I got an e-mail from a Branch Manager who read my blog on culture: “Sarch, you missed the boat on this one. Culture is created by the loyalty amongst the individuals within a firm to the brand and to each other. “ Mr. Branch Manager, thank you for writing, but I respectfully disagree.
I believe in loyalty amongst individuals. If Mr. Branch Manager (Mr. BM) truly goes to bat for his Advisors, then he deserves their loyalty. Without getting too “schmaltzy”, that’s a wonderful bond that ties people together all over corporate America. However, Mr. BM, as good as you may be, you were unable to do anything for your Advisors as your company’s stock tanked with the rest of the industry. In other words, in the face of bad decisions by individuals, by human beings, the “brand” had no loyalty to the employee/shareholders; your company’s stock got pummeled mercilessly.
When a Team Member works endless hours covering for an ailing colleague - - that’s loyalty. When an Advisor leaves and his true friends do not solicit his accounts, that’s loyalty too. However, in this day and age with Reductions in Force becoming a verb (“I was ‘riffed’ today”), the only true loyalty that a large organization should expect is that every Advisor, as the CEO of his or her business, has shareholders waiting for him or her at home. To the extent that the loyalty to THOSE shareholders is congruent with the company’s goals, then that is the loyalty that the company deserves or should even expect.
Loyalty still exists amongst true friends, or between a Manager and an Advisor, and it’s a great thing to see. But it won’t last forever and it will never supersede the individual’s instinct to act in his or her own best self-interest.
