A starter for 10 points, no conferring please! What was the origin of the saying, “back to square one”? I will give you a clue: it dates back to 1932 and involves England and South Africa.
We will return to the answer a little later, but immediately let’s think about âback to square one for a while: what does it mean to you, anything? Does it mean to start again, does it mean to give up what you are doing and begin something else or does it just remind you of an old board game? It doesn’t matter that much, but for some it is a place in which you can suddenly find yourself!
I was lucky enough in life to be given two such moments of “back to square one,” and in each instance it made me a better and stronger person. When all the clutter and mess of an earlier life can be swept away and life begins again, you either thrive or you die. Thanks to my family and my character, a character given to me by my mother and father, I am a thriver, which means I am enjoying life more today than I have ever known. What a truly lucky man I am!
So what does any of this have to do with finance? Well, I have been leading a group for five years, building a professional and dedicated team totally committed to private client wealth management, ensuring every client receives all we would ever want personally from an Investment Management Company.
We went totally and utterly back to square one and built a company based on integrity, compliance, incredible levels of service and performance delivery. We utilised all we had learned over the last two decades to ensure it could be as good as any of its competitors and yet never to oversell its abilities or delivery capabilities.
I can now enjoy watching something “built from square one” grow, prosper and do great things for people. And that is a real pleasure and privilege.
The point is we can all do this and we can do it today or tomorrow morning. Simply look deeply at your own business and its modus operandi and change anything that you know you are not 110% comfortable with. That includes what you sell, who you sell to, what you charge and a very important, if not vital point with whom are you working and therefore sharing a large part of your life?
Do not waste another day feeling uncomfortable or do another day’s work of which you are less than totally proud.
Embrace a need to offer all people “Inclusive Exclusivity”, manage all clients’ wealth while acknowledging that wealth is as much about spiritual and physical value, as it may be about financial value. If you do that, then every day will be as much a pleasure for you as it is to me and your clients will reap even more reward from dealing with you.
Well then, the answer for 10 points: have you got it? “Back to square one” dates back to 1932 and a radio broadcast of an England vs SA rugby test. The BBC Radio Times published a picture of the pitch as a numbered grid, therefore as they spoke the listener could follow where the play was happening.
If anyone got that one right, take 10 points and I will arrange for you an appointment with the best private client company I personally know, you deserve it!