Name: Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger: I'm in the Business of Serving Others
Uploaded: 2019-05-10
Duration: 7 min 23 s
Description: Bettinger says that values instilled in him by his father guide his leadership strategies to this day.

[ MUSIC ] Ralph, you have told me so many times, we're in the trust business. And actually, you learned about trust as a young boy from your father. What did he teach you? He always would say you have one reputation. Almost everything in life can be bought and sold, except for a reputation. And to guard that reputation with just a tremendous intensity. Do the right thing. Believe that every action you take Is transparent and seen by all other people and know that [ UNKNOWN ] Make decisions in your life. And his beliefs always informed his actions there was never disconnect between those two. Let me use later. When you were 22 and you were just started college. You started your own business and this lesson and trust had a big impact on you. Tell us why? I think the lessons that came for me out of that trust is that relationships really define business. That, yes, technology matters, yes many other things factor in, but relationships are really at the core, and the company that I started really only took off when I started to put all my time into building trust based relationships with other people. I looked at who had that trust, and it was their advisors, their accountant and their attorneys. And so with the professional credentials that I had as a pension consultant and actuary, I offered to provide continuing education for these professionals in their offices without charge It was a way to establish my credibility, and they introduced me to their clients. That built the trust, because their advisor was endorsing me, and that's really when the business took off. So fast forward to 1995, by then your company was so successful you sold your company to Chuck Schwab, and you stayed on at the company. What was it about Chuck Schwab, what was so attractive about him that you wanted to sell him your business? and to work for him. The business had gotten very, very large. I was still the sole owner and it was increasingly difficult for me to have the financial resources to keep financing and funding the growth of the business. We didn't have so much of the V- C type ideas. Back then that we have today. But l really sold the business signed a five year employment agreement. And had every expectation of leaving the company at the end of those five years. But a funny thing happened about two years into it. l was a single father. l had three relatively young children. And when they got ready to start school, I really felt that I needed to be there when they went off to school in the morning and when they came home from school at 2: 30 or so in the afternoon to pick them up at the bus stop. So I actually called my boss at that time and told him I was going to have to buy my way out of that employment contract with Schwab and leave because I wasn't going to be able to maintain normal working hours. Now I didn't know it at the time, but I'm sure my boss went back and spoke with Chuck, and they came back and said don't quit. Don't leave. Go into work after you put the kids on the bus. Leave early so you can be there when they get off. That's what's important in your life right now, and we'll be there for you when you move on past this time. The trust that came out of that understanding. That it at that point in my life there nothing more important than being at that bus stop. Created a loyalty that five years come and go. And I never remotely thought about leaving. To be his successor. When Chuck first talked with me in about 2005 about being CEO in was interviewing me for that for that role I sent a truck I I I'm not the right guy to be CEO because I'm not going to ask my 3 children to make a decision to come to California with me and not see their mom as much of it in in which Chuck said to me said actually that makes you the right guy. And remarkably, which I think is very unique among companies our size, a Fortune 500 type of company, allowed me to stay in Ohio and commute to San Francisco so that my children were never asked to make that decision. And I think that that understanding That leadership that understanding that our lives as humans have ups and downs, they're not just one trajectory. And with Chuck being there for me at that time, so important, created a sense of loyalty and bonding that that exists to this day. He knew that nothing was more important to me than my children. And he's always been that same way ever since. When you became CEO you went through an initial very tough period. It was 2008. It was the beginning of the financial crisis. It was a very scary time. People didn't trust their banks, their financial institutions, government regulators. What was your worst day? Those first 90 days were really really challenging. When you're entrusted with the role like I had been entrusted with, and you watch the value of the company falling day after day after day, if you don't take that personal, there is probably something wrong with you. And I did, I took it personal everyday as I watched the stock fall and a long time trusted Stockholders and employees see the welfare they had worked hard to build for day, after day, after day. And so I don't think I can identify one day, but those 90 awfully painful days. You came through that Their financial crisis actually with flying colors. Your stock did surge at the end. You got a lot of new client accounts. What was the leadership skill that you relied on to get through that financial crisis? Well, I think the two most important things in leadership, whether it's in a time of crisis or even in wonderful times, come down to transparency, And vulnerability. And what I've always tried to do is model those things. Transparency is scary, because transparency means that you're going to share with everyone everything that you possibly have around information, good and bad, and you're going to leave them up to judge whatever they would take from it. You're not gonna spin things, you're just gonna be transparent. And vulnerability For high achievers or over achievers is often one of the most difficult things because vulnerability is saying I've got a lot of weaknesses. I have a lot of areas where I'm not as good as person A or person B or person C. But you can't build trust without vulnerability cause none of us trust the person who walks in and tries to talk about all the things they do well. Trust comes out of being vulnerable. So that transparency and vulnerability were key points in that time, and they'll always be key from a leadership standpoint. Walt, I know you're still young and you're gonna be running Schwabb for many years yet, but when it does come time to choose your successor What are the leadership qualities that you're gonna be looking for? Yeah, I think the one that sits at the top will be someone just as committed to serving others as Chuck, and hopefully, what I've modeled during my tenure, but these roles are all about what we can do to help other people end up with a better life, our clients, our employees, our stockholders. So to me, that will always be at the top of the list, service to others. I think the thing that they have to be able to prove to me is that the reason they wanna be in the job is not for what it might create for them personally or financially, but because of the number of lives that they can impact in a positive way. That to me is the winning view for leadership the next CEO of Schwab. [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Schwab CEO Walt Bettinger: I'm in the Business of Serving Others

Leadership

Bettinger says that values instilled in him by his father guide his leadership strategies to this day.