David Kowalski (davidkowalsk6033@gmail.com) served in CCO and risk roles at Van Kampen and Janus Henderson (investment management).
Now that I am retired and have entered the next phase in life, I feel a certain sense of responsibility to look back and share some of what I have learned over the course of my career in our industry. I learned from trial and error as well as from some of the best in the industry.
I would like to share practical advice based on what has consistently worked for me from a management and leadership perspective, primarily in the global investment industry chief compliance officer (CCO) role. My own performance suffered when I lost sight of these lessons and didn’t follow my own advice. This guidance assumes your organization promotes a business, risk, compliance, legal, and internal audit joint-ownership, performance-based partnership culture.
I acknowledge that my opinions may not resonate with everyone nor are they meant to. The industry needs different types of leaders, so be yourself. Instead, my hope is that this summary plants a seed that creates a forum and encourages other retired industry professionals to share their own real-world practical advice for others to contemplate. I tried to write this in a way that provides a feel for the culture that worked best for me.
Great leadership qualities
To me, great leaders are individuals who realize leadership is about responsibility and not about power or being feared. Leadership is not about the leader at all; rather, it is about integrity, the client, and everyone the leader comes in contact with. Leaders have to genuinely care about, listen to, and respect people. One cannot delegate leadership; one has to own it.
Leadership does not happen on its own; one has to assertively visualize the trusted leader they genuinely want to become to optimize their skill set, experience, and personality. Great leaders have to proactively determine how they personally show up to work each day. They establish a sense of community and are generally the first ones in the office and the last ones to leave every day. They take none of the credit and all of the applicable blame. They quietly earn respect that they do not demand nor expect. One of my wise mentors once told me, “You bring your own weather to the picnic.” I found that to be true both professionally and personally, and I still think about it every morning.
Great leaders also proactively determine the work environment and culture they want for their team and manage it religiously with well-thought-out adjustments along the way. They establish a culture wherein people want to achieve results to avoid disappointing others, which creates lasting positive energy as opposed to demanding respect in a culture where people live in constant fear of making a mistake. Employees want to have a voice, want to make positive differences, and be rewarded for it. This creates a mutual sense of trust, loyalty, employee satisfaction, accountability, and high performance.
By far, the worst mistake a leader can make is to inadvertently let the group’s environment deteriorate and take on a life of its own (i.e., creep). I guarantee it will be driven by the poorest performers, and the best performers will go elsewhere if creep is not addressed. Leaders have to constantly watch for this and adjust accordingly. Creep is extremely dangerous and is a leader’s worst enemy. It is quiet but deafeningly obvious if the leader learns to tune into it. Every time a leader speaks to someone in their organization, they should try to determine if the person or topic of conversation is causing creep.
