A great number of high-level financial services players are leaving the business world to pursue “personal interests”. Over the past two years, we have seen Pete Backwell of Nedcor head off to become an avocado farmer, then Wendy Lucas Bull packed up, after heading FNB Retail for four years, to pursue altruistic causes, and last year Laurie Dippenaar, CE of FirstRand, decided he needed to slow down.
Hillie Meyer, CE of Momentum for eight years, went off to study Spanish in Argentina, and Myles Ruck, of Liberty, decided he no longer wants the challenge of being CE. Now Old Mutual’s Roddy Sparks says he wants to go back to his investment roots.
What is happening to our industry leaders? Are they suffering from burn-out, a desire to find themselves or are they taking the opportunity to cash in while the going is good? Have shareholders paid them too much, meaning they have the luxury of being able to quit?
Industrial psychologists point to the fact that the world has changed dramatically, saying the stresses and burdens of our everyday life are creating a need to get in touch with our inner souls, but the reality is that this is a luxury afforded only to a few.
While searching for fulfilment may be a driving factor in the exodus of industry leaders, it can be no coincidence that the financial services index has tripled in the past three years on the back of soaring share prices.
Apart from their annual salaries, which run into the millions, head honchos at banks and life companies receive a fair amount of share options that are paying out big time.
A week before his resignation, Sparks sold 230 111 share options for a profit of R2-million and he still has a further 683 127 shares left in the share-option kitty.
Last week, Jacko Maree, CEO of Standard Bank, sold R10,7-million of Standard Bank shares. Its share has raced from R27 to R85 in three years. Liberty’s has doubled in the same period.
While share options are meant to incentivise staff to stay and work harder, it seems they are giving exhausted executives an opportunity to check out of their careers much earlier and to pursue personal goals.
One has to acknowledge that the money is only one part of the equation and that there is a definite trend of skilled people moving away from the corporate world as they search for more soul-fulfilling roles.
In an interview this week, Paul Hanratty, the incoming MD of Old Mutual SA, who is in his early forties, admitted that he has a three-year view of his new role, by which time he would have been at Old Mutual for 25 years, and that he would still like to fulfil his dream of working for the Red Cross.
Stephen Rothgiesser, MD of the Coaching Company, which offers coaching services to executives in the financial services industry, says the country is suffering from change fatigue.
He says the burden placed on executives trying to operate in a new and dynamic world is taking its toll. “Since 1994, the levels of complexity facing executives have grown. They are faced with the complex area of affirmative action and skills transfer as well as the challenge of retaining skills.
“Globally, there is a massive shortage of skills, which is putting pressure on organisations.”
Rothgiesser says companies are facing a whole new market as South Africa has opened up to the global economy. “There are new markets both locally, in previously disadvantaged communities, and internationally.”
But while these markets are opening up, organisations have been left crippled by downsizing in the 1980s, which stripped out middle management and increased the burden on top management.
Rothgiesser says this is causing a type of burn-out in people where, although they have the energy and commitment to work, they cannot keep up with the speed at which companies have to adapt.
“The brain can only deal with so much information and executives are tired of all the information that is being thrown at them. This is particularly true of the financial services industry, which has been hard hit by regulation and international changes. They are all facing tough decisions around whether to expand internationally or be bought out.
“This is all emotionally taxing and executives are reaching the stage of saying, ‘I can’t any more.'”
Rothgiesser says executives want to continue growing and learning by doing something totally different. They are leaving their top jobs in their mid-forties even though they are not ready to retire, and they want to continue to contribute to society in a way that also satisfies their need.
No doubt financial security makes it a whole lot easier to move from finance to avocado pears.