Ken Poirot's Blog, page 9
July 8, 2014
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Mentor Me: GA=T+E—A Formula to Fulfill Your Greatest Achievement
July 4, 2014
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Mentor Me: GA=T+E—A Formula to Fulfill Your Greatest Achievement
June 29, 2014
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Mentor Me: GA=T+E—A Formula to Fulfill Your Greatest Achievement
New Book, "Mentor Me," Already Receiving Overseas Interest for Foreign Rights Pre Launch - Released Soon...Coming in July!
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The best description so in reference to "Mentor Me" may be "real-world practical."
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Mentor Me: GA=T+E—A Formula to Fulfill Your Greatest Achievement
June 28, 2014
Mentor Me: New Book Release Within A Couple Weeks...Coming Press Release in July!
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"Author Ken Poirot has almost two decades of experience as a successful financial advisor and sales manager. He is a Cornell University graduate, financial professional, coach, consultant, scientist, author, and public speaker, currently residing in the Richmond, Texas suburb of Houston. Among his achievements are a US patent for a new drug delivery system he developed in graduate school, as well as various accomplishments during his tenure with such New York Stock Exchange-listed firms as Cullen/Frost Bankers (NYSE: CFR), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW), American Express (NYSE: AXP), Merrill Lynch, which is now part of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), and Guaranty Bank, which is now part of BBVA (NYSE: BBVA). As a manager, he consistently led his teams to double-digit revenue growth and increased profitability. He shares the secrets of his success as well as the training he taught and received from his time at these major New York Stock Exchange-listed firms in his book, 'Mentor Me.'"
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Mentor Me: GA=T+E—A Formula to Fulfill Your Greatest Achievement
June 23, 2014
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June 21, 2014
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Mentor Me: GA=T+E—Leadership and Management – “Lift Up Management” Versus “Beat Down Management”
In my blog with respect to Dr. Roman Perez-Soler, leadership, management, and what he taught me as my mentor in graduate school, I stated I would blog in the future about “Lift Up Management” versus “Beat Down Management.”
[image error]I will start by saying, I always try to find the positive in life and any situation. Even the worst and meanest managers I have had in my life, I have taken something positive away from the experience.
When I wrote Mentor Me, I was careful to strip out all the negativity. As a stand alone work, many people who read Mentor Me are looking for guidance, inspiration, and motivation. The purpose of the book is to fulfill that need, help people, and to be uplifting. I stripped all the negativity out of Mentor Me in order to make that stand alone work a positive experience for the audience.
Having said that, most who read it may think I found nothing but mainly peace, harmony, bliss, and managers who treated me with the utmost respect in the workplace. Unfortunately, I can say this could not be farther from reality. Since I wanted to have a positive tone throughout Mentor Me, I only shared some of my challenges which also showed great working relationships with my peers and mentors. I have had some great experiences in the workplace, and I have also has some horrible nightmares; like most of you reading this – I have paid my dues with some terrible experiences with bad, or nasty managers.
In this blog, I will share with you an experience with what I call – “Beat Down Management.” Unfortunately, from what I have experienced in the workplace, it seems some managers and corporate cultures lend themselves more to demoralizing and verbally abusing their employees; control and fear are the prevailing themes in those companies.
Even in spite of these experiences with “Beat Down Management,” I find I can “take away” something positive I learned from the experience that will make me a better manager in the future. I believe no matter what the situation, we can always find something positive in it, if not at least in ourselves. Maybe it is the way you handled yourself in the situation, you did the right thing, or you maintained your vision, clarity of purpose, and self-esteem – ultimately realizing that you control your destiny.
No one from the outside can place a value on you. What is most important in life is the value you place on yourself. To know you have value, you have worth, and you deserve better treatment – that is the most important lesson and “take away” of them all, no matter what happens in life.
[image error]I just want you to know I do not wake up everyday, bound out of bed, rejoice to all around me in the face of miserable and nasty people or experiences. Being positive and rising above your current or even past circumstances takes work. It takes vision and it takes building yourself up – having the self-esteem to realize you are better than those who think beating you down is an effective form of communication or socialization.
I wrote in Mentor Me about surrounding yourself only with people who are a positive influence on you, those who are supportive of you – those who show you by their words and their actions unwavering support/unconditional love for you. One of your goals should be to get rid of people in your life who continuously tear you down using a “Beat Down Management” style towards you.
