Adaptability is the most important quality that many executives look for in a leader. It refers to actively preparing for and advocating change. Adaptable people are consistently adding new capabilities to their repertoire to meet the needs of the ever-changing world. This concept is different from ‘resilience’, which relates to bouncing back from adversity. Adaptability is more like ‘bouncing forward’ to lead or embrace change. This is a critical skill for employees at all levels to possess as companies move forward on their digital transformation journeys.
A constant flow of large and small innovative ideas is the key to ‘constant innovation’. This allows companies to experiment, learn, and keep ahead of the competition. Innovative ideas took center stage at the recent Finovate NY conference. Best of Show awards this year went to Debbie, an app to incent people to reduce debt; Horizn, a self-service platform to help increase adoption of digital investments; LemonadeXP, a ‘microlearning’ platform for customers and employees; Quilo, supporting fractional loan participations; Stratfy, which uses machine learning to uncover bias in financial decisions; and Themis, a collaboration platform to accelerate partnerships with vendors, banks and fintechs.
While still relatively rare, the role of Chief Sustainability Officer may gain traction as more stakeholders demand sustainable business practices in banking. Leaders in this position must be able to make sense of the external environment, bringing relevant insights back into the firm. They must also help the company reconfigure its strategy, and provide thought leadership to help align teams by engaging, educating, and connecting. While not necessarily involved in the actual execution of the strategy, the CSO is typically responsible for developing the plan and monitoring its execution.
Leaders should integrate behavior science into strategy in order to understand the roots of customer behavior. By creating an emotional connection to customers through storytelling in communications and presenting innovative uses of their products, financial institutions can establish tighter bonds with customers that can increase both engagement and cross-sales.
These are stressful times for customers. Echoing a similar article from last week, financial institutions have an opportunity to capture the loyalty and trust of their clients by proactively addressing financial wellness issues. Three suggestions are to mine existing transactional data to gain insights into the customer’s situation, offer relevant, contextual recommendations based on this information, and provide tools for financial education and proficiency.
