Marketers and communicators must be careful about how they communicate internally and externally in a time of crisis.

COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus, has caused unease across the globe. Millions of people are on lockdown, travel is being restricted, and markets are responding badly as the virus continues to spread.

It’s a tough time for the broader society, which means it can be a challenging time for marketers and communicators. In crisis management, there’s a saying that goes, “You cannot control what happens to you, but you can control what you do about it.”

We live in a different world now, but will it stay that way?

Read the full report from Ogilvy below.

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The Naval Special Warfare community is a culture founded on trust and extreme levels of accountability. It is also the perfect example of what new corporate leadership needs to emulate. Here’s why:

During SEAL training, peer reviews are a weekly event. There is a process called “top five, bottom five.”

Every week the top five performers in the class are ranked, as well as the bottom five. Usually, those landing in the bottom five are star performers — from a tactical or physical standpoint. But they have character or ego problems.

These classmates are organically purged. This system roots those issues out before a student ever gets close to graduating. It’s one of the many ways to protect the culture!

It’s A Brave New World
The leadership and management needs of today’s successful companies have changed.

The old hierarchical model that depended mostly on only a few people at the top for leadership simply doesn’t work anymore.

In today’s more volatile and uncertain battlefield, decentralized controls and leadership through networks of people at all levels are essential for success. One person doesn’t have the time or resources to sift through mounds of data about company performance, industry, economic environment or competitors.

Organizations move too quickly for that model to be effective.

The rules of leadership are different now.

Here are some rules for building employee trust, creating a culture that ensures their best performance, and being an effective leader.

BE AUTHENTIC
Be yourself. Think about the attributes you have and use them as an asset to drive your mission.

BUILD RAPPORT WITH YOUR TEAM
Break down barriers. Spend time with your team outside of the office. Get their feedback and show that you value their opinions.

CONNECT YOUR TEAMS TO THE BIGGER PICTURE
Employees feel and perform better when their work serves a purpose. Reconnecting employees with the company’s vision can be a powerful tool for increasing engagement and boosting performance.

LIFT PEOPLE UP
Start by reinforcing your confidence in other people’s abilities. Employees immediately feel more confident and more motivated.

Today’s employees have endless options. They can freelance, contract out their skills to multiple companies, work part-time, and create an online business for next to zero capital. So remember to appreciate your employees as they have many other ways to earn a living!

The next generation of employees expects more from leadership. They want authenticity, connection, and a sense of purpose .

RESOURCES:

Leadership
This is How AI Will Change the Future of Leadership
The New Rules of Effective Leadership
Startups. Founding, funding, and beyond
The Most Important Leadership Skill

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The Digital Age has unleashed three powerful forces. Continuous change, pervasive innovation; and global markets, customers and competition.

So new leadership capabilities are required and innovation matters more than ever. Digital transformation is largely enabled by innovation, from building new products and services to leveraging data for more efficient operations.

Going digital, the focus for many companies today continues to demand the attention of leadership teams as they evolve to meet new challenges and expectations.

If innovation is to flourish, leaders must create an entrepreneurial environment in which everyone feels encouraged to experiment and where failure is viewed as something that can be learned from. Real leaders promote diversity, as innovation can come from anyone.

More than 70 percent of senior executives in a recent McKinsey survey say that innovation will be one of the drivers of growth for their companies in the next three to five years. Other executives see innovation as the most important way for companies to accelerate the pace of change in today’s
global business environment.

“Innovation leadership is a philosophy and technique that combines different leadership styles to influence employees to produce creative ideas, products, and services. The key role in the practice of innovation leadership is the innovation leader.”
–Wikipedia

In a recent in-depth study of leaders in the telecommunications industry, the Harvard Business Review isolated 10 distinctive behaviors that set this group apart as innovation leaders. Here are the bullet points:

1. Display excellent strategic vision. The most effective innovation leaders can vividly describe their vision of the future.
2. Possess a strong customer focus. Network with clients and ask incessant questions.
3. Create a climate of reciprocal trust. People are never punished for honest mistakes.
4. Display fearless loyalty to the company and to the project.
5. Trust in a culture that rewards upward communication.
6. Excel at setting goals. These goals require finding new ways to achieve a high goal.
7. Persuade. These individuals are highly effective in getting others to accept good ideas.
8. Emphasize speed. Experiments and rapid prototypes preferred over lengthy studies.
9. Communicate candidly, honestly and even bluntly.
10. Inspire and motivate through action.

