Weology

How Everybody Wins When We Comes Before Me

Peter Aceto, Justin Kingsley

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781443429511
• eBook ISBN: 9781443429528
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Canada's most engaging banker shares his strategies for operating in a radically different way in our ever-changing business world.

Nothing is average or normal at Tangerine (formerly ING Direct)—not the name, not the style of banking, not the leadership. And Peter Aceto is not your average executive. The president and CEO of Tangerine runs his business in an unorthodox and intuitively human way. The bank has no tellers, no lineups, no bricks-and-mortar branches for its customers to visit. But people are at the core of the operation: loyal, happy and engaged employees who help thousands of customers save their money, buy homes and enjoy a healthy financial life.

Weology provides an in-depth look into the "people-first" leadership strategies that have made Tangerine Canada's leading direct bank, with more than 1.9 million clients and close to $40 billion in total assets. As the company's guiding hand for more than six years, Aceto thrives in his role by relying strongly on transparency, trust and accessibility. He doesn't have a luxurious corner office (instead, he sits among the other employees), and he often responds to calls and emails from customers directly.

Aceto's relentless focus is on driving a type of radical thinking that delivers superior and unparalleled results for Tangerine and the financial well-being of Canadians, and that demonstrates largely how business will be led in the future. In Weology, Aceto shares many stories that show how his philosophy and strategies have made him and his business so successful.

IDEAS AND CAFFEINE

The following are selected writings about the principal ideas I’ve covered—culture, community, leadership and more. A lot of the content is derived from my leadership philosophy, created and inspired by many life experiences. It demonstrates, I hope, how my thinking has evolved during my years with the bank, and can stand for any common-sense philosophy of living. Hopefully, within each line, you’ll find an example of the evolutionary cycle of ideas.

These readings are very important to me. And yes, as cheesy as it sounds, I call these my poems. They’re short, which means that one or two go very well with a nice cup of coffee.

CULTURE

Creating a culture is difficult, but it may be the most important goal for any organization. Let’s make it simple: culture is adhering to a set of principles that guide behaviour and how decisions are made. You have to decide who you want to be and then define your principles accordingly. For example, anybody can be a banker, but what kind of banker are you going to be? That’s where culture comes in.

Leaders need to have a clear view of how they want consumers to experience and perceive them. The only way to enable this, to execute it with success and in a replicable, sustainable way, is through culture. Who you are, who you hire, who you promote, and who you fire. How you behave, and act, on the inside, every day. Your culture is key to performance, your brand and sustainable success.

Although we are now guided by our four promises—We Dare, We Care, We Share, and We Deliver—the founding principles of our culture are based on being simplifiers, challengers and good guys. Our employees strive to simplify the lives of our customers by supplying products, processes—everything. We challenge the status quo—inside our business, in the industry in general, and in the way our clients think about banking and their relationship with us. Lastly, we are the good guys. We give back, we treat each other with respect and we advocate on behalf of our clients to help them live happier and financially healthier lives.

Always have a North Star

It may be unconventional to say this, but you don’t need to define specific plans for where your life will be in 20 years. Frankly, it’s not realistic. What you need is a view, an idea, a vision. A North Star that beckons you. A calling. And what you most certainly must have is the flexibility to live for it, fine-tune it and rewrite it as you go along.

Planning is about the day-to-day commitment you make to yourself and to your teams to forge the vision as you move forward. We may gain perspective when we look backwards, but unless we apply this forward-looking perspective in our everyday thinking and living, it loses its benefit. But that’s what most of us do: we spend enormous amounts of time looking back, we analyze and talk about where we have been, because that is what we know for sure. The path ahead is uncertain, unknown, even scary for some. However, after we filter the necessary lessons from the past, we need to step back into the now. We hear it all the time, “Stop living in the past,” but it is difficult to separate ourselves cleanly from it.

There is a huge opportunity to change thinking, to shift the focus on what we do today that allows us to move forward and in the right direction. You have to ask the questions of the future: Where will my business be next week, next month, next year? Where should I go to make sure I’m getting there when it arrives, and before everyone else? This is where personal and business energy needs to be directed.

Assessing what you do today will help move your personal life and business forward.

Involve me and I will understand

What do customers want? It’s a deceptively simple question, but not many of us take the right amount of time to answer it. Customers can have an important role to play in shaping your business, if you let them.

Only customers experiencing what you offer can tell you how well you’re doing—or not. The way they feel when they end a call; how they feel about your products, your Web site, your mobile app: these are all significant insights we should consistently seek out. It’s been said that unhappy customers are our greatest points of learning, but happy customers have a lot to share with us too, particularly when we involve them in product development.

Nothing fuels innovation more than having customers involved in defining solutions. It’s not a stretch at all: they are the ones who use your products on the ground, in real time, however you want to label it. If you can engage current and prospective customers in meaningful dialogue about their challenges, interests and concerns, if you genuinely get to know them, and if you are open and honest and clear about your purpose as a business, you can build a community of trust. They might even, in time, grow to be ambassadors for your brand.

A typical perspective of some leaders is to boost the numbers—a “Show me the money” approach. But look beyond the sale and invest in strengthening relationships and building brand loyalty. What customers really want is to be appreciated, engaged and trusted, and, of course, value for their money.

Customers have the ability to shape your future and create a thriving network on your behalf if you’ll empower them. Underestimating the power of word-of-mouth is detrimental to success. Consumers like to talk, share information, complain about issues and even compliment you. Their opportunities and platforms for doing so are increasing rapidly. And there is little customers talk about more than a pleasant surprise when we value them, involve them and celebrate them.

