Moments of magic

It’s easy to forget that there’s more to the finance industry than numbers. After all, we’re surrounded by them all day. The dollars, cents, interest rates, four-digit pins – they can start to seem like they’re the be-all and end-all of everything we do. 

But they aren’t. Like every business, this is a people business. Our biggest successes and failures don’t come from a spreadsheet or database. They’re the results of real people putting in real work. That’s what drives our business. The numbers are just the tools we use and the way we keep score. 

So, when we think about what’s next in any industry, we need to think about the people who will make tomorrow happen with their effort and innovation today. The thing is, you need the right people. That’s easy to say and way harder to define. Hiring managers, HR folks and leaders everywhere are constantly trying to figure out who exactly “the right people” are. 

I’ll let you in on a secret. The “right people” means a great mix of different people. Different perspectives. Different experiences. Different ways of thinking. Groupthink is one of the biggest obstacles to true transformation (and do we have a lot of that in the banking business) – and it’s the first thing that is likely to happen when you get a group of MBAs in a room.  

How did I learn that? I got my MBA. Seriously. 

A few years ago, I came to a point where I realized I needed some new skills, ideas and perspectives if I was going to be truly successful on the path I was on. I wanted to truly change the world of banking. I wanted to transform this centuries’ old business into something better. I wanted to inspire the people I led and help them reach their potential. And, I wanted to challenge the status quo in an industry that thought way too much about “the” results and way too little about the real reason we are here – to help people, families, businesses, farmers, and ranchers to live better lives and to grow.  

When I started thinking about it, I realized that for me, if I was to achieve my goal of changing the world of banking, I needed to do this MBA thing differently. So off I went across the pond to Oxford for what I can say was one of the most life-changing experience I’ve ever had. I joined a global program with 70 other people also earning their MBAs. Only about 25 of those great people were from the UK. The rest were from all over the world. Name a country, and there is a good chance that someone in the program called that place home. I was the only Canadian, and there were just a handful of Americans there. I learned so much from all of them. They are now people I care about, I talk to and very often, ask for advice because they make me better. 

Needless to say, the diverse perspectives, new thoughts and vast array of ideas was completely exhilarating. It became obvious almost instantly that I’d been living in a bubble. In Canada, I believe we all were. We still are, and we’ll explore that next time. But in that moment, I realized that across Canada in the world of banking, people just like me were pitching ideas just like mine.  

When I look at Canada, there are so many good things about it. We all know that. But it is interesting to me that for such a diverse country, we have still managed to unconsciously (or is it conscious?) create a corporate culture that is truly risk-averse. This isn’t news. There have been a ton of studies on this over the years that kind of explain why we have been a bit slower in the field of innovation than others. But I digress. 

Over my time at Oxford, I learned a lot of the sort of stuff you’d expect. But the most important thing I learned I discovered outside of the syllabus. It was from all the people around me (professors and students) with ideas that challenged mine. Some big bold ideas, real courage and passion for making the world better. And by nature, that means building business better. Leaders from Africa and South America who were solving real world problems through business innovation. Leaders from Asia who were starting businesses that seemed almost impossible to imagine here in Canada.  

And some leaders who had already accomplished so much. I recall meeting a colleague on my very first day of class who introduced himself and asked me what I did. I proudly told him that I led a line of business for a bank in Canada. He told me he just sold his bank that he built from scratch and was now on a journey to change the world. Wow. 

I gained perspectives that before that moment I’d never been able to even imagine. And it isn’t because I couldn’t imagine it. I had read as many good business books as the next business fellow. That is the power of people. That’s what can get lost in a spreadsheet or a computer program’s code. 

Real innovations are moments of magic that can only come from a little bit of discomfort and a whole lot of discovery of new perspectives and approaches.  

Right now, as our part of Canada undergoes what will be a decade of economic transition and transformation, I suggest we all embrace that. Encourage the people around you to challenge each other, the status quo and even your own long-held beliefs. It’s hard (which is why many can’t do it) but when you can start to look at the world from the perspective of someone with a very different view other than yours, we will start to solve problems in ways that catapult us to a much better place.  

I intend to make sure that we at connectFirst are playing our part in helping overcome our challenges in the decade ahead by doing just that.