Welcome back to Inside IFP – the series where I sit down with members of our team over a coffee and chat about their career journey. This week, I caught up with our Managing Director, Josh. Since joining IFP as a Paraplanner in 2015, Josh has progressed to become a Chartered Financial Planner and Managing Director. We talked about the career he never expected to have, what it’s like to run a growing business and what he looks for in the next generation of talent.
First of all, congratulations on building a very successful career for yourself. When you started as a Paraplanner in 2015, did you ever imagine your career would take this path?
No. Being completely honest, at that point in time I thought I was using the paraplanning gig as a stepping stone to build my CV. My degree was in Law, and I had missed out on the training contracts with solicitors, so I figured I’d find a job and apply for the training contracts again next year.
Obviously, it didn’t transpire like that because quite swiftly I realised that there was something to build on here and there were progression opportunities. I did all 6 of my diploma exams in less than a year. I became an Adviser quite soon after because we needed an extra adviser during a really busy period in the business’ history and I never looked back.
So financial planning wasn’t part of the original plan?
I fell into it, like so many others, which I think is quite indicative of how poor we [as a society] are at educating people about what a career in financial services can look like. Our profession is excellent. Why shouldn’t people be pushed towards it?
Do you think you would’ve stayed at IFP if it wasn’t for the advising opportunity?
Yeah, without a doubt – I knew I wanted to be an Adviser after only a few weeks, and the need for an Adviser aside, the business was growing and I had a sort of hunger. I’m insanely competitive so I’ve gone through my career setting my sights on someone above me, so I always had a target to work towards or a goal to achieve.
At that point, everyone was working 9-5 in the office, whereas the Advisers were going out, meeting clients, seeing other professionals and I thought “I want that”. So yeah, I’d still be here because, I know we’ve made a lot of changes recently, but even back then the business was going places. It was, and still is, an awesome place to work.
You’ve obviously progressed through various roles in your time here. Aside from being competitive and driven, what do you think helped you progress?
I am driven and I’ve always got my sights on something new. Even now, figuring out where my role develops into, what our next steps are and how we develop the business. I’m not a believer in luck; I think you make your own luck. There was definitely an element of right place, right time for me, don’t get me wrong, but I think some of the opportunities have been there because of my hard work.
I also like to think people respect me and I’m likeable within the business, so I think that’s helped me stand out when opportunities have come up.
I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say a bad thing about you.
Yeah, I think I do have a good reputation and a great rapport with people in the team, whether that’s above or below me, and I think that’s helped put me in a good position for promotions. I think being genuine with people goes a long way. I’d much rather someone be their genuine self with me than being fake just because they’re talking to the MD. Caitlin is a great example of that. She has a willingness to ask me whatever comes to her mind, whether it’s a work question or asking me if I’d rather be a moose or a crow. Its great working with a team where we can have that open, friendly nature, without fear of hierarchy.
Stepping into the Managing Director role is a big responsibility. What was the biggest adjustment?
Two things. Up until that point, I had never done anything leadership-wise, so theoretically, it was a dangerous move for Kev. Everyone falls into that trap across businesses where someone is good at their job, so they get promoted to manager without ever having management skills. But he’s said a few times that he’s happy; so, I suppose the risk paid off!
I was comfortable with the progression without the experience, though. We announced the plans internally first, and I had a year of shadowing Kev before we publicly announced the management buyout and new Board of Directors. It gave me a great opportunity to learn on the job, and I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity Kev gave me, despite my inexperience.
My second challenge and adjustment was managing Jess, Sarah and Anj – three incredibly strong characters and leaders – who had all been working alongside Kev with the management of running the business day to day. So, for me to come in from an advising role to say ‘right, I’m your manager now’, was a baptism of fire. All three have been brilliant to work with over the last few years and I think we’ve built a great leadership team over that time.
Did you have imposter syndrome?
I still do, and I don’t think I’ll ever not. I’m 33, so I’m young to be running such a successful business. It’s fantastic, but I don’t think I’ve learned to own my title of MD yet.
Things have naturally changed and progressed since the introduction of a new Board and the development of technology and AI. But what is one thing you hope never changes?
The friendliness of the team. I think it’s going to be hard to keep as we grow, but if we can keep one thing, it would be that. I always want that ability for someone to pick up the phone and ask me a question, or speak to me about what’s going on, or give me their opinion. And that’s what I want to try and focus on as we achieve what we’re going to achieve.
If we don’t do that, it becomes faceless and I think that’s completely against what we want to achieve for everyone, not just me, but the team and our clients as well. I don’t know how that’s going to look yet, but it has to be a focus over the next few years as we grow.
How would you describe your leadership style?
I’ve been managing you for a few months now as maternity cover – can you answer that one for me?
I think you’re a great manager, and I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to work more closely with you! I definitely think being transparent is one of your main skills, along with being friendly and down to earth.