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists.
When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.”
— Lao Tzu

More On This Topic:

How to become an innovative leader in the digital age
Leadership and Innovation
The Innovation Leader Your Company Needs Today

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As someone once said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”!

The everyday happenings in a company’s culture matter and they can play a large role in the success or failure of every company.

Today’s millennials are the generation driving the workplace changes of the near future. They desire a strong company culture more than anything else when deciding who to work for.

Culture has always been important. But today, it’s becoming more than just a buzzword. It sets your company apart from the competition. It attracts the right talent and brings in the right customers.

If you don’t have a strong or appealing company culture, you will lose the recruiting war! Here are seven reasons why culture is essential to the success of your company.

1. Attracts and Retains Talent
   Employees’ skills may get them in the door, but your culture is what will keep them there. Just 36% of employees today are engaged at work, according to Gallup. Of course, employees who are not engaged do not do their best work and are at risk of leaving your company.
   
2. Assists with Onboarding
   Poor fit with the culture is the #1 cause of new hire failure. This is particularly the case with new employees who have put real thought into the type of culture they’re entering into.
   
3. Builds Brand Identity
   Culture is what makes your brand unique and gives it that special edge. The more your audience understands and identifies with your brand, the more they’ll want to buy from you.
   
4. Increases Loyalty Among Employees
   Culture gives employees a driving goal and purpose for what they do. It connects your leadership team with the rest of the employees and binds them with a set of shared beliefs. Your employees’ enthusiasm will be apparent to your customers.
   
5. Builds Community
   Good talent knows other good talent. When your employees are happy with their work, they are more likely to share with others. A strong organizational culture helps you keep your best people
   
6. Transforms Your Company into A Team
   A successful culture brings together the people at your company and keeps them aligned. The culture at your organization sets expectations for how people behave and work together.
   
7. Transforms Employees into Advocates
   Your people want more than a steady paycheck and good benefits. They want to feel like what they do matters. Your employees contribute to your company’s culture and live it internally and externally.
   

“A company’s culture is the foundation for future innovation. An entrepreneur’s job is to build the foundation.”
— Brian Chesky, Co-founder, and CEO of Airbnb

“What my team and I learned is that culture is tangible, visible and definable. There are several key lessons our team learned that helped us bounce back from that challenging point in our company’s history.
To avoid making these same mistakes, keep an eye out for the following cultural faux pas and learn how to overcome them with a positive cultural shift.” — How Culture Saved Our Company After Nearly Killing It

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All recruiters and HR managers strive to recruit the best candidates. A great hire can improve productivity, boost office morale, and positively impact the company’s bottom line.

But what is a bad hire? And how does it happen? Consider: Some candidates may misrepresent things in their resumes and applications. This can range from exaggerating educational or work experience to blatantly lying.

No matter how well you think you know someone, talking to the people he’s worked for in the past yields new insights and clarifies existing ones. References are invaluable free resources that prevent costly mistakes.

Costs of a Bad Hire

• Dampened Morale — Employee morale correlates with increased productivity, organization loyalty, and higher profitability. The wrong employees kill workplace morale.
• Increased Turnover — Every organization needs great employees. But there’s one thing which good employees can’t stand – that is having bad employees as their colleagues or managers. They’ll quit.
• Decreased Teamwork — Teamwork is critical to organizational success. Bad hires don’t work well with fellow employees.
• Decreased Productivity — Workplace morale and teamwork are critical factors for boosting productivity.
• Reputational Damage — A bad hire has a negative impact on employee morale and increased turnover will soil an organization’s reputation. When a company gains a reputation for hiring the wrong individuals, it will start having problems attracting top talent. A bad hire interacting with customers can damage an organization’s image to its customers.
• The Confidence Factor — When you hire and keep the wrong people, your team questions your ability to make smart decisions. No one is more affected by this than top performers.