Life is too short to subject yourself to “Beat Down Management” on a regular basis, either in your personal life or professionally at work. The best advice I ever received as a financial advisor was from a top producing peer. He said, “If you want to be miserable, have clients who make you miserable, if you want to be happy, surround yourself and work with clients who make you happy.”
Seems like intuitively simple advice, doesn’t it? I assure you it is much easier said then done when you are working on building a client base (often referred to as “building a book of business” in the brokerage industry). Do you work with the nasty guy who has millions of dollars, who can help you achieve goals together (yours and theirs)? Or do you say, “No thank you, your money is no good here until you change your attitude and treatment of me?” In business, it is difficult to turn away profitable relationships even when the client is a nightmare.
[image error]This top producer also told me, “The happiest day of my life is the day I fired a client – the one who made me most miserable even though he had lots of money.” It was a very valuable statement and lesson; I took it to heart. I found, not only is this true in business, but it is true in life – both with personal relationships and professionally with horrible work environments. Life is too short to be miserable or to let other people make you miserable. We all need to learn an important lesson - you have value!
When you learn you have value, and you raise your self-esteem to the point you can see this value in yourself, then, you will not let anyone beat you down or accept any statement into your consciousness that demeans you (any statement that is not congruent with the value you place in yourself). You have value; learn to see the value in yourself and no one can or will be able to harm you with their “Beat Down Management” style in your personal or professional relationships!
Surround Yourself With People Who Exhibit a “Lift Up Management” Style
As I wrote in Mentor Me, “I decided I needed to get rid of, or at least minimize, my contact with those who just take away my energy from me, feed me negativity, or do not support me in my life/goal(s)/Greatest Achievement (GA).
[image error]Surround yourself only with those people who are supportive of you, people who give you positive energy. Get away from the people who suck your energy by feeding you negativity or who beat you up emotionally. If you cannot completely eliminate contact with those people, such as family members, who are not supportive of you (and I realize circumstances do not always allow you to cut ties immediately or altogether)…then do your best to minimize your contact.
A phone is a beautiful thing—you can choose whether or not to pick it up, to answer, to talk, to respond, to text, or not—it is your choice. If you cannot eliminate these people from your life completely, then let them live in the world of text messages and voice mail as best you can.
It is truly best to eliminate all people from your life who are not supportive of your goals and dreams, as they will just hold you back. I understand your situation may not allow you to do this completely at first. This should be one of your personal goals—to only surround yourself with those who give you love, warmth, care, and support—complete, unconditional love.”
Where is This ‘Playbook’ That States In Order to Be an Effective Manager You Need to Beat Down Your People?
All of my bad experiences in the workplace led me to ask the question I posed in the heading above, “Where is This ‘Playbook’ That States In Order to Be an Effective Manager You Need to Beat Down Your People?”
[image error]
Vlad The Impaler exhibiting a typical corporate “Beat Down Management” Style
Some companies, it seems, have embedded in their corporate culture this “Beat Down Management” mentality. I can say I have seen this more with the larger companies I worked for versus the smaller companies. It led me to ask the question above, because this culture of “Beat Down Management” seemed so prevalent in all levels of management (seeming to reach all the way to the top of the company).
It made me wonder, “Is there some ‘Playbook’ or secret management manuscript they pass around dictating how to be a ‘Beat Down’ Manager with this company? …because if there is, I want to find it and burn it!”
The worst part was, as a manager for this company, they repeatedly tried to get me to manage my people with a “Beat Down Management” style. I was constantly asked to “Beat Down” my people and I refused; this led to some fairly heated discussions with my manager. I knew my actions, using a ”Lift Up Management” style, were having positive affects on my teams’ work performance and lives. I could see it in their numbers and their overall demeanor; I refused to use the “Beat Down Management Playbook!”
So here I was in a room full of my peers (six regional managers) and my boss; she changed our teams again! I had six team/territory changes in my first seven months with that same manager and company. As managers, we were ultimately compensated and our bonuses (a significant portion of our total compensation because our salaries were low for the position) were dependent upon the performance of our teams/territories. So why would you create such inconsistency in teams/territories, uncertainty in compensation, and uncertainty in manager from the employee’s perspective (the employees we were managing constantly reported to different people with varying management styles)? Does that make any sense (creating inconsistency and change seemingly just for the sake of change)?
“Put her on warning” – you just gave her to me so let me work with her first!