I’m a huge believer that no one individual can do everything. If you’re going to achieve stuff, you’ve got to surround yourself with people who are equally great, if not better. I know that implementation of plans isn’t one of my strengths, but I also know that I’ve got a team around me who can put my stupid ideas in place or help us get a business goal over the line.
A lot of stuff comes down to having trust in the people you’ve got around you and giving them the autonomy to do their job. Obviously, if things aren’t going right you need to hold them to account, but for the most part, it’s just a question of how do we support you doing what I know you’re good at?
I think that support and trust are widely felt, it’s been a common theme in these interviews so far, along with the friendliness we’ve mentioned. What do you think it is that gives IFP the ‘big family’ feeling that Elaine mentioned in her interview?
I think the open plan office has real benefits. In our previous office, the Advisers had their own individual offices, so there was no collaboration. Whereas now, we have the ability to bounce ideas off people. The support is there for everyone.
The qualifications side too, Anjie’s been mentioned a few times for the support she’s offered, but I’ve never come across someone that’s not willing to help someone on a final exam, or on an issue they’ve got.
I think that includes personal issues and support, too. There’s such a genuine support and sense of goodwill from everyone.
Yeah I think so, I don’t know what you call it, but it’s just the openness for people to share stuff. It helps massively because it’s how we learn. I think that’s where there’s a criticism I suppose, of people working from home because you miss out on that collaboration. I think particularly if you’re new, I do encourage people to be in the office as much as possible because of the benefits you get from it.
You’ve just touched upon it, but having support through exams is another thing that has been mentioned frequently. Why is professional development such a big focus at IFP?
You never know what you don’t know. On a personal level, my granddad always pushed me towards doing well at school, so I think I had a big influence there. But it just generally makes people’s jobs easier if they understand things better, and naturally we then do a better job for our clients. So, I don’t see why people wouldn’t want to.
They’re made so accessible too, from reimbursing all of the exam fees and qualifications, to the support you get from everyone, along with the incentive of pay rises when you pass.
I think the other reason why would be the huge advice gap in the UK, so why would we not push people to be more qualified? I’m baffled by firms who don’t pay to improve their staff’s lives. They’re an investment, they’re giving something to us, so why would we not give something back to them? We will never keep hold of every team member that joins us at IFP, no business ever can. However, if we can improve someone’s CV and boost their experience during their time with us, that’s a win for me.
We’re currently recruiting. What qualities do you look for in someone joining IFP?
I’m always looking for someone that’s eager to learn and be inquisitive about what they’re going to do, how they’re going to develop themselves and their career and where they’re going.
Just generally being personable, too. I don’t think you need to be all singing, all dancing, all of the qualifications because we will help you get that. The personality side of it, you can’t teach people to be nice. You can’t teach people to be a genuinely lovely person. You’re going to succeed if you are that.
I also think there is a real thing about always being willing to go that extra mile. When the wheels come off, are you here to show up and say ‘no, don’t worry, I’ve got it covered’. Because people have to have a bit of that.
If someone were to join our team now, what can they be excited about in the coming years?
Our growth over the last 2 years has been exceptional, and I don’t think it’s down to anything we’ve done that is truly groundbreaking. Maybe one or two changes have moved us in a really good direction. However, I think the compound growth we see from the changes we’re planning to implement over the next few years is going to be phenomenal.
It’s on our 10-year roadmap to identify our next shareholders and Directors, and that’s going to be in the next 3 years. So, it’s either going to be people who are with us now, or that join us very, very soon. And I think at that point, the business will look incredibly different, in a positive way, for our clients and our staff.
But beyond that, there are exciting opportunities for people to develop because shareholding and directorship is not going to be available for everyone. As you know, we have a goal of getting everyone’s pay above national remuneration, so if someone wants to be in an administration role, why can’t they be the best paid Client Services Administrator in the UK? There are so many opportunities for people to just be mint at what they do and be highly rewarded with great benefits, great remuneration and just enjoy what they’re good at.
If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of career advice when you first joined IFP, what would it be?
It isn’t specific to IFP, but my advice would be don’t get your heart too set on one goal because life happens and things change. I think I have enjoyed my career more by going with the flow; still having ambitions and a rough idea of where I want to go but being flexible with that ambition.
Thank you, Josh. It’s always a pleasure to chat and it’s great to hear a little bit more about your career journey. Before you go, we’ve got to finish with my quick-fire questions…
Describe IFP in 3 words or less – friendly, driven, awesome.
Tea or coffee? Black coffee, only one caffeinated a day or I start seeing things!
Office or remote? I’d swing towards office.
Early start or late finish? In the middle.
Quick lunch or long lunch? Quick.
Smarter or more casual style? Smarter.
If you’re looking for a business that will invest in your development, encourage your ambitions and support you every step of the way, we’d love to hear from you. Take a look at our current vacancies on our Careers page.
Thank you for joining us for another coffee and chat, we’ll see you next time!
