Connect to your people
It’s not always easy being the leader. People are constantly looking at you, waiting for you to solve their problems or waiting for you to tell them what to do next. At least that’s the way it is in a company where the leader hasn’t established a good relationship with his or her people.
Effective leaders are able to build strong lines of communication that allow them to place issues on the table, generate discussion and make informed decisions.
“It’s having an understanding, having a plan and then carrying it forward,” Cassel says. “It’s not that difficult to manage through when you’re listening and communicating.”
There are a lot more people across the firm to hear from and communicate to these days.
Ladenburg acquired Investacorp Inc. in Miami Lakes in late 2007 and Triad Advisors Inc. in Norcross, Ga., in August 2008. This gives Ladenburg a total of nearly 1,200 individuals who work in some capacity for the organization, though many of these people operate as independent broker-dealers.
But large or small, the goal is still the same. You need to find a way to connect with your people. Cassel says you only need to look in the mirror to figure out where to get started in that effort.
“My father told me there was a reason I have two ears and one mouth,” Cassel says. “That is to listen twice as much as I talk. For someone who is a type-A personality, that’s a very important piece of advice.”
It’s why Cassel makes an effort to regularly gather his key people together to discuss issues that face the business.
“We collaborate and see if there is a consensus decision and then we carry it out,” Cassel says. “At Ladenburg, there are constantly issues and philosophies that, to a certain extent, are different from my personal view or how I might do it if I was still on my own. But it’s taking into account what is a different and larger organization with, in some cases, different priorities from a financial and business standpoint.”
In some ways, the transition that Cassel has gone through moving from Capitalink to Ladenburg has opened his eyes to some of the things that employees think about when their leader is speaking to them.
“You can almost look at it from a military standpoint,” Cassel says. “The commander-in-chief makes the ultimate decisions, but as you go down the line, people need to be empowered. They need to understand what the policy is. Then they can help come up with the best way.”
Being better at conveying what you need or want to your people comes down to your own ability to know what you want.
“I think I’ve developed my style and part of your style depends on your personality,” Cassel says. “There are some people who are low-key and laid-back. And there are others who lead with a charge. Everybody is a little different, but it doesn’t just come out of a book. It isn’t one-size-fits-all. If it was, everybody coming out of GE would have wanted to be just like Jack Welch, who they all perceived to be a great leader.”
In addition to thinking before you speak, take the time after a meeting or a presentation to reflect on what you just said.
“You always try to do better,” Cassel says. “When we make decisions or carry something out, I always try to take a step back and say, ‘What could I have done to make that more effective or better?’ I obviously do it daily. I get some quiet time in the car. I don’t make return phone calls right away. You always want some time to take a step back to sort of think about what you’re doing and plan. You need some of that quiet time every now and then.”
