Joe Duran says the financial services industry has been guided by calculable and analytical thinking and driven by results. That has led to a bias toward a certain kind of employee.
Talking about males and females in any situation is always loaded with concern, so I would like to start this piece by saying that none of the following is intended as a statement about any specific gender. I am talking in generalities to get some very important points across.
We work in a male-dominated industry, driven by facts and numbers and quantitative analysis. Our industry is one that has been guided by calculable and analytical thinking and driven by results — this has led to a bias to a certain kind of employee. Not only was the business formed predominantly by men, but historically three things have driven the old way of thinking:
1. Men were the only part of the workforce when this industry was being created.
2. The thought was that men spent more time in college and on education, giving us the feeling they were the only ones who could be in this industry.
3. The cultural mindset was that only men could be trusted with financial decisions.
Clearly those three tenets have been broken and are completely invalid. Women are a part of the workforce and are just as capable in academics and with quantitative skills. The thought that women cannot be trusted with money is also broken down.
As these things change, our view about how we work and how we hire in our industry must also change. There is no question that the old way of managing money has not allowed people to actually feel good about money and the decisions they make. The issue is that in our history, with a male-dominated quantitatively-driven mindset, we have spoken only to the intellectual part of money and not the emotional part of money. It would be hugely sexist to think that only men can talk to one side and women to the other. But what is true, in general, is that women are more comfortable understanding that there are two elements to understanding every financial decision and that they are not all intellectual.
So what separates the future adviser and how can they be successful? They are going to have to understand that emotions are part of the equation, and that is not just true for clients, it is true in the workplace too. People have to be looked at not just for their work contribution or output, but their entirety and how they improve the lives of their clients and their co-workers. It means not just thinking about their pay and their performance, but their attitude and their entire lives, the benefits of working with them and what they bring to you in their entirety, beyond simply financial results. Interactions with client relationships MUST be based on a much more comprehensive view of their lives. There needs to be a softer side to the conversation that incorporates not just the husband, but the wife as well. These changes cannot happen by edict, they cannot happen by statement alone—they have to happen by changing the nature and mix of your office.
Forward thinking firms have a mix of employees who reflect their client set, not just in values but in personalities and demographics too. Since most of us have at least 40 percent of clients who are women (and probably even higher), it is pretty amazing that we don't have the same mix within our companies.
What do you think? Has the financial services' industry shattered the glass ceiling or just created a new one? What do you do to combat gender discrimination issues at your firm? Join the conversation
Joe Duran is CEO of United Capital, a national partnership of private wealth counseling offices. United Capital and its affiliates provide advice on approximately $17 billion in client assets at 44 offices nationally. Joe is also the author of the best-selling book, “The Money Code.”
