The founders of EJ (including Ted himself) knew this and used that understanding to build a virtuous cycle of success that became Edward Jones. Trust built commitment, commitment fostered ownership, ownership supported loyalty, loyalty fueled business results…and so on…
At the hands of the abhorrent leadership in place today, EJ is now fully in the throughs of a vicious cycle. To be clear, enterprise reimagined is a symptom of a disease that started when Penny (who has to be among the worst judges of talent) appointed leaders to her exec team who were entirely incompetent to lead the firm forward in a new competitive landscape. Some were homegrown incompetents who Penny was foolishly loyal to (eg Cella, Dolan), others like Chubak were opportunists who actually have sophisticated firm experience but weren’t on the c-suite track in their former companies, usually due to leadership flaws or excessive levels of ego/self interest.
As the firm began to lose market share in core midwestern strongholds, those leaders in turn appointed other weak GPs (with preference to good “order takers” who wouldn’t provide constructive challenge to their insecure superiors). This had the effect of further shielding the realities of the day to day field/HO experience from senior leadership.
While GP returns grew largely due to cost cutting, underlying business performance (net new assets, new clients, FA retention) deteriorated. Leaders who have no track record of successful business transformation responded by pushing change even faster, eroding trust and confidence. Field turnover spiked, more panic set in, assets slowed further…and a vicious cycle had begun by 2022/23.
Enterprise reimagine is hatched in 2024 by the same leaders to mask their own failures, secure GP earnings and further consolidate “control” which these leaders felt they had lost. Similar to other changes, this was slapped together “loose and fast” by ELT members who have never led a restructuring and informed by 30 something consultants who can see the vicious cycle with dollar signs dancing in their heads.
Trust, confidence and loyalty is now even further eroded, effectively destroying the foundation culture Ted established the firm on. Tenured and some newer EJ leaders who challenged the path that brought us here were shown the door.
The culture that was the root of the firm’s virtuous cycle is now gone, the victim of bad leadership starting at the top. Replacing it is a vicious cycle that will now be nearly impossible to break without a sea change of leadership at the top - and an enormous rebuilding effort.
Clients, Associates and Partners, you deserve so much better.