So when I was ordered by my manager (publicly with all my peers present), “Ken, I am giving you Sonya (name changed to protect the guilty and the innocent) – put her on warning,” I plead my case to let me work with the employee first. Yes, the employee had been under performing for quite some time. Yet, this was my first opportunity to work with this employee, assess her skills, see how I could help her improve, and coach her to greater performance. Isn’t that what a manager is supposed to do? Manage people up? Help people improve their performance?
I actually had to persuade, and yes, even argue with my boss in front of all my peers to allow me to work with the employee first, then, and only then, if the employee’s performance did not improve substantially, would I put her on warning. Instead of immediately beating the employee down with a written warning, I chose to lift up the employee and help her improve.
The above experience with this manager was completely opposite to the great lessons I learned from Larry Kennedy at Frost Bank (which I shared in a previous blog about consistency, compensation certainty, and being salesperson-centric – reference the link to Larry Kennedy in this paragraph). Change for the sake of change is never a good thing – people like consistency. Only make big changes – territories, compensation, who the employee’s report to directly, when necessary. Then “get it right the first time and do not change it.”
[image error]Remember, Larry Kennedy’s structure – the compensation, sales force, and culture he created? Employee turnover was less than 10% under this structure of certainty. As Larry Kennedy would often say, and it sounded like a Yogi Bearism, “Change is change, and change is hard.” Recognizing the fact, people do not like change, so if you are going to make a change, make sure it is necessary (or for a very good reason). Then explain it to your people, so they understand the reason for the change. You will find, most people are very reasonable and if there is a good reason for a change, and your people understand the reason behind the change, they will be accepting and maybe even supportive of the change (because they understand why the change is necessary and taking place); a very important management and leadership lesson.
In Larry Kennedy’s structure (the structure which resulted in less than 10% sales force turnover), whenever we made a change that affected our sales force, changes in the management team (additions to the management team or changes to who the employee reported to), or changes in the way we were doing business as a department, we held a meeting. Sometimes the meetings were video conference calls because we were all over the state and therefore separated by large geographical distances.
In any case, we announced the changes to all people in the sales force at the same time (so no one was more privy to information, or in their eyes, more “favored” by management). We explained the reason(s) why the change was necessary or beneficial first, then made the change. There was no uncertainty or wondering, “Why are we making a change?”
Any time you have to make a change that affects your people, I highly recommend you inform them of the change first, explain the reasoning why the change is necessary or taking place (with all people affected present at the same time), then make the change. This will ultimately facilitate implementation of the change and help the implementation of the change progress more smoothly.
Then, assuming you have an “open door policy” and you are “approachable” as a manager (also good lessons I learned from both Dr. Roman Perez-Soler and Larry Kennedy), those who oppose the change or have negative comments/emotions about the change can call you.
You can deal with these sentiments/issues in private during one-on-one conversations and nip the negative sentiment in the bud. Peers will talk among themselves and if you know your people, you know the ones who will be the “leaders”, speaking against or raising emotions opposed to the change.
If you do not hear from these “leaders” after your group meeting, call them to discuss the change(s) taking place.The important part is, listen! Hear their concerns/complaints; let them know you care about their opinion by listening. Reply with, “Yes I hear you,” as I illustrate in Mentor Me. Worst case scenario, if you cannot come to any consensus at the end of the conversation, you can “agree to disagree” (also illustrated in Mentor Me).
[image error]What you will find most surprising about such a discussion as above (and I have had this discussion with many employees at different firms), it is often not the change that is so important. What is most important is the employee understands why the change is being made, the employee becomes part of the change process, and if they disagree with the change, they had a chance to express their opinion.
Listening to them and hearing their thoughts and opinions – that is what people want most of all (hear me and understand me – or at least make me feel you are listening to me and trying to understand me). Listening and hearing your employee’s opinions (which may be diametrically opposed to yours), this act alone makes them feel cared for and valued by you/the company.
These conversations need to take place in a private, open-ended conversation, so they know they can voice their true opinions in private with you, without the fear of retributions just for disagreeing with your opinion (in private). They also need to understand (you need to tell them), as the manager, it is your job to make such decisions, and although you can have these discussions in private, as a leader you expect their support in public.
The “Beat Down Management” style company, with the lack of consistency and poor treatment of employees; their employee turnover was 40%! Each quarter management would sit back and scratch their heads asking, “Why is our turnover so high? What can we do to decrease turnover of our employees?” Management never took the steps necessary to make things consistent or improve the work environment for the employees.
