In this ‘open letter’, Danielle Cornelissen – Founder of 5 ELK and Michelle Hoskin – Founder of Standards International and The Business and Operations Management Network, write to all in financial services to say that we need to stop asking how we stop talented people, becoming visible.
Our profession spends a lot of time talking about succession planning, adviser shortages, finding great support staff and developing the next generation of talent.
We talk endlessly about attracting and retaining great people and we say we want people to grow, step up and show initiative, but we constantly worry about where tomorrow’s leaders will come from.
Yet after years of working with many planning and advisory firms, we believe we’re creating part of the problem ourselves.
The latest FCA research tells us the average financial adviser is now in their late 40s, reinforcing the need to build stronger leadership pipelines and create more opportunities for the next generation.¹ We all recognise the challenge.
What frustrates us that most is that, too often, we’re responding to it in exactly the wrong way.
Recently, during a conversation about the upcoming Business & Operations Managers Awards, a business owner told us about one of her strongest team members.
She described someone who was highly capable, respected by colleagues and making a significant contribution to the business. So we asked whether she’d be nominating her for an award.
She said she was not! Not because the employee wasn’t deserving. Quite the opposite.
She was worried that becoming a finalist, or even winning, would make her more visible. Recruiters might approach her. Competitors might notice her. Recognition, she believed, would increase the risk of losing someone the business couldn’t afford to lose.
We understand why she may think way. But how sad is it, that we have got to a point where recognising exceptional people has become something to fear? Because that’s the contradiction we need to confront.
We can’t keep complaining that people aren’t stepping up while holding back the very people capable of doing so. We can’t talk about succession planning, leadership development and building careers, then become uncomfortable the moment someone starts to stand out.
We can’t have it both ways.
Leaders should act as though someone is trying to recruit their best people every single day. Not because you should lead with fear, but because it forces you to keep earning the right to have exceptional people on your team.
Great cultures aren’t built by making talented people harder to find. They’re built by making them harder to leave.
Yet too often we do the opposite. We overlook people for speaking opportunities because another firm might notice them. We keep them away from strategic projects because they’re “too valuable” where they are.
We hesitate to recognise exceptional work because visibility suddenly feels risky.
That’s not leadership, that’s a growth strategy in reverse.
Business and Operations professionals are some of the most humble and unassuming people we’ve worked with. They’re often quietly holding businesses together while constantly questioning whether they’re good enough.
If anything, they’re the people who need recognition most, yet too often they’re the very people we hesitate to celebrate publicly.
Think about the message that sends.
We tell people they’re valued. We encourage them to think bigger. We ask them to take ownership, show initiative and become future leaders. Then, when an opportunity comes along to publicly recognise their contribution, we hesitate because someone else might notice.
What message are we sending here?
Confidence isn’t built through annual appraisals or the occasional “well done”. It’s built by trusting people with bigger opportunities, giving them visibility, allowing them to represent the business and recognising exceptional work when they’ve earned it. Awards don’t create exceptional people, they simply shine a light on people who already are.
We’ve never believed recognition is what causes great people to leave. In fact, the evidence points in the opposite direction.
Research by Gallup and Workhuman found that employees who receive meaningful recognition are significantly less likely to leave their organisation or actively seek another opportunity.² Recognition won’t compensate for poor leadership or limited career progression, but it does send a powerful message that someone’s contribution is seen and valued.
That matters even more as the next generation enters our profession. Much is written about Gen Z changing jobs more frequently, but we think we sometimes misunderstand what’s driving that behaviour.
Most ambitious people, regardless of generation, want to grow. They want opportunities to contribute, to be trusted and to see a future for themselves. PwC’s research reflects exactly that.³
The challenge isn’t ambition. It’s whether we’re brave enough to create environments where ambition can flourish.
Some exceptional people will leave. That’s business. But if someone can be persuaded to leave simply because they won an award or spoke at a conference, the award wasn’t the problem. Your culture was.
If we’re serious about developing future leaders, we need to stop asking how we stop talented people becoming visible. We should be asking a much harder question: what are we doing every day that makes exceptional people choose to stay?
That’s the real leadership challenge.
Because you can’t build future leaders while keeping them invisible.
Sources:
1. Financial Conduct Authority, Financial Advice Firms Survey 2025.
2. Gallup and Workhuman, Employee Retention Depends on Getting Recognition Right.
3. PwC UK, Hopes & Fears: The Gen Z Paradox.
Main image: open letter, kate-macate-xmddEHyCisc-unsplash
