So the Giants won the Super Bowl. Again. And it got me thinking about the nature of loyalty. Unfortunately for me, I'm a Jets and Mets fan. So while a good portion of the New York area has celebrated multiple championships over the last years, I'm stuck with my Mets memories from 1986 and 1969. I wish I could change my loyalties and enjoy the Giants' triumphs. But I can't. Jerry Seinfeld has
a routine where he points out the lack of logic inherent in being a fan. He comments that being a fan is like “rooting for laundry” because we root for different players as long as they happen to wear the right color jersey.
In the wealth management industry, I run into the occasional adviser who professes to be loyal to his company. That fascinates me. Now, I appreciate loyalty ... to people. It's one of the nicer qualities about human beings. In the corporate world, loyalty is earned based upon mutual respect. It's based upon colleagues acting on each other's behalf. It makes coming into work much more pleasant than the cut throat stereotypes surrounding corporations in general, and “Wall Street” firms specifically, would otherwise indicate.
Of course, the truth about corporations is that their ultimate responsibility is to their shareholders, often at the expense of their employees. Layoffs, or “RIFs” (Reductions in Force), are considered justified because cost-cutting is often necessary to maximize profits. By the same token, employees have the greatest responsibility to themselves and to their shareholders, their families who rely upon the earnings capabilities of those employees. And nowhere is this better illustrated than by advisers who have de facto franchises within the larger institutions.
So if you are a successful adviser in a branch somewhere, and your branch manager (along with the chain of command above him or her) takes care of you and nurtures you and your business, then they deserve your loyalty. But if that same manager is given a choice between executing a strategy that takes money out of your pocket and into the Corporation's coffers, make no mistake: That manager will have to execute what he is told to do, regardless of the consequences to the individual adviser.
So here I am, the loyal Jets fan, wishing I could somehow enjoy the Giants success instead of envying it. I can't. But there are zero real life consequences to my loyalty to the Jets, other than the ridicule from my friends who are Giants fans and my own misery. And yes, I am the headhunter, with a vested interest in seeing advisers make a change. I understand and respect personal loyalty, and I understand and respect when someone is simply happy where they are. But you, the still loyal corporate soldier: Are you truly loyal to the Seinfeldian version of “corporate laundry”, with everything that this industry's convulsions have put you through?
Or perhaps loyalty is just an easier way to express fear of change.
