24th February 2025

In Search of Clint Eastwood

 “You have found some great Directors for me, but I need more of a Clint Eastwood - Actor, Director, and Producer” said one of Paul Harper Search’s clients as they reviewed how an Executive Search assignment was progressing. 

That’s a big ask, but I knew what he meant. As the wealth market gets more sophisticated and the stakes get bigger (along with the remuneration packages for top executives in the wealth space), clients are starting to expect more from future industry leaders when hiring.

If you, like me, have watched some of the audition shows on television over the years, you will know that the judges are always talking about candidates with the ‘Triple Threat’, i.e., those who can sing, dance, and act.

Of course, this hasn't always been the case. Back in the 1920s, when talkie movies came in, some actors were dubbed and someone else sang their songs. Even in the 2017 Smash Hit Movie 'The Greatest Showman', Rebecca Ferguson, who played Jenny Lind, supposedly the best opera singer in the world, mimed "Never Enough" while Loren Allred actually sang the song in the movie.

Nevertheless, plenty of talented actors can sing, dance, and act today, and the world has moved on to make it almost a requirement for many shows. In some cases, they also need the fourth skill, playing an instrument live on stage.

In the movies, Clint isn’t the only person who can act, direct and produce; I could also name Kevin Costner and Margot Robbie. 

The same is becoming true of the financial advice profession. As some of our adviser businesses grow, they reach the scale to need professionals on the Board and the executive team.

In the relatively recent past, these growing advisory businesses have hired professional managers to lead the advice business, sometimes bringing individuals in from outside the financial advice profession. However, we're increasingly seeing the professional manager replaced by the ‘Clint Eastwood/Triple Threat’ manager.

Financial advice differs from every other profession, and financial adviser talent is challenging to manage. When the IFA businesses started to grow through acquisition, the founding directors were typically authorised advisers, who then learned on the job to manage teams and eventually grow into strategic leaders. They were true pioneers who had all the Clint Eastwood attributes. While they may have taken strategic advice from elsewhere, they completely understood the advice process and gained the respect of the people they led. As a result, they brought in the additional skills they needed, with the certain knowledge that the senior management team already had enough understanding of the financial advice process.

However, these entrepreneurs tended to exit after their earn-out period, within two to three years of a merger acquisition, and it then became necessary to have appropriate management teams in place to allow this to happen. 

While some PE-acquired businesses have continued to progress successfully, many have faced challenges with the retention of advisers or, conversely, integration and growth of the business. While this could be attributed to many things, some advisers have undoubtedly chosen to leave their businesses because they disliked the new environment. Many have told us that they did not fully respect the senior management in the acquiring firm, who didn't seem to understand the complexities of the financial planner role and didn't seem to appreciate what they do.

Of course, there are two sides to every story. We equally hear stories of entitled, out-of-control advisers who moan about change in processes and compliance and aren’t willing to do what the company requires of them. 

So, where does the truth lie? Somewhere in between. Respect must be earned and plays both ways.

A lead actor in a Clint Eastwood movie is unlikely to question Clint’s right to direct them!

It’s about earning respect!

Many advisers we speak to feel their manager makes demands of them without knowing what they're talking about. This often leads to advisers doing the equivalent of ‘working to rule’. While it may be difficult for an adviser to pull the wool over the eyes of a manager who is an experienced adviser, it is easier to do so with a manager who has joined from a bank or product provider and has never been an adviser themselves.

Companies are starting to recognise the value of hiring managers who spent a few years as advisers in a wealth business when leading their teams.

Not surprisingly, companies are seeking a higher level of manager - to look for the Clint Eastwood Triple Threat - the senior executive who has previously been a financial planner in the post-RDR world and then managed teams of advisers.

So why is it so difficult to find a ‘Triple Threat?’

It is historical. 

The modern financial advice market is still in its infancy. It’s only 12 years since RDR, when the profession was devastated and 15,000 advisers left in a period of 3 years. 

Just under 90% of all financial advice businesses have 5 advisers or less. Until quite recently, very few firms had any scale. And, of course, while individuals often invested in their professional qualifications, only larger firms had the money to invest in professional management training.

Small adviser firms turn out great financial planners, but they are not necessarily individuals who will fit easily into a more structured business. On the other hand, large firms turn out great managers who follow processes and fit in. They often invest a lot in training. Finally, large financial institutions provide sponsorships and external management courses to key employees.

When I speak to individuals who started in large companies, they will wax lyrical about the amount spent on training them.

I can talk personally about this, having attended many great management courses and been sponsored to get my professional qualifications and an MBA from one of the most respected Business schools.   It was rare back then, and it is still rare today.

So, ‘Clint Eastwood Triple Threats’ are hard to find:

1.       They need a deep understanding of the financial advice market to understand what a good adviser looks like and to recognise good advice when they see it.

2.       They then need to have managed a high-quality team of, ideally, employed advisers.

3.       Finally, they need to have invested time and effort in learning the art of strategic management - ideally, but not always, with someone else footing the bill.

However, there is more to it than that. If a business needs strategy and strategic input from its executive team, a combination of a deep understanding of the advice process coupled with a basic understanding of strategy is beneficial. We're now seeing that Chartered individuals with MBAs and other professional management qualifications have greater value.

While it's true that the initial business leader may have been an entrepreneur with little strategic training, as a business scales, there comes a point when professionalism is essential, but not at the expense of understanding the advisers and the market you work in.

So, the current advice business leaders in the larger consolidators seeking the business leaders of tomorrow are trying to identify those who can offer the Triple Threat.

Finding the Clint Eastwood Triple Threat is the holy grail for a headhunter like me, but it's also the most challenging scenario. There are plenty of advisers who have become managers, and there are plenty of professional managers who have worked in senior financial services positions. However, few senior managers have been advisers and leaders and had the corporate training necessary to give them a good understanding of strategy.

Traditionally, banks taught processes and strategies but, for the most part, didn't get involved in complex financial advice. Many of them only offered low levels of advice, so their ex-employees need to gain experience as an adviser in a Wealth business and probably secure Chartered qualifications before they can climb the career ladder. On the other hand, the smaller adviser firms with five advisers or less, might be the best area to cut your teeth, but are not the type of business which is likely to fund an MBA or management qualification.

Where do the Clint Eastwood Triple Threats come from?

In my experience, they are individuals who have had a non-standard career, who may have started in a corporate business and received all the management training there, then moved into financial advice as an adviser and learned the ropes at the bottom.

Or they might be individuals who started in an advice role in a complex wealth management business before moving to a corporate firm to gain training.

We can all find reasons why individuals don’t offer the Triple Threat. It is more challenging to find those who really do.

If you are an adviser starting your career, or even someone mid-career, it is worth thinking 

about a career path that provides you with formal management training together with the opportunity to give complex financial advice. While it may not be essential for every senior management role currently, I can guarantee it will become so within the next 10 years.

Business Development