We need to get better and better, says Peter Switzer.
And now for something entirely different! I know this is a weird way to start a column in a magazine or website for financial planners, but with our industry under challenge from the Federal Government, and with uncertainty reigning, the same old same old is totally inappropriate.
And that’s why I maintain that regulation won’t lift our collective reputation and our individual service to our clients unless something inside us all changes.
At the end of my Grow Your Business program – on weekends, on Sky News Business Channel – I always finish off by saying “if nothing changes, nothing changes”. Yes, I know it is a cliché, but it is the provocative advice I offer for many of us who are weighed down by complacency. And the change I believe our industry is crying out for is leadership.
I reckon MLC’s boss, Steve Tucker, showed leadership when he spoke out against commissions years ago and put his team on percentage fees. Sure, the purists can argue that flat-dollar charges are better – but at least he was prepared to question the prevailing paradigm.
However, the leadership that is overdue in the financial planning fraternity is the one that should be practised and learnt on a daily basis in every financial planning business in the country.
It is an irony, but many of us think leadership is the preoccupation of the likes of executives of big organisations; but the truth is, leadership is needed when you lead a small business, a sporting team, a classroom or a family.
But wait, there’s more.
We need leadership skills when we deal with our clients. In fact, we are in a leadership position when someone comes through the door hoping to put their financial life in order.
We clearly have to be great with our product knowledge; but we also have to be aware that these people, who are paying us to fix up their financial future, want us to lead them to a better position.
So, how does someone engage with leadership?
The first step is to admit that you have a leadership inadequacy. But how do you know that?
Well, if you have trouble influencing your teenage sons and daughters, your Gen Y staff or family, or even your partner in a relationship, you have to be realistic that it could be your leadership that is letting you down.
If your conversion rate of customers is not as high as it should be, well, once again it could be your leadership that needs some work.
Okay, if you can be honest with yourself that your leadership quality could be the missing link in your life and your business, then don’t delay – start changing what you are currently doing.
If you are not reading books on leadership or listening to CDs on the subject when you are driving, then you are misallocating your precious time.
In Dubai two years ago, I was MC at a conference where the US leadership guru, John Maxwell, was speaking. He has penned a number of books that have been on the best seller lists of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times, and he has sold more than, wait for it, 19 million books!
My favourite is The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. The great Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, said of Maxwell’s book: “It will change the way you live and lead.”
To me Maxwell’s greatest advice was: “Leadership is developed daily, not in a day.” When that happens, you change permanently and the influence you want to have on your customers, your staff and your family becomes more effective.
By the way, in late June this year Maxwell is coming to Australia. For anyone who would love to hear him speak, he will be in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Go to www.switzer.com.au for details.
If you want to be a leader, don’t miss Maxwell.
Peter Switzer is founder of fee-for-service financial planning firm Switzer Financial Services and hosts SWITZER on Sky News Business Channel Monday to Friday at 7pm & 10pm. Visit www.switzer.com.au or email: peter@switzer.com.au
