The former chair of the Financial Planning Association (FPA), Matthew Rowe, is calling time on a 17-year career in financial planning, and has resigned as managing director of the Adelaide-based financial services group Hood Sweeney.
Rowe will depart in August to study at the prestigious Harvard Business School in the US before returning to Australia and deciding on his next move.
“I’m looking at my next self,” Rowe says.
“What does that mean? I don’t want to look back in 20 years and have any regrets about things I haven’t done. So it’s not about what I have done, it’s about not having regrets about what I haven’t done.”
Rowe says he leaves Hood Sweeney in good shape and “there’s a great team there”.
“I have trust and confidence in my friends and partners to take the business forward,” he says.
“I’ve always wanted to do some further study, and if I’m going to do it, it might as well be at the best business school on the world.
“I will take my time to work out what I do next, but I would like to do something that I’m suited to, where I can use my skill set and understanding of financial services, and can potentially make a difference for the public and my profession.”
Chris Stewart will succeed Rowe as managing director of Hood Sweeney. The firm’s chairman, Andrew Holsman, said in a statement that the company’s board has “worked closely with Matthew and Chris to ensure a smooth transition and the best possible outcome for Hood Sweeney and all our clients”.
“Matthew has steered Hood Sweeney to a leading position within our industry,” Holsman said.
“We thank Matthew for his outstanding and tireless work and we wish him every success for the future.
“In Chris we have a dynamic and astute leader. He understands our business intimately and is ideally suited to build on this great foundation and lead the firm to ongoing success.”
Long-held aspiration
Rowe says that studying at Harvard is a long-held aspiration.
“I never thought I’d get to do it,” he says.
“One, I never thought I’d get accepted, and two, I never thought I could afford to do it. So when I did apply and I was accepted … that was a bit of a signpost for me that, well, OK, how are you going to do this?
“To be fair to my partners, you can’t ask to go and have six months off to have a sabbatical and still remain as managing director; you can’t have a management vacuum in a business. I knew I would have to give that up.”
Rowe says the decision was made easier knowing there was a new generation of management coming through the business.
“I look at myself in Hood Sweeney, and I am simply a custodian for that organisation,” he says.
“There will be future generations, and we have some really talented people, that will take that organisation further than it is now. But there will be some core principles in place around client duties and respect and culture and the way we go about things that I know are locked in stone.”
New challenges
Rowe says his decision to leave Hood Sweeney is driven by a desire to develop personally and to take on new challenges.
“There’s that personal growth element, and then going forward, what else is there that I could possibly do?” he says.
He says that burnout at work doesn’t come from working too hard, it comes from “a lack of meaning in work”.
“But it’s not around Hood Sweeney,” he says.
“I love that place. I have a very deep sense of where I see myself in the world is wrapped up in the firm. Absolutely. But for me, it’s about what am I doing next?
“I believe that unless you are constantly challenging yourself, and having authentic conversations about where do you really wan to be in the next 10 years – and more importantly for me, where do I think my next really big contribution could be to others?”
A bigger world out there
Rowe says his stint as chair of the FPA gave him the sense that there is a bigger world out there.
“When I talk about meaning, meaning is around, could I be doing more?” he says.
“I did get a taste of the ‘more’ through the Financial Planning Association. I was able to stand on a national and sometimes international stage and make a difference to, one, my professional community, but also to the Australian public.
“I’ve come to the realisation that perhaps I can do more. It’s nothing to do with wanting to step away from the firm – I’m still going to be one of the alumni, so to speak and it’s a very deep part of how I see myself – but I didn’t want to wake up in 10 years’ time and sit there and go, wow, I wonder if I could have doe something more, something bigger.
“When you’re sitting back and looking over your life you probably don’t reflect on the things you’ve done, you reflect on the things you didn’t do, and that’s where you’re going to have regrets.
“I know I’m going to have absolutely no regrets about my time at Hood Sweeney. It’s a great firm and the people are very close to me and I’ll be continue to be part of the team. I intend to mentor some of the young people we’ve got there, going forward. But I did not want to look back and regret what I hadn’t done.”