Significant Financial Costs

Financial costs can vary widely depending on the position for which the hire was made. Estimates range from $7000 to $10,000 as the average cost of hiring the wrong individual for an entry or mid-level position. The cost of wrongfully hiring a manager can be in excess of $40,000.

While the financial impact is quantifiable, chief financial officers actually rank a bad hire’s morale and productivity impacts ahead of monetary losses.

Have you ever calculated your direct costs of replacing someone who shouldn’t have been hired in the first place? They include:

• Hiring (advertising, interviewing by human resources and management)
• Onboarding (training, management, and oversight)
• Lost productivity, engagement, opportunities and customers
• Hiring externally

It doesn’t matter if you are hiring an entry-level minimum wage employee or senior executive. The cost of a bad hire is significant and can bring down a team, a manager, or the entire organization.

While there are no guarantees, taking the time to cast a wide net and
doing your due diligence in selecting employees is well worth the effort and will minimize the chances of a bad hire.

“The toughest decisions are people decisions: hiring, firing, and promoting people. They receive the least attention and are the hardest to ‘unmake.” — Peter Drucker

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Many regard asset management as a traditional industry, reluctant to innovate and adapt to new technology. But this is changing.

Enter Artificial Intelligence that provides clearer market insights, Big Data tools to analyze huge chunks of market data and evaluate risks and opportunities, and Blockchain for regulatory compliance.

These three technology trends in asset management are boosting automation of functions such as risk assessment, market research and analysis, and asset trading.

1. Big data
Effective delivery of asset management services such as mutual fund management, equity management, or fixed asset management requires access to analysis of large volumes of data. Thus, it makes sense for asset management agencies to incorporate big data analytics into their decision-making processes.

Big data tools can analyze huge chunks of market data and evaluate risks and opportunities associated with different assets. Asset management software programs driven by big data analytics are gaining popularity among asset and wealth management companies.

2. Artificial intelligence
AI, fueled by big data, provides descriptive market insights and recommends actions for the future to maximize return on investment.

AI can evaluate investment options by measuring the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) score of companies, acting as an indicator of their long-term sustainability. AI can also act as a robo-advisor, providing clients with investment advice without human intervention.

3. Blockchain
Blockchain helps to ensure regulatory compliance.  It is becoming synonymous with privacy and involves maintaining private, secure records, such as client information.  It can also be used to speed up transactions involved while trading or liquidating assets such as stocks and commodities.

Technologies like AI, powered by big data and secured by blockchain, will no doubt be more effective at making asset
management decisions and executing them. But, functions like devising a long-term strategy, complex decisions, and governing the technology require human input.

What  Technology is Not!

Technology supports asset managers in the decision-making process, primarily by organizing up-to-date and critical data
on portfolios. However, technology does not tell investment professionals what to do. It does not recommend the optimal level of risk in a portfolio. Rather, technology helps investment professionals measure their risks relative to the risk and return objectives specified by clients.

Read the full article: These 3 technologies are readily waiting to help you with asset management

THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY
WITHIN ASSET MANAGEMENT – Click on the image below.

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Seventy percent of financial services CEOs see the limited availability of skills as a threat to growth.

These days survival and success within this fast-changing marketplace demand people who are creative, digitally-savvy and can adapt quickly to constant change.

The Old Operating Environment

But few CEOs say they’re changing their focus on the skills and adaptability of their people. Companies in every industry usually have one thing in common. They hire for the operating environment that used to be. Talent is recruited for the world that was, not for the one that’s coming.

A new world is bearing down upon financial services. In no segment is this truer than in private-wealth management.

The question most hiring managers have failed to answer — How do I hire for a demographic that’s going to dominate my business for the next 30 years?

What follows is an overview of the new operating environment, the transformation already underway and the talent imperatives necessary to win in today’s world.

Click below on The New Imperative for Recruiting Talent in Private Wealth Management pdf to find out more and learn more.