Transformative leadership breaks down the stereotypes of how leaders interact and speak, how accessible we are, and how transparently and authentically we operate. It’s a type of leadership that reminds us that we are all human beings, learning from each other, inspiring each other. Frankly, the job of a leader is never to stop learning.

Engaging with customers is everyone’s job, not just customer-facing employees. It’s the job of directors, VPs and, yes, even CEOs! You’ll get a kick out of responding to and engaging with customers directly, even by email or on Twitter—as much as you enjoy meeting them in person. It’s a great way to wow people and also to gauge how you’re doing outside the walls of the office.

Everything is an opportunity

Millennials are taking over the world! OMG!

Everyone is attempting to understand the needs and wants of Generation Y. Maybe it’s driven by a surge of worry from baby boomers becoming seniors, and those of us from Generation X who have to keep up with the unprecedented speed of change.

It is useful to discuss the latest generational difference the business world is experiencing. But should we be worried? Absolutely not! What we shouldn’t do is ignore the opportunity it brings. It can be easy to point at conflicts that a generational divide produces. But is it really a divide? Instead of looking at it negatively, see the possibilities of alignment that the new generation can bring.

What makes a good leader? One vital quality is that leaders seek knowledge, learning and experience. They also create an environment of learning and opportunity for others. They are interested in making an impact. Is that age-specific? Absolutely not.

I was quite young when I started my career at the bank. I had various roles along the way, some aligned with my technical skills and competencies, some more of a stretch. On many occasions I hired colleagues older than me, who had more experience than I did, and had stronger subject-matter expertise. With our combined skills, we built high-performing teams, products and functions.

When I became the CEO, I was 39 years old, and similar to any other new role I had assumed, my first objective was to build an inclusive and open environment. Transparency helps acknowledge the age difference while not getting caught up in it. Then you can be open and honest, liberal with sharing information and empathetic to others’ feelings. Dwelling on age differences won’t get anyone anywhere.

The year of birth defines a group, not the individual. We each bring unique work and life experiences, and it would serve us better to pay attention to the individual and not place judgment on the generation they belong to. Age itself doesn’t matter. Instead, strive for continuous learning for yourself and those around you.

Tailor your dress code to fit your workforce

“Why does wearing jeans on Friday make us feel so much better?” This question was posted on Tangerine’s internal site and elicited a lot of debate.

One of our values requires us to be challengers: to challenge the status quo, to blaze our own path and to avoid conforming. So, to answer to the question above: Most people said they just wanted to feel more comfortable during the day. Of course, not everyone agreed. And the vigorous debate on the issue made it clear that we needed to rethink our dress code. The dialogue presented an opportunity to review old guidelines and understand the impact this change might have on our business performance and our culture.

We researched the topic and found numerous studies. Some suggested that casual clothing results in casual attitudes about work, while others indicated an upswing in engagement. Ultimately, we had to come to a decision that fit our values and culture, and we decided to give our employees the choice. There’s a lot to be said for giving people choice. As individuals we live the choices that we make. The trick lies in choosing wisely.

At Tangerine, we believe that we have a strong culture where performance and customer focus are central. We also believe that if employees are more comfortable, they will be happier in the office. With happy and engaged employees, the levels of commitment and performance will improve even further.

We can’t challenge only the corporate status quo, but have to challenge our own as well.

Care for everybody

Job applicants are often taken aback when asked in their interview with me, “Who are you?” It’s always great to meet people who have a sense of themselves. There simply is no better value than self-awareness. “Hire character, train skill” is a well-articulated and true sentiment by Peter Schutz, former CEO of Porsche.

We are very lucky at Tangerine to have hired some excellent people. Many know who they are as individuals, bringing a level of awareness that removes potential roadblocks to success. People who are more self-actualized, and recognize the strength in change and in their own personal evolution, are a great bet when hiring.

Leaders ought to approach the hiring of people with a view of abundance rather than scarcity. Consider for a moment how decisions are different when they are made coming from a basis of fear (scarcity) versus a basis of trust (abundance). We enter into a working relationship based on some biographical information on a sheet of paper and a great deal of trust. We have a general understanding of the person’s professional abilities and the mutual growth we are both hoping to achieve. This relationship is far from a one-way street.

It’s crucial to remember that businesses are run by people, people with dreams, aspirations, ideas and expectations. People who, you hope, want to grow and learn more about themselves. So help them do just that, and get to know your people!

It is in the best interest of a business to develop a culture of abundance. Many leaders hold back because they fear that the better their people become, the greater the risk that they will leave the company. This thinking almost guarantees that your best people will leave. Investing in each other will almost certainly lengthen the relationship, improve the performance of the person and the business, and create loyalty that will last for a lifetime.

What you can’t afford is people who resent their jobs, their manager and your business because you haven’t spent the time understanding who they are, and because you’ve refused to acknowledge their potential both inside and outside your organization.

Despite all the openness, support and growth opportunities a company has provided, a trusted loyal employee will sometimes still decide to move in a different direction. These former employees are often Tangerine’s biggest evangelists. Their commitment stays strong and their loyalty is unwavering. And while they are out there fulfilling dreams and driving better leadership models, perhaps it’s in small part because we were not afraid to help them grow.

We all learn from each other. We inspire and are inspired. We take, share, apply and grow. The next time you thi...

Table of contents

• Contents
• An Introduction to Weology
• The Concept
• The Machine
• The Humans
• Ideas and Caffeine
• Acknowledgements
• About the Authors
• Praise
• Copyright
• About the Publisher