I communicate it at every chance I get, some would say to the point of boring predictability, but then on this topic I do not think you can over-communicate.
To transform purpose into action, it is vital to make sure your team is onboard and is the best it can be.
In Jim Collins’ classic management book Good to Great, he calls this "getting the right people on the bus". Again, I have noticed a lot of progress on this front in our industry over the years, with general managers, often with adviser backgrounds, increasingly replaced by specialists bringing valuable knowledge that complements the skillset of the chief executive.
Most notable from my perspective has been an increased willingness to hire chief technology officers and/or chief operating officers from outside the industry as advice firms looking to scale recognise that technology is key to their success or failure.
As a result, firms are increasingly making use of best of breed technology rather than trying to build their own systems or force systems to do things they were not designed for.
Better technology is helping firms to become more data-driven and to take management information much more seriously. They are building data lakes to give them a real proprietary understanding of their customers, and setting clear KPIs to track achievement of their objectives.
This data-driven approach is often more deeply embedded in management practices in industries outside of our own.
By embracing technology as an opportunity to demonstrate value to the client and to measure value within their businesses, firms are creating a positive feedback loop that supports the execution of their purpose.
Another area where the right experience is making a difference is in the vertically integrated firms, where exciting cross-pollination is happening as some of the disciplines of asset management come into the professional advice business.
The alignment of institutional asset management and financial planning towards a single purpose of delivering value to the end customer can be a powerful business model when harnessed well.
Our industry continues to evolve and professionalise, and it is an exciting time to witness growing examples of clear-sighted management creating the firms of the future.
When you are clear about your purpose – when you communicate it and head clearly in that direction – you achieve what Jim Collins describes as the "flywheel effect".
You attract customers who value that purpose, and you attract people who buy into it and want to work towards it with you.
What started slowly quickly gathers momentum and eventually your business is flying.
