This weekend was the King’s coronation in the UK, with much pomp and circumstance to watch; tea and biscuits to consume.
While the festivities were undoubtedly memorable, the event also heavily emphasized, a royal flush of ideas… inclusion, tolerance, and having a duty of care to others – values that resonated beyond the event itself, across the UK, wider society, and yes even in the financial services industry.
Quick wins…
In today’s fast-paced world, we often find ourselves looking for quick, easy answers to what are sometimes complex and nuanced problems, often where there is no easy answer too.
This tendency makes us all susceptible to taking shortcuts and making quick decisions based on opinion rather than data… however, sometimes making a good decision really matters with quick fixes only getting us into trouble later on.
Recently I have been seeing, an increasing number of attention-grabbing posts on LinkedIn… “The secret of how I made $10m in 90 days”… “Follow my system, guaranteed to make your business successful”… “Passive income from doing nothing”… “Money for free”.. (okay the last two are not true, but you get the gist of it!)
… & snake oil
Clickbait…? Maybe… or maybe I have missed the boat on making easy money… everyone I interact with seems to work hard and not make easy fortunes, and those that have done very well have also worked really hard, and been really smart. (the trend – working hard and being smart…)
So how do these work? It seems that one sure way to be successful is by offering to sell other people the secret of how to be successful… Maybe this is the secret they are selling… the quick-fix mentality, a fear of missing out and we fall for it…
A duty of care…
Financial services are of course no stranger to these dynamics either – great solutions can be easily promised that are not ideal for customers… only later leading to disappointment or worse, unpaid debt or distress.
Reputable companies, of course, do not do this, and in fact the regulator now also protects customers to ensure all of them do not too.
The bar of responsibility is also being raised yet again with the upcoming consumer duty. The initial implementation deadline passed only last week, with the duty to be implemented in full by July 31st.
… to help reevaluate
These new regulations serve as a call for us all to reevaluate our customer strategies and prioritize genuine, long-lasting customer relationships. Something that the coronation this weekend also underlined.
We all need to build better communities with strong values… one where we can all support each other, lifting each other up to be better versions of ourselves.
So whilst there is more to do and undoubtedly more to come, this is also something to reflect on for the week.
Let me know your thoughts on this subject. Share your opinion in the comments below, and let’s continue the conversation as the consumer duty deadline approaches.
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