Name: Watch This CEO Share His Secret to High Retention Rates
Uploaded: 2018-03-01
Duration: 4 min 51 s
Description: Paul Reilly of Raymond James says It's simpler than you think.

Paul, you've been CEO at Raymond- James for seven years now. What would you say has been the single most important leadership lesson that you've learned during your tenure? The number one lesson is you can't over- emphasize culture enough. Even companies with great cultures and behaving properly, you have to over and everyday remind everyone in every step That that's who we are about and what we do. With every group, I tell people our results are because of the culture. We're differentiated, I believe in our industry because of our culture. How we treat advisors, how we treat associates. We have industry low turnover. And record recruiting. And it's because of the culture. Why is culture so important. Because it defines how we behave and who we are. We have no planes, boats, cars. We eat in the cafeteria, if there's 30 people in the same sandwhich line, I'm 31st. Executives get no special life insurance, healthcare. I get paid more, but we get more benefits than anyone else doesn't get. So it's telling the team that we are all in this together and we're here to make it a better company .>> I understand that even before you joined Ramond James You had a very close relationship with your predecessor, Tom James, who continues as Chairman Emeritus and is also related to the founder. How did that relationship and how did Tom James influence the way you lead the firm? So, when I came in I could go through my life and talk about mentors. I didn't think in my fifties, I would end up with another mentor. His passion for culture, his leadership Our personalities are 180 degrees, but our values are right in line. We always come to the same conclusion. I think what he helped me focus on was really just the emphasis and the value of who we are, and clients, and how we treat them in the messaging. You're the first non- family member To be CEO of Raymond James, right? That's correct. So how has that influenced you and impacted the way you run the place? I love having Tom around. As CEO you have very few people you can talk to. Because when you talk out loud, people think you have grand plan. Sometimes you just wanna talk about it or it's a ethical delimima on a person. What do you do? They did this. They did you know. And great to have somebody who can go and just shut the door and have a great conversation where you're just trying to get to the best answer. And there's nothing political. There's nothing more to it than getting the right answer for the person in the company. You're headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, far away from Wall Street. As CEO, what are you doing and saying, To make sure that your people compete with these big investment firms. There's actually good and bad to it. We need to compete in an industry, but we're not drawn in to competing with the people next door on the block, right? But we're also in a very competitive industry. So from technology, from service. We have to be very very competitive. So, the good news in St. Pete is, once people are there they tend to stay. The bad news is it's sometimes hard to move people down there. But we've created a great environment, great people. And we just remind them every day, we're in competition. They know we are. But we've gotta compete on our terms in what we're very, very good at. Mm- hm, it is a very intensely competitive industry that you're in. I mean, what is the key message that gets people fired up in St. Petersburg, Florida? Well, it's actually almost the opposite. We tell people the differentiator is our culture. That our turnover is near 0, 0. 5 % a year. And we get to recruit all these people. So it's treating people like our partners and our advisors, not like employees. And then it's going out and offering them the same competitive services that as good as or better than anybody else. So if we offer the same services, and our service is as good or I believe better And they think we're nice people. It creates a great environment, and I think that's really driven the firm for over 50 years. So Paul, looking back at both your personal and professional life, all your years at BP MG, Corn Fairy, also Raymond James, what's the best leadership advice you ever received? After a good year, I had an executive coach that came up to me, and he says Are you proud of what you did? You said, yes. Did you think you had a good job? You said, absolutely, indeed. You know, most leaders are stewards of the inevitable. The market goes up, they do good, the market goes down, they do poorly. He says, do you really think you made a difference? And then, he walked away. I hate that guy because it haunts me to this day. Is it a better company because I'm in the job? And, as a CEO, you don't get anointed to those jobs. It's a responsibility. You're a trustee to make the company better. And I have to ask myself. Is Raymond James better because cuz I'm here, or should someone else be in that role? [ BLANK_AUDIO ]

Watch This CEO Share His Secret to High Retention Rates

Leadership

Paul Reilly of Raymond James says It's simpler than you think.