“Ready, Set, Zoom In” Podcast:
Sharing insights about how to attract, develop, and retain young professionals
By Jeff Strese, Family Learning Consultant
Recently, I was invited as a guest on a new podcast series called “Ready, Set, Zoom In” hosted by Chief Executive Officer of Advisor Solutions at BNY Mellon | Pershing Mark Tibergien to discuss attracting, developing, and retaining young professionals in the financial services industry. I see a growing amount of industry professionals interested in digging deep with their qualitative skill development like emotional intelligence (EQ) and communication. These professionals recognize the need to balance out a spectrum of leadership skills in order to adapt to an evolving culture and talent development needs.
In this podcast episode, Mark and I discuss that when creating a talent development strategy and defining the goals you want to achieve, you ultimately measure success by looking at engagement, culture, and other things that are more challenging to measure. And, while it is important to focus on achieving operational goals and delivering excellent service, if your leaders are not prioritizing human capital in terms of hiring and growing talent, there is a risk of having short cycles of business success. Increasingly, I see qualitative skill development such as EQ and communication brought into executive education programs and professional conferences. It’s apparent that industry professionals like lawyers, doctors, and engineers are going back to school to catch up on these skills to balance out their spectrum of leadership abilities.
At Tolleson Wealth Management, we continue to enhance our culture using principals from Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The Ideal Team Player.” We recruit and retain talent that value being humble, hungry, and smart. Our people learn and develop skills, have a strong work ethic, and want to have meaningful conversations with both clients and peers. Our goal is to make sure our insides match our outsides so that the level of service we offer to clients echoes in all relationships and in the way we treat our people and invest in their careers. In our industry, it’s a given to have a business, finance, or accounting degree right out of school. But, it’s important to always be ready to learn and develop skills at any level, to work hard and have a strong work ethic, and be “people-smart” (aka high EQ).
Culture is also heavily influenced by its leaders, who should be willing and wanting to energize their people and the business without solely focusing on the numbers. Certainly, you need to be competitive, but that’s not the reason employees stay at their companies. They stay because they are meeting a purpose and feeling rewarded, knowing they have opportunities to grow. It becomes a win-win situation when employees feel appreciated and can develop themselves while bringing their skills to a business. I enjoyed speaking with Mark on this topic and I am encouraged to see more firms, especially in the financial services and RIA industries, interested in creating valuable careers for professionals.