And that’s why I maintain that regulation won’t lift our collective reputation and our individual service to our clients unless something inside us all changes.

At the end of my Grow Your Business program on the weekends on Sky Business, I always end the show with “if nothing changes, nothing changes”. Yes, I know it is a cliché but it is the kind of provocative
advice I offer for many of us who are weighed down by complacency. And the change I believe our industry is crying out for is leadership.
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I reckon MLC’s boss, Steve Tucker, showed it when he railed against commissions years ago and put his team on percentage fees. Sure the purists can argue that flat dollar charges are purer but at least he was
prepared to question the prevailing paradigm.
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However, the leadership that is overdue in the financial planning fraternity is the one that should be practised and learnt on a daily basis in every financial planning business in the country.
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It is an irony but many of us think leadership is the preoccupation of the likes of executives of big organizations but the truth is leadership is needed when you lead a small business, a sporting team, a classroom and a family.
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But wait there’s more.
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We need leadership skills when we deal with our clients. In fact, we are in a leadership position when someone comes through the door hoping to put their financial life in order. We clearly have to be great at our product knowledge but we also have to be aware that these people, who are paying us to fix up their financial future, want us to lead them to a better position.
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So, how does someone engage with leadership?
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The first step is to admit that you have a leadership inadequacy but how do you know that? Well, if you have trouble influencing your teenage sons and daughters, your Gen Y staff or family or even your partner in a relationship, you have to be realistic that it could be your leadership that is letting you
down.
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If your conversion rate of customers is not as high as it should be, well, once again it could be your leadership that needs some work. Okay, if you can be honest with yourself that your leadership quality
could be the missing link in your life and your business then don’t delay by changing what you are currently doing.
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If you are not reading books on leadership or listening to DVDs on the subject when you are driving then you are misallocating your precious time.
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In Dubai two years ago, I MC’d a conference where the US leadership guru — John Maxwell — was speaking. He has penned a number of books that have been on the Wall Street Journal’s and New York Times best seller list and he has sold over, wait for it, 20 million books! My favourite is The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, which the great Stephen Covey, the author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, said of the book: “It will change the way you live and lead.”
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To me Maxwell’s greatest advice was: “Leadership is developed daily, not in a day.” When that happens you change permanently and the influence you wan to have on your customers, your staff and your family becomes more effective. If you want a great business, Maxwell says, everything rises and falls on
leadership — everything! He argues that if you are a 5 out of 10 leader you will probably have a four out of 10 business, but never 6,7 or 8. And forget 10!
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This is my number one business tip — if you get leadership right, you will know what to do, who to recruit, where to go and who you need help from to build a great business.  For more business tips from Peter Switzer, visit www.switzer.com.au

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