The “Beat Down Management” style company, did not care about the opinions or work environment for their employees. Management made changes seemingly for the sake of making changes, with no thought or discussion for the existing employees and what the changes may mean from their (the employee’s) perspective. Management would send out an e-mail to announce the change, and instill the fear that any employee in disagreement would be blacklisted and eventually managed out (by their words and actions).
Why? They did not want to change as managers. Power, control, and fear were their modus operandi. Can you see why their turnover was 40%?
In contrast, I will illustrate the power of “Lift Up Management” using numbers, specifically, employee turnover, growth, and profitability. I can assure you the qualitative, intangible, non-measurable benefits of a “Lift Up Management” style are even greater than the quantitative benefits suggest.
Yes, it takes a bit more time, planning, and energy to manage people this way, with a “Lift Up Management” style; it is worth it! Not only does it make the work environment better and more enjoyable for both the employee and you as the manager in the long run (instilling mutual respect and teamwork), the ultimate proof is in the numbers. Remember quantitatively, 10% employee turnover (departmental “Lift Up Management” style) :versus 40% employee turnover (“Beat Down Management” style), and my record of consistent double-digit revenue growth, as well as increased profitability?
This is a large part of the reason I was able to increase revenue by more than 83% ($8.5 million to over $15.6 million), increase the profit margin from approximately 27% to 37%, and increase the average monthly revenue production of my producers from less than $25,000 to over $41,000 per month in a four year period of time (see the supporting documentation here in my previous blog). Sale force turnover was also less than 10% during this same time period.
The best leadership and management adopts a “Lift Up Management” style versus a “Beat Down Management” style – the results prove it!
“Lift Up Management” Style in Action – Benefits!
The employee I was told immediately to “put her on warning” in front of my peers, this is the employee I wrote about in one section of Mentor Me. As I wrote, “I have turned ‘underperformers’ into top performers before by properly diagnosing the reason for the employee’s lack of performance, and coaching the employee accordingly into achieving success. One example in particular, at a different company, I was assigned an ‘underperformer’ and immediately told to put her on written warning—to manager her out. My boss was a Driver, so I drove her back. Instead of putting the employee on written warning, I asked my boss to let me work with the employee first, then and only then, if I could not turn the employee around, I would put her on written warning.
It is amazing what approaching an employee more like a business consultant (helpful and supportive—raising them up versus beating them down) can accomplish. At the beginning of the process, assessing the employee’s strengths and weaknesses, I asked her, “How can I help you?” She told me her greatest weakness is organizing her time; she invited me to observe her making phone calls and conducting appointments. She asked me for my professional advice to help her improve her performance. It is a big difference consulting/coaching an employee how to improve their performance, as a valued team member, versus as “the boss,” ordering an employee to do this and to do that.
[image error]I mentored this employee: How to best schedule/control her calendar (the same schedule I showed you earlier in this book), helped her polish her phone skills (change a few words like ‘get-together’ versus ‘appointment’), and helped her close some business. Her performance improved so much she was promoted!”
Yes, this particularly employee’s performance improved so much, and so substantially, a year after we started working together – she was promoted! I will also say, the employee thanked me for working with her. She told me she was at a tough place when we first started working together – personally and professionally. The employee told me, “If you had put me on an action plan or put me on warning at that time – I would have quit!”
So you see, “Lift Up Management” works! This is one case alone (and I have many from my career), where “Beat Down Management” would have driven away a valuable employee. In this specific example above, the employee was a financial advisor assigned to a specific branch, she had relationships with the bankers and hundreds of investment clients who were both clients of the bank branch and the bank’s brokerage company (banking and investment relationships with the branch/company).
Not only would a “Beat Down Management” style have led to losing this valuable employee, it would have disrupted the relationships with the other bank personnel who enjoyed working with this employee, and it would have disrupted hundreds of client relationships (hundreds of bank clients who held both bank accounts/loans and investment accounts).
In other words, there would have been change for both branch personnel and clients – who all would be working with a different, non familiar, new, financial advisor. So I ask, “Why not use a ‘Lift Up Management’ style versus a ‘Beat Down Management’ style? This is just one case (of many) I can say where I can prove a “Lift Up Management” style is superior – in quality of work environment and quantity of employee performance. Not only would a “Beat Down Management” style have caused the loss of a great employee, the branch personnel a change in their environment, and caused a change for all the clients affected, but I am sure we would have lost some clients as a result of the change.
