AES: Our Culture Code
- 2. People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Simon Sinek
- 3. ‘Posi+ive Change’ We believe in creating… for our clients and our profession (this is our why).
- 4. We believe in challenging the status quo by… thinking + + acting advising differently (this is our how).
- 5. We believe in getting better results (for international people & companies wanting a scientific approach to wealth and benefits planning). (This is our what).
- 6. *i.e. we continue to work hard to get there. This presentation is part manifesto and part employee handbook. It’s about who we are, and what we aspire to become*.
- 7. What is culture? A set of shared beliefs, values and practices.
- 8. 1 TON Our Culture Code is the operating system that powers us.
- 9. Culture happens. Whether planned or not, all organisations have a culture.
- 11. amplifies their abilities Culture doesn’t just help attract amazing people, it & helps them do their best work!
- 12. Now a fact… Financial services is changing. (Then).
- 13. Now a fact… Financial services is changing. (Now).
- 14. But – many companies and people are frozen in time.
- 15. Because these people work in mercenary industries and sell products for their gain…
- 16. Because these people work in mercenary industries and sell products for their gain… not the clients.
- 18. We transform an outdated financial industry that manufactures and sells expensive, toxic products and investments into a missionary profession.
- 19. The Japanese call this… ‘KAIZEN’. カイゼン
- 20. Our Founder calls this… ‘marginal gains’. (He’s a keen cyclist).
- 21. Values are what we value. Ours are: Knowledge, Integrity & Teamwork. These behaviours are valued and rewarded.
- 22. We believe professionals must always act in the client’s best interest (a fiduciary). Hallmarks are: (This is the Knowledge value).
- 23. (This is the Integrity value). We believe professionals… Treat others as they would want to be treated.
- 24. This is known as the platinum rule stemming back to the Babylonion Code of Hammurabi in 1754 BC. Think doctor, teacher or priest.
- 25. We believe we can achieve more together, than we can alone… (This is the Teamwork value!)
- 26. So, to be clear, our values aim to ensure clients make better decisions and get the best results (and feel l ved).
- 28. We are also results driven. Results matter. More than the hours we work. More than where we produce them. More than how popular people are.
- 29. Our professionals must get results. Does hitting our results and revenue goals support our long-term mission?
- 30. Yes! Creating ‘Posi+ive Change’ requires having clients. (Funny how that works).
- 31. We are radically transparent… Internally and
- 32. We share everything. Today success is gained by sharing knowledge, not hoarding it.
- 33. The intent behind our transparency is to support smarter behaviour & better decisions (for clients and ourselves).
- 34. We trust ourselves – and resist complexity at every level.
- 35. Use good judgement. Instead of getting authorisation to bring in more policies and procedures we have a 3-word policy on just about everything.
- 36. What is good judgement? Client Organisation Self
- 37. Organisation Self Don’t prioritise your personal interests at the expense of the organisation. Be a team player, not a politician… Don’t fritter away the organisation’s resources (this includes time)!
- 38. Don’t prioritise the organisation’s interests at the expense of the client. Working for clients’ interests is in all of our long-term interests. Client Organisation
- 39. So… we are unreasonably picky about our people.
- 40. There are that we value and comprise ‘the perfect person’. 5 attributes
- 41. #1 Smart You have a super-power that makes you stand out. You are curious. You are self-improving & a life-long learner.
- 42. #2 Works Hard If you’re just ‘doing your job’ – you’re not doing your job. Adequate performance is not enough. Remarkable outcomes rarely result from modest effort.
- 43. #3 Ambitious You recognise the unparalleled opportunity before us and get busy making magic and finding the ‘spark’. We are pioneers of a better model and the financial well-being of future generations depends on the achievement of our mission. If we fail – people suffer. We must change the marketplace, it’s that simple.
- 44. #4 Nice You recognise our cultural norms and abide by them…
- 45. #5 Selfless Client Organisation Self You do not put your personal interest before the client or the organisation.
- 46. Smart, Works Hard, Ambitious, Nice, Selfless. We love SWANS.
- 47. Compromising on culture is risking our futures. Skills and experience matter… but congruency to our culture matters more.
- 48. NO. Does this mean we only accept those who match our values perfectly? Confucius has good advice here…
- 49. Better a diamond with a flaw, than a pebble without.
- 50. We’re a TEAM, not a family. We hire, develop and cut smartly because we want to have real SWANS in every position.
- 52. Sometimes we make We need to react quicker to these. hiring mistakes.
- 53. We invest in growing our people.
- 54. But… people need to be responsible for their own career growth and not solely rely on ‘corporation’ planning.
- 55. Ongoing learning Big challenges Broad exposure Amazing results How do we increase our value as individuals?
- 56. There are two ways to progress at AES. #1 Be brilliant as an individual contributor and make magic.
- 57. There are two ways to progress at AES. #2 Provide spectacular support to those who are doing #1.
- 58. If you’re just doing your job, you’re not doing your job.
- 59. We are Pilgrims, master, we shall go always a little further; it may be beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow, across that angry or that glimmering sea. Excerpt from Flecker Inscribed on the clock tower of 22 Special Air Service Regiment
- 61. We’d rather be failing frequently, than never trying new things.
- 62. This means we must often… REFACTOR Pull out unused features. Remove unnecessary rules. Stop generating useless reports. Automate manual processes. Cancel unproductive meetings. Prune extraneous processes. Ensure ever more high-performing people.
- 63. So to recap…
- 64. The AES culture code We are mission driven. We challenge the status quo. Values are what we value. We get better results. We are radically transparent. We believe in autonomy not autocracy. We are unreasonably picky about our people. We invest in growing our people. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
- 65. Our culture is not perfect for everyone. We are not a utopian place to work…
- 66. We have issues. Here are a few…
- 67. There is tens on between short-term goals vs long-term ambitions. We lean towards the long term, but it’s not always easy.
- 68. Change can be difficult (and sometimes elicits fear and anger). Not all decisions are popular, but delaying action perpetuates the problems we are fighting to destroy.
- 69. Because things are moving fast and changing constantly, it can feel chaotic. It feels chaotic because often it is chaotic.
- 70. We have our flaws. But, this only gives scope for more… Posi+ive Change.
- 71. We were predominantly inspired by who in turn credit the following legends: The Netflix Culture Deck (McCord & Hastings) “Drive” (Daniel Pink) The Valve Employee Handbook “Rework” (Fried and Hansson) Google’s People Ops Team… and countless others online
- 72. Thank you. Congrats for making it to slide 72! Contact us to learn more.
- 74. More about us We are a professional services business with financial services (health, wealth and education) at our core. Our focus is on enabling better decisions. Values are what we value. We like to talk because of the importance of our mission in transforming people's lives. You can hear what we say by clicking any of these.