opportunity to attract talented, willing associates. And while you’re at it, take a look at some of the more experienced people with plenty of energy left—and learned perspective to offer.
I’m too much of a realist to believe companies will be able to harness this power of empathy and achieve the long-term results they seek. Our time horizon of management has shortened; we have marvelous analytical tools that capture our every movement, but they strangely fall short of understanding what we are measuring. And until now, we’ve gotten away with it.
Start small. A mindful organization drives change from the bottom up, not top down. Pronounce all you want from the C-suite, but this generation is waiting to follow “worthy” leadership. Little actions can have an impact—both good and bad. Catching people doing something right is a step. Modeling desired behaviors is critical. The world is always watching and recording you on a smartphone.
You can prove to clients you care about them by engaging more on tricky topics like bear markets and healthcare costs—these are your values and they should be displayed prominently and with pride. Referrals will follow. And above all, model those behaviors you admire in others who lead people out of uncertainty. We have important work to do together in a time of unprecedented uncertainty. We need one another.
Steve Gresham is CEO of the Execution Project, a consulting firm dedicated to rethinking and rebuilding “retirement.” He also leads Next Chapter, an initiative focused on retirement with partners Financial Advisor magazine and the Money Management Institute. Formerly the head of the private client group at Fidelity Investments, Steve is the author of The New Advisor for Life (Wiley) and Conspicuous Leadership: The Nine Habits of Successful Transition Leaders—coming soon. See more at theexecutionproject.com.