A “Lift Up Mangement” style is best for all involved. The employees benefit, you as the manager benefit, the company benefits, and if you are in a service environment, your clients ultimately benefit from having consistency in the relationship with their trusted employee at your organization.
[image error]A similar situation happened to me two more times with this same company - three times total! Three separate employees I was told to “put on warning” after they were just transferred to me, or told flatly, “this employee causes problems” with no “proof” of any problems the employee supposedly caused (they just “did not like” the employee it turns out – “favoritism,” often without any tangible basis, was also the modus operandi at that company).
Three good employees I used a “Lift Up Management” style with, directly opposed to my boss’ initial orders. Three times I had to persuade my boss in front of my peers to allow me to work with the employee first! All three of these employees were promoted after I worked with them, in a similar, “Lift Up Management” style. Three employees who would have left the organization or been “managed out” if I had used our typical corporate, “Beat Down Management” style. Three branches, with all the branch personnel and well over a thousand clients, who kept the consistency of their relationships versus complete change, chaos, and disruption.
Why? Because a “Lift Up Management” style (versus the “Beat Down Management” style my boss and the corporate culture of the organization had apparently wielded in their “playbook”) was purposefully implemented by me. I kept my “Lift Up Management” style that served me so well as a manager and bucked the trend; it worked! The employees benefited, the company benefited, I benefited as a manager, and most importantly – the clients ultimately benefited!
Another Example of a “Beat Down Management” Style
At one company, I had a situation arise with my salespeople and their poor treatment of their assistants. You will find sometimes your top salespeople, who are great with their clients, are not always the best mentors. At least this is what I found, during my time working for many different companies and hundreds, if not a thousand of salespeople over the years.
Mentoring and selling are two different skill sets. As a result, I found many of our financial advisors were not treating their assistants with a “Lift Up Management” style, thereby creating a “Beat Down Management” environment inside their offices.
We (me, multiple managers, and even Human Resources) had tried to address this issue one-on-one with our financial advisors, only to watch them improve short-term directly after the conversation, then slip back to their old “Beat Down Management” style habits later.(Remember Larry Kennedy’s Yogi Bearism, “Change is change, and change is hard!”)
I needed something with a great deal of shock value to get my point across and to make it so memorable, my financial advisors would make a long-term change to a more “Lift Up Mangement” style. I have found, humor and behavior taken to the extreme of ludicrous is sometimes beneficial in order to make your point, and leave a lasting impression.
So at one of my biannual sales meetings, I had separate break out sessions for the financial advisors and a concurrent break out session (the sales assistants were in one room and break out session, the financial adivsors were in a different room and break out session with me).
The assistant’s session was geared toward helping them understand the business better, what it is like to be a financial advisor, help them become more efficient in their day-to-day tasks, as well as show them a clear career path forward if they would like to become financial advisor’s some day.
[image error]For the financial advisors, I spoke about “Lift Up Management.” We were experiencing much too much turnover of financial advisor assistants, which was harming the growth of the business for the financial advisors (time with no assistant, recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training new assistants – time that could be focused on growing the business versus all that goes into filling/training a new assistant).
So, in an effort to prove my point, make it entertaining, non-confrontational, humorous, and ludicrous (memorable) – I showed movie scenes which are examples of a “Beat Down Management” style.
If you are familiar with the movie, “Vampire’s Kiss” (with Nicholas Cage), these scenes will look familiar to you. I am not embedding the entirety of the scenes here (nor did I play the scenes in their entirety in a corporate setting), as per the foul language in some of the scenes.
(At the time, I had someone I know edit out the foul language. Here are examples of the specific scenes below – abbreviated versions so as to not include the foul language. If you can stomach foul language – go watch these scenes in full – you will find them on YouTube, as they are “Beat Down Management” epitomized to the maximum.)
What is especially sad is, I know people who have had experiences even worse than these scenes above with their bosses. “Beat Down Management” is alive and well out there in the corporate world, unfortuantely.
[image error]It’s time to find the “Beat Down Management Playbook” and burn it!
Adapt a “Lift Up Management” style if you are not doing so already. Burn the “Beat Down Management” style “Playbook!”
I know this “playbook” is out there somewhere, I just have not found it in writing yet so I can burn burn it!!!
Everyone wins with a “Lift Up Management” style and a “Lift Up Management” company (and life) environment!
