The Firm has laced off anyone who challenges what’s going on. In Pershing, Investments/Wealth and AS, its become a don’t dare challenge the norms mentality or you will be cut. The Leadership is lacking in knowledge and foresight. As a result, people have to conform or risk losing their roles. So what do we have? A workforce that’s scared to present new ideas ( if they don’t match the narrative), a workforce that’s scared is scared to challenge what’s going on. All creativity has been let go, or has been squashed so much by the likes of those leading the divisions. Focus is on cost cutting, not on growth and idea generation. Those of us left here come in, do their jobs and can’t wait to leave. It was never like that. Never in my 20 years was it like that. There was always ideas and creativity. Now there is a select group of individuals ( EP, AS, SP) who clearly don’t know how to lead. It’s all about their vision is the only one and boy, you had better get onboard with it or you are out. So here we are. Nothing in Pershing really works. WOVE has no pipes connected and no one really knows how to make it work. They are pushing multi custody, but because of the direction pushed by “leadership”, it will never get there. Investments is a mess. Morale, I am told, is rock bottom and everyone has resumes out in the market. A recruiter told me that they had never seen so many resumes from one place. It’s a race to get out. Revenue is poor and its the same people who survive every time there is a cut. The same folks who have zero vision and execution capabilities ( “Do it! “Is all we hear…. “Work it out”….. zero leadership or guidance)…they are all just off prancing around at Conferences talking a great game. I have never seen an EC-1 / EC-2 as bad at this Firm as there is now…..and I have been here a long time. There is a complete lack of understanding how things work, and how you get from A to B. To make strategic decisions, you need to understand what you have….not just belt out a random vision that wont work. The biggest complaint I hear from folks in Pershing of in Investments and Wealth is that the Leadership just doesn’t understand the systems, processes and environment. In AS, its rule by fear too…you get screamed at if you don’t comply. The philosophy is “move it to India”. The issue is, whilst the guys in India are great guys, they lack market knowledge and experience….because they aren’t in the market time zone….so we get tons of calls asking how to do the job we have moved out there.
I get that RV has a vision, but whilst the team below him are so incompetent, nothing will ever go live properly. Look at Bridge…handed off to a competitor to run, because the people leading that project didn’t know anything about Alts or the marketplace in which they were trying to compete….there’s numerous examples that could be quoted.
So we have a Firm that is improving stock price through cost cutting to the extreme, a Firm that has either gotten rid of or stifled all productivity and creativity and a Firm with a Leadership that doesn’t understand the Firm, its processes, its complex environments or its people. That’s the path we are on. And all the while, those of us left just come in, keep quiet and go home asap. Don’t speak..just do your job. What a total mess they have created……