I work in the brokerage unit in St. Louis. AG Edwards & Sons was acquired by (East Coast based) Wachovia In September 2007. The Wachovia managers marched in to St. Louis, some so very pretentiously wanting to teach us “how the real firms do it.”
They spent money lavishly, all the while aggressively taking services away from our Financial Advisors who are the Golden Goose of the business. Some people were truthfully great, but many had quite the “I’m so much better than you“ attitude. End of story: one year later there was a run on the bank and our stock was trading less than $1. Complete and utter failure of epic proportions. Sound familiar?
My point is that the big talkers are usually those with the least amount of talent/intelligence/skills. All swagger and false promises. Some of the best leaders I’ve had the pleasure to work with know that their job is to help their people realize their full potential and inspire excellence in others. They had too much integrity to be boastful. Talk is cheap. Show me the results.