If you have not done so already…pick up your copy of Mentor Me today!
Click Below, Enter Your Information, and Buy Mentor Me:
Warmly,
Ken Poirot
Financial Professional and Scientist of Life
June 17, 2014
Mentor Me: GA=T+E—Radio Endorsement and Facebook Viral Video
Sometimes in life you meet or have contact with some truly talented people – Ed Tyll is one of those individuals. As you can see in the videos below, Ed has an amazing voice and he is an incredible radio personality – he is truly talented!
I was fortunate to have him advertise my book, Mentor Me, live on his show,The Ed Tyll Show, and post a video of this advertisement on his YouTube channel.
As Ed Tyll states in this video and the radio endorsement, Mentor Me, received Five Star Reviews from the initial test group of readers. You can read more about the initial reviews in my blog here: Mentor Me: GA=T+E—Initial Reviews.
Although, Ed chose to focus on the fact Mentor Me can be beneficial specifically for sales people, the book was written for a much broader audience. Mentor Me was written and conceived to be useful, concise, easy-to-read, and to benefit just about anyone.
Below in the videos, Ed focuses on the fact I coached financial advisors from less than $25,000 a month in average revenue production to over $41,000 a month in revenue. Documentation for this is provided in my blog titled, Mentor Me: GA=T+E—Ken Poirot Career Highlights and Reference Material. This is factual and documented, and yes, Mentor Me can certainly help salespeople achieve greater levels of success; Mentor Me is written for the everyday person and has a much broader audience than just salespeople.
As one initial reader stated, “Anyone out there who has goals and wants help in realizing them – and that is almost everyone – should think about reading this book.” - Kathryn Bennett, “Readers’ Favorite”
Facebook Viral Video – Please Like and Share the Video Below on Facebook
My friends and family really enjoyed Ed Tyll’s radio endorsement and encouraged me to make this part of my marketing for Mentor Me. I agreed, as I mentioned in Mentor Me - it is so important to be humble and be open minded to others.
I found someone who could literally turn Ed Tyll’s video into a Facebook Viral Video marketing video. Watch the video below and see what I mean. 
The book cover for Mentor Me is embedded into the lower left hand corner of this video below – if you click on that book cover image – it takes you to the main page of my website, www.mentormegate.com, (the “Home” page of my website) introducing people to my book.
Furthermore, the video stops and if you click on the video at that point – it opens your Facebook sign on to share the video – encouraging people to share it.
So please help me spread the word about Mentor Me – please watch the video below, click on the video when it stops, and share it on your Facebook page:
Original Non Facebook Viral Video – Ed Tyll Radio Endorsement
I appreciate your help spreading the word about Mentor Me. From the initial reader reviews, I am confident many people will use Mentor Me as a tool to improve their lives.
Below is the original, non Facebook viral video version of Ed Tyll’s radio endorsement:
* Paid endorsement by Ed Tyll and the Ed Tyll Show
If you have not done so already…pick up your copy of Mentor Me today!
Click Below, Enter Your Information, and Buy Mentor Me:
Warmly,
Ken Poirot
Financial Professional and Scientist of Life
June 16, 2014
Mentor Me: GA=T+E—Larry Kennedy, Leadership, and Management
When I met Larry Kennedy, he had seen the best of times and the worst of times in the financial markets. He had been an old time stockbroker – back in the days when being a stockbroker was all about buying and selling stocks for clients. He had been what we call these days a “stock jockey” – in the days when clients had no information and they needed someone to rely on, in order to enter the financial markets. Those original days in the financial services industry were all about information and control – the stockbrokers had all of that, and the general public had none.
Larry spoke often of his days with Kidder, Peabody & Co. - commissions were much higher in those days then they are today and stockbrokers could make a great living buying and selling stocks/bonds for clients. The biggest lesson Larry shared with us from those days, was the experience that comes with having seen every type of market – high inflation, bear markets, bull markets, collapse, and catastrophe – he had seen it all.
There is a silent comfort that comes with having a leader and a mentor who had been through so many different types of financial markets – the reassurance of someone having “been there, done that”, knowing no matter what happens, all will be calm – the sky will not fall and life will be okay. He was that kind of a leader – his mere presence could calm any storm.
What Larry also shared with us is the clients who truly accumulated wealth, from his stockbroker days, the ones who made the most money, were the clients who were not trading stocks/bonds, but those he had placed on the side in mutual funds – almost forgotten about. As he called it, “benign neglect.”