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A 3D printer can build a 400-square-foot house in a day. A robotic barista at a café can serve 120 cups of coffee per hour, and embedded sensors are helping government agencies prevent motor vehicle accidents on crowded roadways.

Welcome to The World of Disruptive Technology

Once considered too experimental, disruption tools now impact everyone in the organization from C-suite to project leaders. Executives are recognizing the power of these technologies to improve strategy and deliver a compelling competitive edge.

The key drivers for adopting disruptive technology include the ability to innovate, revenue growth and profitability, according to a Forbes Insights and PMI survey of 537 executives.

Cloud solutions are among the most popular disruptive technologies in the Forbes Insights survey. Cloud was closely followed by IoT (Internet of Things), artificial intelligence and blockchain.

Consider The New IoT Mousetrap

A tiny rodent no longer stands a chance against today’s pest control technician who used to slack off on tending to his traps.

German multinational company Bayer has almost replaced the technician with its Rodent Monitoring System (RMS), a wireless network of sensory devices that attach to a plant’s existing mousetraps.

When an RMS device captures a rodent, it automatically alerts a pest control technician via text or email, enabling a fast and efficient response. Mousetraps are now The Internet of Things devices!

Read the full report: “The C-Suite Outlook. How Disruptive Technologies Are Redefining the Role of Project Management” –  Download it below.

“Disruption is real, and it’s impacting even the largest companies that used to be the most stable in the world. Today, there are almost no barriers to entry in any industry. Anyone can be a competitor.”

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There are blue skies ahead for the asset management industry and asset managers. But, clouds are also looming.

The threat of disruption is imminent. Automation and robo-advisory offerings are commoditizing large parts of the business.

The quest for scale is likely to see a wave of acquisitions and strategic alliances with tech companies shaking up the market in the coming years. Changing demographics and markets will thrust the asset management industry to center stage.

The rise in the volume of investable assets is set to increase from around $64 trillion today to $102 trillion by 2020.

Inspired by platform models in other industries, clients are also advancing new demands regarding the immediacy with which they interact with their providers. At the same time, regulators are doing their best to prevent consumers from being sold inappropriate products, often the most lucrative for providers.

The result? Regulatory costs continue to climb while fees are falling and a battle rages over ownership of clients.

Fundamental drivers of the new asset manager are:

• A new emphasis on cost, scale, and efficiencies critical to global success.
• Economies of scale. Some global managers will become mega-managers.
• Fewer managers who rely on commissions. They will need to develop alliances with fee-only distribution channels.
• Large alternative managers will need to fund their expansion by tapping the capital markets, or through strategic relationships.
• The gap between specialist firms and mega-managers, who compete everywhere on everything, will widen dramatically.

The Future of Asset Management Talent

• Job seekers are no longer being asked to simply take standard data and analyze it better than competitors. Companies are now looking at the challenge of information itself – what to use, how to get it, and figuring out which questions it is best suited to answer.
• Technical skills are essential. Firms need people who can create efficient, scalable tools to organize and analyze data. STEM backgrounds and coding skills have long been critical attributes in research hires.
• Portfolio managers with expertise in investment and portfolio strategy across fixed income and equities will continue to be in high demand.
• Compliance managers and data specialists continue to be hired while regulations get tougher and investments in technology increase.
• If a volatile market prompts investors to pull their money, asset managers will face more pressure from competition.
• Asset managers will put attracting and developing talent at the forefront of their efforts to retain and enhance their
  competitive position.
• Across the firm, there will be the flexible use of technology allowing for economies of scale, specialization of needs and improved reporting.

Pressures on The Asset Management Industry

1. COSTS – Rising costs of complying with regulation and commercial cost pressures will as firms grow their distribution networks.
2. FEES – Fees will be under continued pressure amid the push for greater transparency and comparability.
3. TECHNOLOGY – Investment in technology and data management will need to be maintained or increased to drive customer engagement, data mine for information on clients and potential clients, operational efficiency, and regulatory and tax reporting.

What Are The Gamechangers in Asset Management?

• Regulation will hinder banks and insurers by forcing them to abandon proprietary investing and other core businesses.
• As the world ages, retirement and healthcare will become critical issues that only asset management can solve.
• Asset managers who are willing to see the client as their compass are set to thrive in this environment, while the rest are likely to face accelerating headwinds.

Conclusion

How do you know what you want to be if the vast majority of jobs that will be available in a decade or so don’t exist now?

In a job market where change is the one constant, and today’s knowledge may be tomorrow’s ancient history, how do you retain and even increase your professional value? The same way that enterprises remain competitive amid constant change:
By being adaptable.” – DXC.technology

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Disrupt. Democratize. Leveling the playing field. Equal opportunity. Entrepreneurial. A revolution.

Just some of the words and phrases that are currently used to describe the acronym FinTech, or the new financial technologies disrupting financial services and generally enhancing our lives.

Never Been Cheaper for Entrepreneurs
From crowdsourcing to mobile payments, there has never been as much choice for entrepreneurs as there is now. Crowdsourcing, for example, allows people with big ideas to get funding quickly and easily from anywhere in the world from people they have never met.

Far more agile than traditional banks, fintech firms can pass on huge savings, and innovate and adapt in a way bigger corporations can only dream of.

How Fintech Changed The Customer
The rise of the smartphone has massively changed the behavior of consumers. People now expect to handle financial affairs as easily and conveniently as they do their email or Facebook page. A huge opportunity for businesses, soon no enterprise will succeed without the right fintech services in place.

Institutions that take advantage of this new technology will experience an increase in productivity and a decrease in overhead costs.

2019 promises to be the year we see the culmination of some key technologies —  from blockchain and intelligent AI, to design thinking and the cloud.

Let’s take a look at 9 of the most significant trends to keep up with:

:: Mobile technology. As more and more people use mobile devices, financial services are going mobile. Lucky customers now manage their money without visiting a physical branch!

:: Digital-only banks. The strong trend toward mobile banking has resulted in many digital-only banks with no physical branches. They are particularly popular among millennials, who often use smartphones for financial transactions. These banks provide apps that let customers manage money on the go. No wonder, visits to bank branches are expected to drop in the near future.

:: Biometric technologies. With the digital age, the financial services industry is vulnerable to cyber attacks. Security is now a top priority. One way to prevent fraud is to adopt biometric technology. This technology also makes logging into an app easier and faster.

:: Blockchain: Beyond bitcoin.  The much-hyped technology upon which bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are built, the blockchain, is a distributed, open ledger that can record payments or other transactions between two parties quickly, in a verifiable and permanent way. More and more fintech startups use blockchain technology because of its transparency.

:: Fintech digital vs paper currency. A new Bitcoin ATM opened in Las Vegas in February, making digital currency more acceptable. 

:: Artificial intelligence. Most experts agree that AI will have a great impact on fintech in the near future. There are various reasons.  AI automates tasks like data analysis, thus helping to save time. It also creates chatbots and robo-advisors.  Artificial Intelligence is at the center stage of fraud detection, customer analytics, and anti-money laundering solutions

:: Artificial intelligence for voice. We will see businesses use A.I. technology to develop new commerce interfaces. Consumers are becoming more at ease using digital assistants and several are now readily available for use in the home. Call centers are an example of where voice will excel, with bots being able to offer help and direct calls quickly and easily.

:: Collaboration: the new innovation. As big banks innovate, and start-ups struggle with regulations and getting new customers, collaboration is a necessity.

::  More Financial Startups, Solutions & ICOs. Fintech is on everybody’s mind. Corporations and startups are pouring money into young fintech companies, many of which prefer Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as their funding channel rather than traditional forms of funding.

Technology is transforming finance. The established, cautious institutions will indeed change how they do things. Fintech firms are innovative, daring, and increasingly successful. They are thriving, and they represent the future of finance.

Only The Beginning
With the fintech revolution, the banking industry, and its consumers will need to hold on for the ride. It will take some time for this technology to gain enough speed to become widely accepted. Only time will tell what we can expect when we visit our local bank.

RESOURCES

The Complete Beginner’s Guide To FinTech Everyone Can Understand
Fintech
The disruptive technologies driving start-ups and revolutionizing banking, payments, and insurance

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