Investment Officer/Financial Advisor
Stock trading and stockbrokers have long since passed in the financial services industry – replaced by financial advisors – long-term buy and hold strategies have replaced the trading strategies of yesterday. Here was a man who had lived through the transition – seen the sweeping changes in the industry, and proven first hand – buy and hold – time in the market, not timing the market was the only real, sure fire way to truly be successful long term accumulating wealth.
With the transformation in the financial services industry, by the time I had met Larry Kennedy, he had also transformed as a person. I met a sweet, kind, gentle man – a fatherly figure who immediately took me under his wing. From the stories he told us – this seemed in sharp contrast to the Larry of youth.
People mellow with age and wisdom – and often transform in unimaginable ways over time. As Larry would often tell us – “Larry did not like Larry” in those youthful days. So Larry, along with the entire industry, became a kinder, gentler, more open minded mirror image of his former self. I can’t say I knew the other Larry, but this one was quite a mentor to me.
Lessons in Management and Leadership from Larry Kennedy
Larry interviewed me for the job at Frost Bank as an Investment Officer (Financial Advisor). He would later tell me he had a debate with the other hiring manager, who felt at twenty-nine years old, maybe I was not yet old enough for their Investment Officer program. Larry, with his infectious optimism and calming, sage demeanor, of course, convinced her I was the right person for he job.
He had been the first Investment Officer ever hired by Frost Bank. He spoke often of the basic structure of the brokerage program and the tenets he held so dear when he constructed the program. Important lessons for anyone involved in constructing, designing, and maintaining a sales force – in any industry. What he taught me was the following with this regard:
1) Do not change compensation – get it right the first time and do not change it
2) Make the compensation fair, maintain a competitive advantage with how you pay your sales people, treat your people right, and you will retain the best people
3) Keep your program salesperson-centric – never forget the importance of your people
4) Be the advocate for the saleperson or employee – keep an open door and remove obstacles for your people when obstacles arise
5) Sales people are motivated by the prospect of unlimited potential earnings – do not cap their earnings potential
As a result of Larry’s principals above – turnover of Investment Officers was typically an industry low of about 10%. At a time when 90% turnover was considered normal for the large brokerage firms, like Merrill Lynch, or 30% to 40% for a typical bank brokerage program.
Larry understood – do not mess with people’s compensation. The quickest way to destroy a salesforce is to inject the uncertainty of how the saleforce will be paid presently or in the future. Stability is important in compensation – loyalty is lost the minute you mess with someone’s paycheck.
You would often hear Larry saying, “I am your advocate.” In other words, if you need help and support, if conflict arises inside or outside the department, pick up the phone, call me, and we will figure out the best way to fix or remove the obstacle together. Larry was more than willing to fight the battle for you if that was the needed solution.
I can say I observed this first hand. Occasionally, when a problem would arise with another department, or even within our own department – I would call Larry with confidence knowing the problem would be resolved. He was truly an advocate for me.
As I wrote in Mentor Me:
“I will never forget when my manager and mentor, Larry Kennedy, came to me to discuss my second-year goal. When he gave me a goal of $474,000 in production, I nearly choked and hyperventilated…that would be almost 60 percent more than my first year…which was the best year ever for a first-year investment officer! He looked me directly in the eyes and with sincerity said, ‘Ken…I know you can do it… I believe in you.’
As the mark of a great manager – Larry saw my potential, influenced, motivated, and inspired me to perform at levels I did not even know I could achieve. I beat the goal Larry laid out for me, and he was instrumental in my promotion to management.
My Only Regret – Larry Kennedy Retired – Not Enough Time With Him
My only regret with Larry is, my time with him was too short. He retired halfway through my second year as an Investment Officer. Although, we did speak a few times on the phone after that, as he encouraged me and helped me through the transition from Investment Officer to manager. He would also come to our biannual sales meetings so his presence and care were perpetually felt in the program he constructed and created.
Even now, as I am writing this, I can hear his favorite, true, wise, words of wisdom. “When times are good…everyone gets a piece of the business. When times are bad…the good get it all.” Reminding us to constantly better ourselves, hone our craft, be students of the business, and create the best possible relationships with our client’s keeping their best interests at heart.
All important lessons in leadership and management I will never forget!
Thank you Larry Kennedy!
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Warmly,
Ken Poirot
Financial Professional and Scientist of Life
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